Caramelized Walnut Tart Recipes

CARAMEL NUT TART

Steps:

• Make the tart dough: Whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add the cut up pieces of butter and use a pastry cutter to cut into the flour mixture until the butter pieces are no bigger than a pea. (You can use a food processor for this if you want.) Sprinkle with vanilla and add 3 tablespoons of ice water. Use a fork to work the water and vanilla into the dough. (You can use a food processor.) Add up to a tablespoon more of ice water, just enough so that the dough easily sticks together when you pinch it with your fingers. Form the dough into a ball, kneading once or twice if necessary, and flatten into a disk. Wrap the dough disk in plastic and chill for 1 hour.
• Pre-bake the crust: Bake the crust at 375°F for 20 minutes, piercing the bottom with fork if bubbles form. Transfer to a rack to cool.

WALNUT CARAMEL TART

Steps:

• Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Put the flour in a food processor with the butter and sugar, and mix until it forms fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and 1-2 tbsp cold water, and pulse to make a firm dough.
• Have ready a 24cm tart tin. Briefly knead the pastry on a lightly floured surface, then roll out to a round about 5cm larger than your tin. Lift onto the tin with the help of your rolling pin, then press into the corners using your finger. Do not trim the pastry. Fill the pastry case with a round of baking parchment and baking beans. Chill for 10 mins. Blindbake for 10 mins, remove the paper and beans, then bake for 5 mins more.
• To make the filling, put the sugar in a large pan with 3 tbsp cold water. Heat gently, stirring to dissolve the sugar. When the sugar is completely dissolved, increase heat and bubble until the syrup has turned a rich caramel colour. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter until it has dissolved, then stir in the cream. Return to the heat and boil hard, stirring until the sauce is thick enough to leave a gap on the base of the pan when you draw your spoon across it. Stir in the walnuts.
• Fill the pastry case with the nut mixture, levelling it with a fork. Return to the oven for 8-10 mins until the filling is bubbling. Cool for 10 mins before removing carefully from the tin. Serve warm or cold.

SALTED CARAMEL WALNUT TART

Steps:

• Let eggs stand at room temperature 30 minutes. In a microwave, heat cream on high for 20 seconds. Keep warm. Meanwhile, in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar and syrup, stirring frequently. Bring to a boil; cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Slowly pour cream into pan; continue stirring constantly (cream may spatter) until well blended. Gradually add butter, stirring until melted. Add vanilla and sea salt; stir until smooth. Cool., Unroll crust into a 9-in. tart pan; trim edges. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400°. Line unpricked crust with a double thickness of foil. Fill with pie weights, dried beans or uncooked rice. Bake on a lower oven rack until edges are golden brown, 10-12 minutes. Remove foil and weights; bake until bottom is golden brown, 3-5 minutes longer. Cool on a wire rack., Reduce oven setting to 350°. Whisk eggs into caramel mixture; stir in walnuts. Add filling to crust. Bake until center is just set (mixture will jiggle), 20-25 minutes. Cool completely. Refrigerate leftovers.

CARAMEL NUT TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Between 2 sheets of wax paper roll out dough into a 14-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick). Transfer dough to a baking sheet and chill 10 minutes. Lift top sheet of wax paper from dough and gently replace on top (this will facilitate removal of paper later). Flip dough over, discarding wax paper now on top, and carefully invert dough into an 11-inch tart pan with a removable fluted rim. Lightly press dough up side of rim, using pieces from overhang to patch any holes. Chill shell 30 minutes, or until firm.
• Line shell with foil, folding over edge to cover pastry entirely, and fill with pie weights or raw rice. Bake shell on a baking sheet in middle of oven 35 minutes and carefully remove foil and weights or rice. If bottom of crust still has patches of translucent undercooked dough, return shell to oven without foil and weights or rice and bake until pastry is completely cooked and golden, 3 to 5 minutes more. Cool shell in pan on a rack.
• Reduce temperature to 350°F.
• Coarsely chop nuts. In a 3-quart heavy saucepan melt butter with brown sugar and honey, stirring, and simmer 1 minute. Stir in nuts and cream. Simmer mixture 1 minute and pour into shell. Bake tart on baking sheet in middle of oven 30 minutes, or until filling is a few shades darker. Cool tart in pan on rack.
• Chop chocolate and in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate, stirring until smooth. Cool chocolate slightly and transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a #3 plain tip (slightly smaller than 1/8 inch). (Alternatively, transfer chocolate to a small heavy-duty sealable plastic bag. Squeeze chocolate into one corner of bag and with scissors cut a tiny slice off corner to form a small hole.) Pipe thin lines of chocolate over tart in a back and forth motion to form stripes. Tart may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered.
• Serve caramel tart chilled or at room temperature with ice cream and tuiles.

CARAMELIZED WALNUT TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Transfer crust to 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom, folding in overhang to form double-thick sides. Freeze crust while preparing filling.
• Whisk cream, sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon in heavy large saucepan. Stir in walnuts. Simmer over medium heat until mixture is bubbling and darkens slightly, stirring until sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes. Spread filling evenly in crust. Bake tart until filling is deep golden brown and crust is golden, about 25 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and store at room temperature.) Remove tart from pan and serve.

CARAMELIZED WALNUT HALVES

Steps:

• In a small skillet, melt sugar over medium-high heat until medium golden, about 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat. Working quickly, drop walnut halves, one at a time, into the melted sugar. If the sugar hardens, return skillet to low heat, and stir several minutes. Using a fork, turn walnuts until they are evenly coated. Transfer walnuts to a wire rack to cool completely. Use to decorate cake.

CARAMEL-WALNUT PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a 13-inch round, about 1/8 inch thick. Brush off excess flour; fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim to a 1/2-inch overhang. Tuck dough under, forming a rim; crimp as desired. Chill 30 minutes.
• In a small bowl, whisk 1 egg and cream; set aside. Prick dough all over with a fork. Line with parchment; fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until edges begin to turn golden, about 10 minutes. Remove parchment and weights. Brush shell with egg wash, leaving rim uncoated. Continue baking until center is golden, 5 minutes more. Let cool on a wire rack.
• Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, bring sugar and 1/2 cup water to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Then without stirring, cook until caramel is light amber, about 7 minutes, washing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming. Remove from heat; stir in creme fraiche (it will spatter). Let cool 5 to 10 minutes. If it starts to harden, place briefly over low heat, stirring constantly.
• In a small bowl, whisk remaining 3 eggs; slowly whisk in 1 cup caramel. Whisk mixture back into remaining caramel in saucepan. Stir in nuts.
• Pour filling into pie shell; bake until slightly puffy and set, about 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

CARAMEL-WALNUT TART WITH CHOCOLATE GLAZE

Steps:

• For crust:
• Blend flour, almonds, walnuts, and salt in processor until nuts are finely ground. Add powdered sugar and combine using on/off turns. Add butter; using on/off turns, cut in until coarse meal forms. With machine running, slowly add egg. Blend until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill 30 minutes.
• Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 14-inch round. Transfer dough to 10-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Trim excess dough flush with top edge of pan. Pierce bottom of dough all over with fork. Chill 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 325°F. Bake crust until golden, about 35 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.)
• For filling:
• Place sugar, 1/2 cup water, and corn syrup in heavy large saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and boil without stirring until syrup is deep amber color, occasionally brushing down sides of pan with wet pastry brush and swirling pan, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in butter and cream (mixture will bubble vigorously). When bubbling subsides, whisk in crème fraîche. Cool caramel until beginning to thicken. Stir in walnuts. Pour caramel into prepared crust. Let stand 15 minutes to spread.
• For chocolate glaze:
• Bring cream to boil in medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and stir until melted and smooth. Cool 5 minutes. Pour enough glaze over caramel to cover and fill tart to just below edge of crust (reserve remaining glaze for another use). Let stand until set, about 2 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.)

WALNUT TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Tear off a piece of foil twice as large as crust. Fold it in half and smear it with butter; lay buttered side onto crust. Weight foil with a pile of dried beans or rice (these can be reused for this purpose), pie weights, or a tight-fitting ovenproof skillet or saucepan - anything that will sit flat on the surface. Bake 12 minutes, then remove foil and continue to bake at 350 degrees, until crust is a beautiful shade of brown, another few minutes. Remove and let cool on a rack while you prepare filling.
• Put sugar in a heavy 6- or 8-inch saucepan or deep skillet with a tablespoon of water and turn heat to medium. Cook, gently shaking pan occasionally, until sugar melts; then cook, stirring occasionally and scraping sides with a heat-proof flexible spatula, until mixture turns golden.
• Turn heat to low, then carefully add butter and cream. Cook, stirring constantly, until butter melts and mixture is uniform. Stir in walnuts and a large pinch of salt if you like, then spread on crust. Refrigerate for about an hour, then sprinkle with a little more salt and serve.