Chocolate Truffle Tarts

Every week I bring you a video recipe and this week I'm in the Jenn-Air kitchen at Contract Appliance to share my favorite dessert, Chocolate Truffle Tart. Don't be intimidated by fresh pie dough, watch my video for tips on how to make, roll and fill pie dough. With a little practice you might find that making pies and tarts to be your go-to dessert.

• 1 Cup heavy whipping cream
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 large egg yolk

Preheat an oven to 325 degrees and position an oven rack in the center.

To prepare tart shell: On a lightly floured work surface; roll out the dough until 1/8 inch thick. Using a large spatula, place into a 10-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom, pressing slightly to cover the bottoms and sides. Trim the dough to be flush with the rim and chill for 10 minutes.

Cover shell with parchment paper, and fill with pie weights blind-bake in the oven until pale golden brown, about 15 minutes, and allow to cool.

To prepare tart filling: In a medium saucepan, combine the cream and milk and place on the stove over medium-high heat and bring to a low boil. Remove from the heat; add the chocolate and let stand until melted, about 5 minutes. Using a whisk, stir until smooth.

In a small bowl, whisk in the egg with the egg yolk and then whisk in 1/2 cup of the chocolate cream. Thoroughly whisk this custard mixture into the chocolate cream in the saucepan.

Transfer the filling into the prepared tart shell and bake until set around the rim but still slightly jiggles in the center, about 30 minutes.

PIE DOUGH
It’s as easy as 3 2 1

• 3 - Part Flour
• 2 - Part Butter
• 1 - Part Water

This technique is based on a ratio of twice as much flour as fat by weight. The fat is rubbed into flour to create a loose mixture that is then bound using a small amount of ice water, rolled out, then shaped and placed to create the top or bottom of a tart or pie. Using butter adds flavor while using lard ensures optimum texture.

Have a cooking or baking question? Leave it in the comments section and Chef Mark will get back to you!

Create Your Own Professional-Quality Kitchen!

Have you ever wondered how professional chefs set up their own kitchens at home? Certainly they’re the experts, since they spent a large part of their days cooking, prepping and cleaning up kitchens on the job. Here are a few tips to give your home kitchen the pro chef treatment- without breaking the bank!

Open up- Most professional chefs love open-plan kitchens as a great way to entertain and cook at the same time. Instead of spending their dinner parties sequestered in a walled-off kitchen, this way chefs can interact with their guests, have fun, and even show off a bit as they prepare amazing meals when company comes over.

Pay attention to the “kitchen work triangle”- This refers to the small area comprised of the refrigerator, prep area and stove/oven area. These three important locations are commonly found near one another in a typical kitchen layout- a chef doesn’t want to have to go all the way from one end of the kitchen to another as she is working. Though large kitchens with tons of counter space are becoming quite popular in modern home layouts, chefs don’t necessarily need or even want all that space, and prefer to keep a tight work space, with one designated zone for each part of the cooking process.

   Group your utensils- Worry less about what looks nice and more about what works well. Functionality beats form when it comes to kitchen utensils, and chefs recommend putting all the utensils you use most into a container on the spot on your counter where you do the most cooking. Of course, design and practicality can have a happy medium- look for fun, cool-looking containers that go with the personality of your kitchen and serve their purpose.

Buy good cooking implements- It’s tempting to go for the bargain items that may not work as well, but come at a lower price. However, chefs recommend that you buy high-quality, highly-recommended cookware, utensils and appliances which will not only work better but last longer, saving you money in the long run.

Is your kitchen chef-worthy? Tell us about your setup in the comments below.

Self-Cleaning Before The Holiday Can Lead To Disaster!

As the holiday season approaches, everyone is making plans for friends and family to visit; this means large gatherings, meals, parties, etc. Basically, who ever is hosting that year is putting their house on display more during these holidays than any other time of the year. This much traffic in the house only means one thing to several home owners: TIME TO CLEAN!

Of course the rest of the house will be eyed top-to-bottom to be cleaned, fixed, adjusted, etc. But one single appliance, in one single room tends to get a lot of this attention during the holidays as it is the star of all these shenanigans - the all mighty oven. Unfortunately, it typically gets thought of to be cleaned last minute. As the month of November flies by and you get caught up in ensuring the cleanliness of the entire house; typically a day or two before the feast is when it finally comes to thought that maybe the oven should get cleaned. "Oh, well I have a self-cleaning oven," you might think. DON'T DO IT!

As convenient as the self-cleaning feature sounds in the moment of panic, it is a bad idea to use this feature the day right before the festivities. If you are going to use this feature, make sure  you use it a couple WEEKS before, and this is why...

Self cleaning ovens typically reach more than nearly triple the temperature during the cleaning process - this is very hard on your oven. Using the self-cleaning feature usually leads to some kind of oven complication, whether it be blowing a fuse, breaking the handle, or any other sort of damage. It is very common for something to break or go wrong, which means you will have to have time for repairs. People don't normally think about allowing time for repairs "because their ovens are too reliable and haven't had anything go wrong before", but if you break the oven before the day of the feast, you've got a huge problem on your hands.

My point is, if you're going to use the self-clean option, please make sure to do it several weeks before the event. Don't worry, if you forget, you can always look up homemade recipes that will be safe to use in your oven that will take care of the mess without creating a new problem. You  might have to use a little elbow grease, but that's a lot cheaper and way more convenient than purchasing a new oven or a service call.