Chocolate Walnut Pastries
I have a house full of chocolate spread, now how wonderful is that? Luckily, I have lots of ideas on how to use it, including baking a batch of chocolate walnut pastries. It’s been more years than I care to count since I last had chocolate spread, so how come I have a house full of it now?
Atkins and Potts have recently redesigned their packaging and introduced some new products to their range, so they sent me some to try. I shall be doing a full review and giveaway in due course, but these chocolate walnut pastries using the luxury milk chocolate spread are a start. I wasn’t really sure what to call these little delights. Are they tarts? Are they mini pies? Are they biscuits? Not being at all sure, I’ve opted for pastries. What would you call them?
This is how I made them:
Chocolate Walnut Pastries Recipe
- Pulsed 50g walnuts in my food processor until roughly chopped.
- Added 75g wholemeal spelt flour, 75g plain flour and 1/2 tsp baking powder.
- Added 75g golden caster sugar
- Added 50g butter and pulsed until mixture resembled breadcrumbs.
- Broke in 1 duck egg and 1 tbsp water and pulsed some more.
- Transferred mixture into a bowl, then brought it together with my hands to form a ball.
- Left in my cool kitchen overnight (1/2 hr in fridge should be fine).
- Rolled the pastry out to abut 1/4 cm thickness.
- Cut 4 10 cm diameter circles out using the top of my tart tins and put to one side.
- Re-rolled the pastry and cut 4 more circles to line the tart cases, using the off cuts to fill in any gaps.
- Spread 2 heaped teaspoonfuls of milk chocolate spread over each base.
- Topped with the pastry circles and pressed the sides in to seal.
- Brushed each one with milk & placed a walnut half on top of each one.
- Baked at 180C for 20 minutes until golden.
- Left to cool then dusted with icing sugar.
We ate these chocolate walnut pastries cold, but I’m very sure they would have been delicious eaten warm with clotted cream or ice-cream or just on their own. In fact they would be perfect for a cosy Valentine’s supper. I was delighted by the pastry which was beautifully crumbly, rich and walnutty. The chocolate spread oozed out of the middle in a rather seductive way and I just couldn’t resist. No wonder they didn’t last long.
So, as one of these chocolate walnut pastries would be perfect for sharing, I am entering them into Tea for Two, a Virtual Valentine Bake Off event over at Homemade by Fleur.
belleau kitchen
3rd February 2013 at 8:32 amOh My Gawd C these look totally divine! I’m loving that pastry recipe so much. It sounds incredible and I must get me some of that spread. Oh yes!
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 6:35 pmAww, thanks Dom. They were pretty wondrous and if you’re not greedy like us, just perfect for sharing 😉
Rachel Lucas
3rd February 2013 at 11:37 amThese look & sound absolutely divine!! I adore walnuts, so that’s a great start…and anything short & crumbly too! Will be making for dessert tonight, definitely. Have a great day, hope all is good with you x
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 6:37 pmOh Rachel, you are lovely. So glad they inspired you to make your wonderful cookies.
Vivian Pang
3rd February 2013 at 12:44 pmLooks good! The pastry sure good to go with any sweet filling. Thanks for sharing!
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 6:38 pmYou’re right Vivian, these would be really good with a nice homemade jam too.
Angie's Recipes
3rd February 2013 at 1:17 pmLove these walnut pastries..they look fabulous!
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 6:38 pmThank you Angie
Christian Halfmann
3rd February 2013 at 1:31 pmOh, oh, they look so wonderful and … I need to check my supply of chocolate spread.
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 6:44 pmAnd did you find any Chocolate spread Chris?
Kate@whatkatebaked
3rd February 2013 at 2:50 pmI’m sure they didn’t last long!! What a delightful combination with the walnut and chocolate.
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 6:46 pmLuckily for us Kate, chocolate is a real star; it goes with just about everything 😉
Jen Price
3rd February 2013 at 4:06 pmThey sound wonderful. I’ve not tried wholemeal flour in a sweet pastry before, something I should really try. Also love the walnut and chocolate spread combo, they’d be gone in a flash here!
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 6:48 pmI grew up with wholemeal flour, it’s white flour which is still a novelty for me 🙂
The Caked Crusader
3rd February 2013 at 5:00 pmI have some wholemeal spelt left – what a fab way to use it!
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 6:48 pmOh do CC, do 🙂
kerrycooks
3rd February 2013 at 5:03 pmA house full of chocolate spread… you’re living the dream!
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 6:50 pmNot much point having a chocolate blog if you can’t live the dream 😉
Caroline
3rd February 2013 at 5:06 pmThey’re very pretty indeed – your pastry looks delicious. And a house full of chocolate spread can never be a bad thing. I’d be interested in recommendations for chocolate spread without nuts though – you don’t see very much of it or it tends to be made using lower quality ingredients….
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 6:52 pmThese Atkins and Potts are pretty good Caroline and NO NUTS. I’ve reviewed them on my next post.
Gloria
3rd February 2013 at 5:57 pmthese look amazing and really delicious I love walnuts!!
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 6:54 pmThank you Gloria, walnuts really are wonderful.
Janice Pattie
3rd February 2013 at 7:02 pmThose look very good indeed. I love how simple the outside seems only to reveal a gooey chocolate spread filling!
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 6:54 pmThanks Janice – they were a good foil for each other.
Susan Lindquist
3rd February 2013 at 7:38 pmWowzers! These look just soo very beautiful and rich! Love that light brown crusty with the pretty walnut embellishment! So classic looking!
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 6:57 pmThank you Susan, I am, errr, rather partial to rich chocolate pastries 🙂
Jacqueline Meldrum
3rd February 2013 at 8:21 pmOh my goodness those look good Choclette. I would never have thought of that. You are a genius lady!
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 6:58 pmThanks Jac *blushes hugely*.
Charlotte Charlotte'sKitchenDiary
3rd February 2013 at 9:38 pmHow delicious. I’m really interested to read your review of the chocolate spread, too : )
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 7:00 pmThanks Charlotte. I’ve posted the review now.
laura@howtocookgoodfood
3rd February 2013 at 10:18 pmWhat a brilliant idea. That chocolate spread melting out from warm nutty pastry sounds just about perfect. I am interested in finding out more about this lovely chocolate spread and there is nothing better than home made treats such as these 🙂
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 7:03 pmThank you Laura, I so wished I’d tried these warm now. Having said that, I now have a perfect excuse to make them again. These are definitely on my make again and again list.
Phil in the Kitchen
3rd February 2013 at 10:36 pmDelicious-looking treats. You’re making me crave chocolate spread. I can’t remember the last time I had any.
Choclette
6th February 2013 at 7:16 pmProbably as long ago as me Phil. Somehow, it doesn’t seem very adult to eat chocolate spread :-S
thelittleloaf
4th February 2013 at 1:43 pmThese look amazing! Did you find it quite a lot of pastry and chocolate spread to get through, or are they the perfect single portion size? I can’t quite work out how big they are from the pics!
Choclette
4th February 2013 at 8:19 pmWell depends on the person as to perfect portion size. Being piggies CT and I were happy to eat a whole one each. They are about 10 cm diameter on top and 8 cm diameter at bottom.
Maggie
4th February 2013 at 2:47 pmThese look really delicious and such a good idea too.
Choclette
9th February 2013 at 8:37 pmThanks Maggie 🙂
Carli Alice
4th February 2013 at 7:05 pmThese look terrific! I’ll need to check out the chocolate spread.
Choclette
9th February 2013 at 8:37 pmBe careful, that chocolate spread is dangerous stuff 😉
celia
4th February 2013 at 8:56 pmOh, don’t they look nice!! So pretty with the walnut half decorating the top! Perfect for Valentine’s Day, as you say! x
Choclette
9th February 2013 at 8:39 pmThank you Celia, if I didn’t have cake club on Valentine’s Day, I’d be very tempted to make them again 🙂
Poyma
5th February 2013 at 1:38 amoh yummy yum yum! Walnut & Chocolate a classic combo!
Choclette
9th February 2013 at 8:40 pmThanks Poyma, yes a lovely combination indeed.
Katharine
5th February 2013 at 9:20 amWhat a gorgeous combination! The walnut pastry sounds incredible and goes so well with the liquid chocolate filling – delicious!
Choclette
9th February 2013 at 8:41 pmThanks Katharine – the filling oozing out over crumbly pastry was really rather special, if very naughty 😉
Caroline - All That I'm Eating
5th February 2013 at 11:11 amThis sounds so good! I love that it’s almost a pastry biscuit with a gooey lovely middle.
Choclette
9th February 2013 at 8:42 pmThanks Caroline. Trying to classify these was really rather difficult – a pastry biscuit sounds good to me 🙂
cityhippyfarmgirl
5th February 2013 at 8:00 pmNow these little round goodies of deliciousness seem to have my name written all over them. How good does that sound! Thanks Choc!
Choclette
9th February 2013 at 8:43 pmHaha, you’re very welcome Brydie and I’m very happy to write your name all over them 😀
Alida
7th February 2013 at 8:47 pmI’d love a bite of this tart! Sooo yummy!
Choclette
9th February 2013 at 8:44 pmOnly one bite Alida? Surely you could manage two 😉
Johanna GGG
16th February 2013 at 1:49 pmI love these already without tasting them and I have chocolate spread in my kitchen unexpectedly that is crying out for this recipe!
Choclette
17th February 2013 at 8:17 pmGo Johanna go 😉
Lucy Taylor
18th February 2013 at 8:25 amThese look absolutely beautiful, like something out of a French patisserie! I bet they taste as good too!
happy rainbow
21st February 2013 at 7:20 pmvery unusual worth a try 🙂
Dee Johnson
25th February 2013 at 12:06 pmWow, I will never think of chocolate spread as just being something my youngest will only eat on sandwiches… yuk. I like you have a home full of it and never ever thought of using it in cooking. Thanks for this, its a great idea.