Chocolate Spider Web Halloween Tarts
Serves 6
35 mins prep
30 mins cook
65 mins total
Chocolate sweet crust tarts with pumpkin caramel cheesecake filling and chocolate ganache with halloween spider web design.
Chocolate tart dough
Pumpkin caramel cheesecake filling
Chocolate ganache
White chocolate ganache
Do ahead
The tart dough and cheesecake filling can be made ahead of time, if desired.
Make tart dough
Sift together cake flour, almond flour, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt into a food processor.
Add cold butter pieces and pulse until a sandy texture forms. The mixture should hold shape in a clump when pressed into your palm.
Stream in the egg with the processor running. Process just until a ball forms, then stop so as to not overmix. Cover the dough in plastic wrap, flattening into a disk. Rest in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, or overnight.
After resting, roll it out into 2mm thickness between thick plastic or two silicone baking mats. Do not use extra flour for rolling.
Place the dough into the freezer for 15 minutes to make it easier to work with. Prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.
Take the dough out from the freezer and cut out circles the size of the bottom of your tart rings. Place your tart rings onto your prepared baking sheet. Place circles into the bottoms of your rings.
If your dough becomes too warm to work with, stick it back in the freezer for a few minutes.
Next, cut long strips for the sides of your tart rings. Place strips into your tart rings without trimming the excess yet. Set the pan of unbaked tarts in the freezer to freeze solid for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 325°F.
Take the pan out and trim excess dough. Prick the bottoms with a fork. Place parchment and pie weights in each cavity, then bake for 20 minutes. Remove parchment and pie weights and bake again until bottoms look dry and done, about 5-10 more minutes.
Cool completely, then unmold and brush bottoms with melted semisweet chocolate to prevent a soggy bottom. Let cool.
Make the pumpkin cheesecake filling
Beat heavy cream to stiff peaks with hand beaters or in a stand mixer. Set aside.
Beat cream cheese until there are no lumps at all with hand beaters or in a stand mixer. Add pumpkin puree, powdered sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and salt. Beat together until thoroughly combined.
Fold in the whipped cream with a rubber spatula. Place the mixture into a piping bag for easier filling, if desired.
Make the ganaches
Combine the semisweet chocolate and heavy cream in a heatproof bowl. Set it over a bain-marie, a medium saucepan with an inch of water, over medium heat. Stir until there are no lumps of chocolate left. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Place in a piping bag or squeeze bottle, if desired.
Repeat for the white chocolate ganache, but add white gel food coloring, if desired, after heating. Place in a piping bag or squeeze bottle.
Assemble the tarts
Fill the cooled tart shells ¾ of the way up with the pumpkin cheesecake filling. Add drops of salted caramel and swirl into the filling with a toothpick
Pour or pipe chocolate ganache on top of the cheesecake filling up to the top of the tart shells.
To make the spider web design, pipe a dot of white chocolate ganache in the center of the tart. Pipe rings of white chocolate ganache around the outside of the center dot.
Drag a toothpick from the center dot to the outer edges.
Move the tarts to the refrigerator to cool the ganache completely before serving.
