This festive Holiday Dark Chocolate Ganache Tart captures the flavours of winter’s best along with the magic of the holiday season, all in one delicious tart shell! Each bite is perfectly balanced between sweet ganache, sugared cranberries, pomegranate seeds, and buttery shortbread tart dough.
The tender tart shell and creamy ganache filling is made with French butter – the higher fat content in the cream of cow’s milk gives French butter its deliciously creamy taste making each and every bite oh-so decadent.
Ingredients:
- Sweet tart shell – This sweet shortbread cookie-like tart shell is easy to tackle once you learn all of the tips and tricks.
- Dark Chocolate – Deep, rich chocolate flavour is the hero of our tart full of dark chocolate ganache!
- Butter – Unsalted French butter is what we used here. This will also work with vegan butter if you are dairy free.
- Eggs – A few eggs in the tart filling will emulsify the mixture and help it hold its shape.
- Fresh Cranberries – Cranberries are an obvious choice during the holidays to me, but this technique will work to make any kind of sugared berries. (You can also make sugared rosemary for some Christmas tree themed decor!)
Tart Shell
- Mix the sugar, butter, vanilla paste, salt, almond flour, and all-purpose flour together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Scrape down the sides before mixing in one egg at a time. To finish, slowly add in the bread flour until it’s just combined.
- Wrap the ball of tart dough in plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin and press it gently into the bottom of the pan. Use a fork to poke holes in the bottom of the dough. Place it in the freezer.
- Add a layer of parchment paper on top of the dough in the pan, place the pie weights on top, and blind bake for 20 minutes. Then, remove the pie weights and bake until the buttery crust is slightly browned, an additional 10 minutes or so and place on a wire rack.
How to make the dark chocolate ganache filling
Place chocolate and butter into a large bowl.
In a small saucepan, bring cream just barely to a simmer.
Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and butter, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. After 5 minutes have passed, stir with a spatula until all three ingredients are combined and smooth.
Bringing it all together
Pour ganache into the cooled tart base. Smooth out the top and place in the fridge to set for 1-2 hours.
Ideas for Garnishing
While the dark chocolate ganache tart is already bursting with beautiful colors and flavours, you can really take it up a notch with a festive garnish. Any of these suggestions would be delicious:
- Powdered sugar
- Whipped cream
- Chopped walnuts
- Pecans
- Cacao nibs
- Chocolate ribbons
- Caramel drizzle
- Honey
- Maple syrup
- Hazelnuts
This recipe was first featured in Emily Laurae
