Chocolate Salted Caramel Hazelnut Tart

This chocolate tart is simply divine. Chocolate, hazelnut and salted caramel: a marriage made in heaven.
The crust texture is light yet crunchy and addictively crumbly. It is perfect in this dessert and I plan on using it for fruit tarts and other sweet creations. 

The recipe is a little long, but I promise you it is worth it!!
Here is the best part; if you manage not to eat the whole thing in one day, it will happily wait for you in the fridge and tastes dangerously better the next day!

Bon Appétit!

Chocolate Salted Caramel Hazelnut Tart

Adapted from L’Encyclopédie du Chocolat. Sous la direction de Frédéric Bau. Ed. Flammarion
Serves 8

Ingredients
Pâte Sablée aux Noisettes
6 ¼ oz (180 g) Unsalted Butter
1 pinch of Salt
5 oz (140 g) Powdered Sugar (sifted)
1 ¾ oz (50 g) Hazelnut Flour (sifted)
1 egg
3 oz (90 g) All Purpose Flour (sifted)
9 ½ oz (270 g) All Purpose Flour (sifted)

Hazelnut Salted Caramel
3 ½ oz (100 g) Heavy Cream
2 ½ oz (70 g) granulated Sugar
1 ½ oz (40 g) Salted Butter
1 pinch of Salt
2 oz (60 g) Milk Chocolate (40% cacao)
2 oz (60 g) Hazelnut. Roasted, skin removed and roughly chopped

Chocolate Coffee Ganache
5 ½ oz (160 g) Bittersweet Chocolate (60% cacao)
5 oz (140 g) Heavy Cream
¾ oz (20 g) Honey
½ tablespoon Instant Coffee granules
1 oz (30 g) Unsalted Butter

Directions
Scale and prep all the ingredients.
You will need a stand mixer (with the paddle attachment), parchment paper, tart pan (with removable bottom), baking weights, three small pots, a medium heavy bottom pot, a medium bowl and a pastry thermometer.

Pâte Sablée aux Noisettes
Have the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment ready. Put the butter in the bowl of the stand mixer and mix on medium speed for a few minutes, until the butter has a silky and creamy texture. Add the powdered sugar, hazelnut flour, egg and 3 oz (90g) of flour. Once the ingredients are well combined, add the remaining 9 ½ oz (270g) of flour and mix very briefly. (don’t overwork the dough).
Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper. Place the rolled out dough in the freezer for about 45 minutes.
Butter the tart pan (even if it’s non stick!).
When the dough is hard enough, remove it from the freezer, remove the top parchment paper, cut out a form a little larger than the form of your tart pan. (I did mine in a round one, but you can have a it in a square, rectangular or any shape you like).
Line the tart pan with the rolled out dough, arrange the edges to have a nice finished product. Let it rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.
Heat the oven to 320F (160C).
Remove the tart from the fridge. Line it with parchment paper and baking weights and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the weighs and parchment paper and continue baking until the crust has a nice golden / light brown color.
Set aside.

Hazelnut Salted Caramel
In a small pot, bring the cream to a boiling stage. Set aside but keep very warm.
In a medium heavy bottom pot, put ⅓ of the sugar. Let it cook until it melts completely and the caramels forms. Add another ⅓ of the sugar, mix… once it is completely dissolved and back to a caramel stage, add the last ⅓ of the sugar. When the caramel reaches a nice golden color, very carefully add the salted butter, the pinch of salt and the hot cream. At this stage the caramel with gain in volume and can splash you with hot sugar. Sugar burns are very painful. Be careful!! Let it cook for a few minutes. Add the milk chocolate and hazelnut and mix well. Immediately poor the caramel mixture in the cooked tart shell and spread evenly to cover the whole surface. (This step has to be done fast as it will be hard to work with the caramel as it starts to harden.)
Set aside.

Chocolate Coffee Ganache
Finely chop the chocolate and melt it in a bain-marie. (put the chopped chocolate in a bowl, over boiling water. Let it stand for a few minutes, it will start to melt. Make sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water. Mix well until completely melted.)
In a small pot, heat the heavy cream, honey and instant coffee granules until it reaches a boiling point. Add ⅓ of this mixture to the melted chocolate. With a silicon spatula rapidly mix the hot cream with the chocolate, starting from the center, to create a smooth and shiny texture. Add the second third of the hot liquid and proceed with the same mixing technique, then the final third following the same mixing pattern.
Let it stand for a few moments. Measure the ganache temperature. When it reads between 95F and 104F (35C-40C) add the butter and mix until well combined. Pour the ganache in the tart, over the caramel-hazelnut mixture. Let it rest at least 2 hours in the fridge.

Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before serving.