Comfy, Cosy, … Living

Today is one of those perfect Sundays: no appointments (Well, only swimming with Charlotte and her cousins), no jobs waiting to be finished.  Just doing what I feel like doing and leaving whatever I don’t what to touch.  So that leaves me blogging whilst I’m baking bread for this week and making a scrumptious Tarte au Chocolat.

Are you still left with tons of Christmas chocolates?  Chocolate figurines are tradition here in Germany.  We celebrate “Nicolaus” on December 6th, which leaves us with the first batch of chocolate. And 3 weeks later, Christmas gives us the final killer dosage.  No one in the world can eat that much chocolate without ending up with liver damages.  And that’s why in January, I am always left with tons of chocolate and not a clue what to do with it.  Until … my husband dearest, told me that his grandmother used to bake chocolate pie with it.  So that’s what I did too

This is the perfect way to get rid of left over chocolate.  Keep on reading!  It’s not difficult at all.

Recipe

Dough:

You will need following ingredients:  125 g/ 4,5 oz Butter  –  70 g/ 2,5 oz Sugar  –  50 g/1,7 oz ground Almonds  –  250 g/ 8,8 oz Flour  –  1 egg

Mix butter, almonds and sugar together.  Then bit by bit, add the flour.  When all four is in the mixture, add the egg and work it all to a big ball of dough.  This ball is to be kept in the fridge until needed.

Chocolate filling:

The ingredients are:  50 g/1,7 oz ground Hazelnuts –  150 g/5,2 oz Chocolate  –  70 g/ 2,5 oz butter – 250 ml/1 cup of cream – a generous splash of Grand Marnier – 3 EL/ 3 table spoons orange marmalade

(if you don’t have any Christmas leftovers, do yourself a favour and get some good quality couverture dark chocolate.  Personally I swear by Callebaut.  As a born Belgian, I cannot accept anything less.)

Here goes:

Roll out the dough to fit in ceramic pie dish (approx. 28cm / 11 inches wide and 4cm/ 1,5 inches high) and line the dish with the dough.  Spread the marmalade over the dough and sprinkle it with the hazelnuts.  Bake it in the preheated oven (180°C / 64F) for about 30 Minutes.  When finished, let it cool.

In the meantime melt the butter, chocolate, cream and Grand Marnier.  Poor the mass into the prebaked base.  Let it all cool in the fridge for at least 1 hour.  (Overnight is even better)

Isn’t it a sweet beginning for this year?  Or just … the perfect Sunday treat