It's That Time of Week Again

That's right!  It's Monday, which means the always welcomed Patisserie class.  What's on the menu for today?  Tarte au Citron (my favorite) and Tarte au Chocolat (I don't exactly hate those either).

They both started with a pate sucrée as the base.  I've shown you the steps for this before, but if you would like to see all the details, you can check out this post.  Otherwise...

It starts like this.

And ends like this.  You then roll it out and dock it with the medieval looking torture device.

And put it in the approriate size ring.  Circle for citron.

Square for chocolate.

And bake.

Until golden brown.

And it is ready for the filling.

Starting ingredients for the lemon filling.

Dissolve some sugar in the lemon juice.

Add the rest of the sugar to the eggs and whisk.

Add the egg mixture to the lemon mixture and heat slowly.

When thick, add butter.

And then fill the tart shell. (P.S. I can't tell you how excited I was at this point.  Tarte au Citron is my absolute favorite, "eat as my last meal" dessert).

Making a huge batch of Swiss meringue.

Which I piped onto the tart.  (Excitement still building!).

Out comes the mini blow torch.

Et voila!  Lemon meringue tart. Can I get an Amen?

So, truth be told, the lemon tart was really good.  However, I was a bit disappointed in the meringue.  It wasn't how I like it.  Upon further thought and discussion with other equally minded lemon tart loving souls, I think the disappointment stemmed from the fact that we used a swiss meringue and not an italian meringue.  I guess that means I'll just have to try it again. The things I do in the name of culinary research!

On to chocolate...

Starting ingredients (sans milk/cream) for the chocolate tart.

Heat the milk or cream and pour it over the chocolate.

Mix in the eggs.

Add some butter and whisk.

Pour into the tart shells.

And bake.

Until just set.

Then, to be fancy, make a sugar glucose mixture.

Add cacoa nibs.

Pour between two silpats (If you don't own a silpat, stop what you are doing and go buy one.  They are indispensable.  Wait!  Finish reading the post first, please).

And out comes this delicious, crackling decoration.

But to really make things decadent, make a chocolate glaze. Yes, to go on top of the chocolate tart, of course.

See how shiny it is!  Gorgeous.

Now cool it down.

Spread it on top of the chocolate tart.

And decorate with pistachios and the cacao nib "candy."  I must admit, this is one of the best tasting chocolate desserts I have ever had.  It has that dangerous quality that makes you want to keep going back for more.