Recipe courtesy Thomas Haas, Executive Pastry Chef, Senses, Vancouver.
Ingredients
Chocolate Shortbread
Caramel
Chocolate Ganache
Assembly
Directions
Cream the butter, icing sugar, vanilla and salt in mixer with paddle attachment. Add yolk. Sift flour and cocoa and add to the mixture with the corn syrup. Mix slowly and do not over mix. Wrap dough with plastic wrap. Let rest for 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Roll chocolate shortbread on a flat surface, approximately 3mm-thick. Cut circles and carefully line tart shell or rings. Line shell with a coffee filter and fill with uncooked rice. Blind bake for about 15 minutes. Let cool. Remove rice. Finish baking for 7 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Heat up small pan. Melt sugar to golden caramel. Add corn syrup. Glaze with butter. Stir to incorporate. Add cream. Stir to incorporate. Add vanilla and salt. Cook for about 2 minutes. Set aside to cool. Stir in maple syrup.
Bring cream and honey to a boil over medium high heat. Pour over chocolate.Gently stir to incorporate. Let cool to below 40 degrees C. Add soft butter and incorporate. (Use a hand blender for small recipes to avoid separation.)
Spoon the caramel into the tart shell. Carefully pour warm ganache over the caramel. Set aside for about 1 hour at room temperature, just to let the ganache firm up. Sprinkle with fleur de sel. Simply serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.