Often times I like to be a little adventurous and try making desserts with more components involved. This tart is so tasty it is well worth the effort. If you do not have a rectangle tart ring, you can always change things around and make it round or square or whatever shapes you prefer. Chocolate decorations is just a final touch up but that can be replaced with fresh seasonal fruits or chocolate shavings.
What is Sable Breton?
Sable Breton is a French butter cookie originating from Brittany, west of France and has an airy and delicate texture. This pastry is really versatile and can be used for different application such in to discs and baked as cookies or to be used as base for tarts and cakes.
One of the main ingredients in this pastry that sets it apart from the other French butter short crust pastry is the addition of baking powder. Baking powder when mixed in with liquid and is in contact with heat (baking in the oven) will start to react and create lots of tiny air pockets. This is what gives that distinctive airy texture to the pastry.
What makes a good Sable Breton Cookie?
Good quality butter. Because this cookie involves quite a large amount of butter, it is important that you use only good quality butter for the recipe. I personally love Lescure butter imported from France or you can use any type of cultured butter that is higher in butterfat content for that depth of flavour. Although recently I have been changing my cause to supporting more local brands like Pepe Saya cultured butter in Australia, manufactured in New South Wales.
Chantilly cream
Chantilly cream change my life in pastry because there is just so much you can do with them. Chantilly cream is a whipped cream made from a chocolate ganache base before additional cream are added and then whipped. This cream does not only taste absolutely fantastic, its one of the best cream to use for better structure where you can pipe with it or use it for masking a cake without it getting too soft to handle. Be mindful not to overwhip or overwork them though, as this can cause the cream to split and look unappetizing.
This cream needs to be made at least a day ahead to allow it to cool for best whipping result. Since part of the recipe to make the Chantilly cream requires you to heat some of the cream to make a ganache with the chocolate before whisking it with the rest of the cream, the warm temperature in the mix will not allow the protein in the cream to whip up well enough as a completely chilled cream does. Therefore it is highly recommended that you prepare the Chantilly cream a day ahead and leave in the fridge to chill completely.
This cream can be prepared days ahead, although whipped Chantilly will have a shorter shelf life compared to the un-whipped Chantilly due to the air that is incorporated in to them, so if you are making a bigger batch and only want to serve a few at a time, simply only whip what you need.
RECIPE
The below recipe makes 10 x individual tart
Sable Breton Pastry
Plain Flour 240 g
Fine Salt 4 g
Castor Sugar 170 g
Baking Powder 24 g
Unsalted Butter 180 g
Egg Yolks 80 g
Method:
1. Place the plain flour, salt, sugar and baking powder into a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment.
2. Add the room temperature butter (not solid and not melting in your hands either).
3. Mix over medium speed until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs and there are no big lumps of butter.
4. Add in all the yolks and mix until the ingredients just come together and form into a dough. Do not be tempted to over mix.
5. Transfer the pastry over a cling film, flatten in to a square and wrap. Leave in the fridge to rest overnight or for at least 2 hours.
6. Once the pastry have rested, remove from the fridge and lightly dust the bench with plain flour. Roll the pastry out to approximately 0.5 cm in thickness. Cut with a cutter and place it inside a well greased tart ring.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 170°C.
7. Place into the preheated oven and bake for approximately 13 to 15 minutes. The tart pastry will rise significantly at first and then collapse in the center. Remove the tray from the oven and let it cool slightly.
8. Gently remove the sable from the rings and leave to fully cool. Set aside until ready to use.
Caramel Cream Chantilly
Sugar 100 g
Full Cream (1) 330 g
Full Cream (2) 240 g
Milk Chocolate 150 g
Unsalted Butter 60 g
Fine Salt 4 g
Note: I use Arriba Chocolate from Callebaut for the Cream Chantilly with a minimum of 33.0% Cacao Solids. You can use any type of Coverture Milk chocolate. If you opt to use dark chocolate with a higher Cacao Solids content, you may need to increase the amount of cream slightly.
Method
1. Start by placing Full Cream or thickened cream (2) into a saucepan and bring to a mere simmer over the stove. Turn off the heat and leave aside ready to use.
2. Meanwhile, Place the sugar into a pot over medium heat, gently heat to melt until it turns in to an amber caramel in color.
3. Deglaze the caramel with the butter and salt (at this point the hot sugar will sizzle, so be careful not to burn yourself). Whisk the mixture together, then gradually stream in the hot cream (1) and stir to combine and continue stirring over low heat until there are no lumps of sugar present.
4. Pour the caramel cream over the coverture chocolate, then stir to combine. Leave to cool to below 35°C, then add in Full Cream (2). Place the mix into a deep dish or a jug and emulsify with the help of a stick blender.
5. Wrap the Chantilly cream with cling film touching the surface and let it rest in the fridge overnight. At this point, the Chantilly cream is quite liquid.
6. The next day the rested chantilly cream will have a slightly thicker texture. When ready to use, place the Chantilly cream into a stand mixer bowl with a whisk attachment. Whisk the cream until it reaches a pipeable consistency.
Avoid over whisking to prevent splitting.
Chocolate Ganache
165 g Heavy Cream
1 Vanilla bean, split and scraped
4 g Invert Sugar
135 g 67% Madagascar Dark Coverture Chocolate
25 g Unsalted Butter
Method
Note: The ganache recipe makes more than enough for 12 tarts. You will be left with some excess that can used in chocolate bon bon or for cookies. It is much easier to make the above recipe than trying to cut them down in to smaller quantity
1. Place the heavy cream into a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a mere simmer or until it reaches 80 - 85°C.
Meanwhile, place the vanilla bean, inverted sugar and coverture chocolate into a deep jug or a bowl.
2. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, ensuring that all the chocolate are fully submerged in the cream and let it sit for 1 to 2 minutes.
3. With a spatula, gently stir the ganache until all the chocolate have fully melted. Transfer the chocolate into a jug and emulsify by blending with the help of a stick blender for 2 to 3 minutes or until smooth.
4. Leave the ganache to cool to below 40°C, then add in the unsalted butter and re emulsify with the stick blender.
Cover with a cling film touching the ganache to avoid skin from forming and let it cool until it reaches a pipeable consistency. To expedite the process, you can place the ganache into the fridge for a couple of hour or ideally, leave it at room temperature to crystalize overnight.
Transfer the ganache into a piping bag and set aside until ready to use.
5. Transfer the cool ganache into a piping bag and proceed to using.
Salted Caramel
120 g Thickened Cream / Pure Cream
90 g Unsalted Butter
200 g Castor Sugar
2 g Sea Salt Flakes
Place the castor sugar over a non stick deep pan over low heat to melt and until it turn in to a light amber brown color. Meanwhile, heat the heavy cream in a separate saucepan and leave aside until ready to use.
Once the sugar starts to turn golden in color, deglaze with the butter and salt, stir to combine, then add in the heavy cream. The sugar mix will start to bubble, keep stirring until the bubbles are no longer vigorous (this should take around 2 minutes or so). Turn off the heat and transfer the caramel into a bowl cover with cling film touching the surface.
Leave to cool before using. If the Caramel starts to get too thick, simply place it in the microwave and heat in a few seconds intervals to soften then proceed to using.
Note: The leftover caramel can be stored in an airtight jar and be kept in the fridge to up to 2 weeks.
