I was walking to the market the other day and saw a neighborhood sign advertising a Memorial Day cookout on Sunday featuring a Pie Contest! I was intrigued! I have never entered a pie baking contest before! I knew I was making a lot of desserts for my own cookout on Monday afternoon, so I figured I would make an extra on Sunday and bring it for this competition. I figured everyone would be making a fruit pie (and I was right), so I went in the opposite direction!

I don’t usually like caramel, but I do like Bouchees au Caramel, a chewy soft caramel square from France sprinkled with Fleur de Sel. Trader Joe’s occasionally sell these French caramels, but they cover them in chocolate. I saw a recipe for a caramel chocolate pie online once, now I can’t find it so I combined a few different ones to make this dish. It is delicious but is another one of those dishes that is impossible to eat a large piece of. It is very dense. Sprinkle on the Fleur de Sel right before serving, it tends to melt into the chocolate overnight.

Salted Chocolate and Caramel Tart

crust:
12 tbsp butter
2 cups cake flour
4-6 tbsp cold water
6 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt

filling:
2 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 stick butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt

chocolate ganache:
4 ounces dark chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
fleur de sel

1. Mix flour and cocoa together.
   Mix softened butter and flour together, by hand.
   Add salt and a bit of water to bring it together into a ball.
2. Chill for a half an hour.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
   Roll crust out to fit into an 9-10 inch tart pan.
   Line with parchment. Add a layer of baking beans.
   Bake for 10 minutes or so. Remove beans, bake 10 minutes longer.
4. In a large sauce pan, bring water and sugar to boil.
   Cook for 10-15 minutes until caramel forms, do not stir.
   Remove from heat and whisk in butter, heavy cream and salt.
   Whisk until smooth.
5. Pour into tart shell and leave to cool and set for 1 hour.
6. Place chocolate in a bowl. Bring cream to a boil.
   Pour over chocolate, whisk until smooth.
   Pour over caramel. Refrigerate 1 hour. Sprinkle fleur de sel.

do not mix until caramelized.

Turn off the heat and add butter and cream. It will bubble.

It will continue to bubble for a while!

Pie is served!

The first pie completely finished!

The winning prize! I love my new handmade ceramic pie dish!

Total cooking time: 3 hours inclusive of rest, 20 minutes active time, serves 12-14

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