Dairy/Soya/Gluten-free Chocolate, Black Cherry and Amaretto Tart

Dairy-free, Soya-free, Wheat/gluten-free

Serves: 8 people

Calories per serving: 530

 

 

I've wanted to have a go at gluten-free pastry for a while. Tarts are my favourite things to bake. I've been able to make good shortcrust pastry since I was a teenager, and now I'm a pro. I haven't had a "soggy bottom" for about ten years. :) I just love making pastry... getting my hands into the butter and flour, the feel of the "breadcrumbs" through my fingers, the rolling out, the satisfaction of getting the case lined properly. It's a joy. So yeh, the idea of a new challenge when it comes to pastry intrigued me.

 

I've also wanted to make a dairy-free chocolate tart for some time. It took me a long time to track down some dairy/soya-free chocolate in my price range, and once I did it was sitting in the fridge begging me to use it! The chocolate I got was Lindt's 85% cocoa dark chocolate, which states on the label "may contain milk and soya". So for those with a severe milk/soya allergy it may not be suitable, and you might have to fork out for guaranteed dairy/soya-free chocolate. This chocolate is obviously very dark indeed and gives the tart an almost bitter flavour, which I like, but it might not be to everyone's taste, and in that case you might want to use a dark chocolate with a lower cocoa ratio.

 

So I found a recipe for gluten-free shortcrust pastry online and went ahead with my first tart. But the pastry was so unbelievably crumbly. I had a nightmare rolling it out and getting it into the case! I also found it absorbed all the cherry liquid, leaving the filling a little dry too. So I tried again, this time adapting the recipe for myself, and adding an egg to bind it. It worked much better. I also doubled the amount of cherries and jam, and added even more Amaretto. The tart I've ended up with is a truly adult, indulgent tart which is strongly-flavoured and rich. It's scrummy! (And yes I am running out of adjectives!). So here's my recipe...

 

Ingredients:

 

Pastry:

• 200g brown rice flour
• 100g non-dairy, non-soya spread
• 50g caster sugar
• 50g ground almonds
• 1 medium egg (beaten)

 

Filling:

 

• 1x425g tin black cherries in light syrup
• 4 tbsp cherry jam
• 100g dark chocolate
• 75g non-dairy, non-soya spread
• 100g caster sugar
• 50g ground almonds
• 50g cocoa powder
• 3 medium eggs (beaten)
• 4 tbsp Amaretto liquer
 

Method:

 

Pastry:

 

• Place the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Add the spread and rub in until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. (You can also do this much quicker and easier in a food processor, but I really like doing it by hand).
• Add enough egg that the mixture starts coming together to form a dough. (My granny taught me to do this with a butter knife... just gently move the dough around with the knife until it starts to clog together. Don't add too much egg that it becomes sticky). If the mixture is too dry after you've added the whole egg, add a tiny bit of water. Bring the dough together to form a ball, wrap in clingfilm, and place in the fridge whilst you make the filling.

 

 

Filling:

 

• Preheat the oven to 190C, 170C fan, Gas Mark 5. Grease a 20cm pie dish.
• If the cherries have stones, remove them and set aside. Place the cherry jam in a small saucepan and add a little bit of the syrup from the cherries to thin it out a little. Heat until warm, stirring, then set aside.

 

• Place the dark chocolate into a glass bowl and heat over a pan over gently simmering boiling water to melt. (or use a microwave if you're brave enough (I always burn it!)). Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, cream the spread and sugar until light. Add the almonds, cocoa powder, dark chocolate, eggs and Amaretto and mix.
• Remove the pastry from the fridge and place into the pie dish. Spread it out into the dish using your fingertips until it fits the dish (I tried rolling it out the first time and it was so delicate I was wasting my time! This way is MUCH easier, and you get the pastry thick enough that it doesn't crack when baked!).

• Add the cherries to the tart, spreading them out, then pour over the cherry jam/syrup. Don't worry about there being too much liquid! The pastry will absorb most of it... you need the liquid!

• Pour the chocolate filling over the top and smooth out to completely cover the cherries.
• Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes. You want the filling to be set but still a little bit soft, and the pastry to be cooked.



Note: You should eat this tart as soon as possible after baking! The longer you leave it, the more liquid the pastry will absorb, leaving the filling somewhat dry. It's not a tart that keeps well.