Last week I took a break from scrolling for seasonal baking inspiration on Instagram, made a cup of coffee, and revisited my cookbook library. I was drawn to a recipe in the Great British Bakeoff Big Book of Baking (published after the 5th season of the show) for a “Chocolate Fudge Tart”. A few things steered me in the direction of this particular recipe – 1) I had just invested in a set of tart parts with removable bottoms (which really is key to easy slicing and serving!), 2) the ingredients were all pantry staples – no last minute trip to the supermarket required, and 3) I love fall flavors, don’t get me wrong, but I had really reached pumpkin/apple/cinnamon overload and my taste buds were calling out for something rich and chocolatey.
I also had another reason that I hesitate to divulge because it belies any self-illusion that I’m a baking expert, but in the spirit of full transparency and radical honesty, here it is: I’m deathly afraid of pie/tart crusts. (Making it, not eating it, of course). I envy the artistic pie bakers showcasing crisp and buttery creations on social media, created with a deft and delicate hand, easy as buttering their morning toast. I tried to recreate my mother’s lemon meringue pie at least a dozen times in my youth, replete with soggy bottoms (oh dear!) and tough-as-shoe-leather crust mishaps. So, I’m ashamed to say, I gave up. I diverted my attention to making the tallest, softest layer cakes, multi-day patisserie endeavors, and mastering crusty, chewy bread. But sooner or later, we all have to face our fears if we want to grow into better, stronger versions of ourselves. I thought this would be a good opportunity to face my fear to grow into a more confident, well-rounded baker not afraid of shortcrust pastry and blind baking.
So I did what any reasonable person seeking a new skill does in 2021 – I pulled up Youtube and searched for “tart crust how to”, where I found this excellent tutorial from Ed Kimber (aka The Boy who Bakes, also a GBBO alum). I watched it several times and recommend you do as well if you are also a tart/pie crust novice. He has several excellent tips I had not heard before, including 1) gently lifting the edges of the pastry before pressing them into the tin to avoid stretching and thinning it out, 2) using a rolling pin to neatly and quickly trim the top of the pastry once its in the tin, and 3) using dry rice as baking weight when blind baking. This last once was a game changer for me – I’ve tried blind baking with everything from aluminum foil to dried beans to expensive pie weights, none of which worked great. Rice is excellent because it fills the entire area of the tart/pie without adding too much heft and doesn’t leave rounded divets in the pastry. You can save and reuse the rice again and again, making it an economical/sustainable choice as well.
I took a deep breath and slowly, methodically went about the mixing and forming of the pastry crust, made with ground walnuts for extra flavor and richness. I dutifully followed Ed’s directions and was rewarded with a neat and tidy crust ready for blind baking. While that was in the oven, I revisited the recipe to begin the chocolate fudge filling.
This is when I realized that I would essentially be making a brownie in a tart shell. More walnuts + eggs + sugar + a whole lot of butter + minimal flour + cocoa powder adds up to what I would call a damn good brownie. As such, I’ve rebranded the recipe name to reflect it’s true self, which is a Walnut Brownie in a buttery walnut tart. It’s a two-for-one, a bonus, a great chocolate dessert mashup for when you can’t possibly be forced to decide between crisp pastry and fudgy chocolately goodness. It is excellent served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, even more so if it’s still slightly warm from the oven.
And for an even more extra bonus, I highly suggest you hold on to any pastry scraps left after lining the tin and make pie crust cookies. Anytime my mom made a pie, she would roll out the scraps, cut them into abstract pieces, and generously sprinkle with cinnamon sugar – resulting in a crispy, buttery, shortbread-like treat to tide us over until the pie was cooled and ready to cut.
A final note – I used a tart pan with very short sides (<1 inch) -if yours is deeper, consider doubling the brownie filling ingredients to ensure you fill the volume of your tin! That was how the original recipe was written, but I made a (ultimately correct) guess that the amoung of filling would overwhelm my shallow pan.
Walnut Brownie Tart
Ingredients
- 175g all-purpose flour
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 50g walnuts
- 1 tsp white sugar
- 113g (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and diced
- 2.5 Tbsp ice water
- 150 roughly chopped walnuts
- 3 large eggs at room temp
- 150g light brown sugar
- 150g dark brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 175g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 60g cocoa powder
- 50g all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
Directions
- Put the 175g flour, 1/8 tsp salt, 50g walnuts and 1 tsp white sugar in a food processor and run until walnuts are finely chopped and mixture looks like wet sand. Add the diced cold butter and process until the mixture looks like bread crumbs. Add the ice water through the feed tube while the food processor runs until the dough comes together in a ball. Carefully remove and flatten into a disk, wrap in clingfilm and shape into a thick disc. Refridgerate for 30 minutes.
- Toast the remaining walnut pieces at 375F for 5-8 minutes until lightly toasted and golden (optional, but adds good flavor). Set aside to cool.
- On a lightly flour work surface, roll out the pastry to a round circle about 12 inches in diameter and line a 9-inch quiche/tart tin*, preferably with a removable bottom (see the video linked in the post above for a step-by-step!) and chill for 15 minutes.
- After chilling, line pastry with a piece of crumpled up and re-opened parchment (crumpling softens the paper and allows it to fit into the tin). Pour dry rice to fill the tin and bake for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the parchment paper and rice and bake for another 7-8 minutes until the pastry is lightly golden and fully cooked (you may need to prick the bottom with a knife a few times to deflate any residual puffs). Lower oven temperature to 350F. Place a large baking sheet in the oven to heat up.
- Make the brownie batter. Whisk eggs in a stand mixer or with an electric mixer until frothy. Add light and dark sugars and vanilla and whisk for another 2-3 minutes or until thick and mousse-like. With mixer running, pour in butter in a thin steady stream. Sift flour, cocoa, and salt into the bowl and fold gently with a spatula until no flour streaks remain. Fold in the cooled chopped walnuts.
- Spoon the brownie batter in the tart shell and spread evenly. Place tart shell on the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the center is puffed and slightly firm.
- Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before unmolding, slicing and serving.
