Yes Chef: Chocolate Masala Chai Wow!

As I continue on my journey to include tea as an ingredient in my cooking and baking, my latest experiment in the kitchen had me creating a decadent chocolate tart with Masala Chai. Oh my!

This recipe is just for the filling as I did not include any tea in the crust. So, you will need a baked 9” pie crust. Feel free to make your own dough or buy it from the supermarket. I made my own crust using paleo ingredients that included almond and tapioca flours. I made enough to cover a 9.5” tart pan with a removable bottom.

Crust is ready for dressing!

Ingredients:

• 300 g milk chocolate
• 200 g bittersweet chocolate
• 115 ml 35% whipping cream
• 115 ml almond milk
• 2 tbps Masala Chai

Procedure:

1. Pour whipping cream, almond milk, and chai, into a saucepan and heat at medium to high.
2. Bring to a full boil, then set aside for about 30 minutes to an hour to continue infusing.
3. Pour tea mixture through a sieve a couple of times to remove all large particles.
4. Heat tea mixture again, bringing it back to a boil.
5. Have both chocolates ready and chopped, sitting in a heatproof bowl.
6. Once the tea mixture comes to a boil, pour over the chocolates in the bowl.
7. Allow the chocolates to sit for a few minutes to melt, then whisk the mixture until smooth.
8. Pour the chocolate mixture into the pie shell and place in the fridge for 2-3 hours until it becomes firm.
9. To serve, bring tart to room temperature, slice, and enjoy!

Is this good enough?

Maybe some white chocolate works?

Now, my biggest fault is always underestimating myself. I wasn’t sure if this is was a wow or a dud. I liked what I ate. It was chocolate heaven with a subtle hit of Masala Chai. The crust was nutty goodness. Total Zen! However, I wanted validation. I used my co-workers as the taste testing victims, requesting their honest opinion on my dessert. Every one of them loved it! I even tried steering them into some possible negative aspects of the tart, but was met with a head shaking telling me there was nothing to change. One of them actually wanted to buy a full tart from me. I was happy to hear all this, but I think I would still tweak a few things in the future. Nothing drastic though!

Try a slice!

Tips:

• As already stated, feel free to buy a pie crust from the market if you do want to make you own. Tenderflake is pretty good.
• To speed up the chocolate melting, you can heat it lightly over a double-boiler, and then pour the tea mixture over it to whisk until smooth.
• Make your own Masala Chai. In the future, I’m going to try my own tea mixture rather than a ready made tea brand. This way, I control the amounts of each spice used.

Options:

• Decorate your tart with berries, sprinkles, nuts etc… I drizzled some melted white chocolate on my tart after allowing it to sit in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
• Serve each slice with a dollop of whipped-cream and a dash of cinnamon for an extra hit of spice.
• I used a combination of whipping cream and almond milk, but feel free to use just one type or a combination of other milks. Coconut would be great.