I called it Christmas tart because I made it with a spiced shortcrust pastry and decorated it with little stars and silver sprinkles. However, it can be presented in a thousand different ways. And that is what I will surely do because it’s a shame to eat it only during the holiday season. Just make it with regular shortcrust pastry and cover it with the classic lattice pattern to serve it all year round. The filling is fantastic, reminiscent of a pudding, and remains soft and moist. In short, a cake that I really liked, and given how quickly it disappeared, I deduced that everyone liked it. However, it has one downside: it should be consumed quickly, within a day or two at most, because the filling tends to soften the stars, and they lose their crispness. All that’s left is to try it and let me know what you think.
Other Christmas sweets you might be interested in:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 40 Minutes
- Preparation time: 50 Minutes
- Portions: 10 servings
- Cooking methods: Stovetop, Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas
Ingredients for the Christmas Tart
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 egg (medium)
- 3/8 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup potato starch
- 2 cups milk
- 5 oz dark chocolate
- 3 tbsp butter
- silver sprinkles (optional)
Tools
I made the dough for this Christmas tart by hand, but you can also make it with a mixer.
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Whisk
- 1 Saucepan
- 1 Rolling pin
- 1 Tart pan 9.5 inches in diameter
- 2 Cookie cutters star-shaped
Preparation of the Christmas Tart
Here’s the slice:
Put the flour, ginger, cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and baking soda in a bowl and mix with a small whisk. Add the sugar and mix again.
Then, add the honey and cold butter, and knead the ingredients quickly with your fingertips, trying to blend the butter with the powders. You will get a rather sandy mixture.
At this point, add the egg and knead again.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, work it briefly with your hands until you obtain a smooth and homogeneous dough. If it is too soft, add a little more flour.
Then, form a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest in the fridge for at least 40 minutes.
Put the sugar and potato starch in a saucepan, off the heat, and mix them.
Then, pour in the milk and give a quick stir before placing the saucepan on the heat. Bring to a boil and let the cream thicken, stirring constantly.
Remove the saucepan from the heat, add the dark chocolate previously chopped into pieces, and stir until completely melted. Then, add the butter and incorporate it perfectly.
Remove the dough from the fridge, set aside about 100 g, and roll out the rest with a rolling pin.
Then, transfer it into a 9.5-inch removable-bottom tart pan, make it adhere well to the edges, remove the excess dough, and prick the base with the tines of a fork.
Add the dough scraps to the previously set-aside dough. Roll out this dough with the rolling pin and cut out large and small stars. Transfer them to a tray lined with parchment paper and place them in the fridge for about ten minutes.
Pour the chocolate cream into the spiced shortcrust shell and smooth it well with a spatula.
When the cookies have cooled a bit, remove them from the fridge and pierce each with a silver sprinkle.
Decorate the tart as desired. I made an outer ring of large stars, an inner ring of small stars, and placed a differently shaped star in the center. Finally, I scattered silver chocolate flakes here and there. If you can’t find them, you can replace them with whatever you have available. You can also choose to add nothing more.
Bake the Christmas tart in a preheated static oven at 340°F for about 35 minutes, covering it with a sheet of aluminum foil during the last 10 minutes of baking if it browns too much.
Remove from the oven and let it cool completely before removing from the pan and transferring to the serving plate. If desired, it can be dusted with powdered sugar, which I preferred not to add. Enjoy! Paola
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