I don’t know why but there’s just a soothing feeling from the taste with anything pumpkin. Like pumpkin soup, pumpkin latte, and also… Pumpkin pie. Now, i am not really a traditional baker. I like to add a little something (or a twist) on my bake goods. And in this case, CHOCOLATE!!!!! And also cinnamon crust. But really though, chocolate is crucial (at least for me).
I add cinnamon to my sweet shortcrust pastry because i think it needs a twist. Plus cinnamon and pumpkin goes really well together.
So in short, this dessert is a cinnamon shortcrust tart shell with spiced pumpkin pie, topped with a dark chocolate ganache and drizzled with white chocolate.
Cinnamon shortcrust ingredients:
Ice cold water, flour, cold butter, cinnamon, sugar + salt.
Combine the flour, sugar + salt and the cold butter.
Rub the butter into the flour working fast so that the butter stays cold.
Until it resembles a crumbly texture.
wrap in cling film and put in the fridge to relax the dough.
Fit the dough in the tart tin(s) and blind bake them.
Once baked, put some finely chopped chocolate over the top and put them back to the oven for a bit to melt down the chocolate.
For the filling. The ingredients are:
Condensed milk, pumpkin puree, eggs and spices.
Combine the pumpkin and condensed milk and whisk.
And add the eggs and spices. Pour the filling over the pie shell and bake once more.
Make the ganache.
Melted dark chocolate and cream.
Mix them to make a silky smooth ganache. Pour over the baked pumpkin pie. And drizzle some melted white chocolate.
Et viola!
Let’s see how they look inside.
Cinnamon sweet shortcrust pastry
Ingredients:
• 1¼ cups flour (preferably cake flour but all purpose is fine too)
• 3 tbsp sugar
• ½ cup/1 stick unsalted butter (cut into small squares)
• 3-5 tbsp ice water
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 15 g dark chocolate (finely chopped)
How to make the tart shell:
1. Mix the flour, sugar, salt and butter in a bowl. Rub the butter and the flour until the mixture resembles crumbly dough. Add the ice cold water and cinnamon. Mix until just incorporate. Put in the fridge for about 1 hour.
2. Roll the dough on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin until it’s about 1cm thick or half an inch and fit it to your floured tartlets pan. Put in the fridge to minimize shrinking and line the tin with parchment paper/aluminium foil and use beans/rice/rocks to add weight to the tartlets.
3. Bake at 350°F or 180°C for about 20-25 minutes.
4. Take it out and put the chocolate on the base, put it back into the oven that has been turn off for about 1 minutes and take them out and let it cool.
Pumpkin pie filling
Ingredients:
• 2 cups pumpkin puree (about a tin of canned pumpkin)
• 1 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon powdered ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon ground clove
For the chocolate ganache:
• ½ cup (120 g) chopped dark chocolate
• 1 cup cream
How to make:
1. Whisk the pumpkin and condensed milk together. Add the eggs and all the spices.
2. Pour the mixture into the tart shell and bake at 420°F or 200°c for 15 minutes and reduce the temperature to 350°F or 180°c for 30-40 minutes. Let cool
3. Make the ganache by melting the chocolate and heating the cream until almost boiling and then combine the two together to create a glossy ganache.
4. Once the pie has cooled, pour over the ganache and garnish with some more melted white chocolate.