Festive amaretto chocolate tart

SERVES 4 FOR THE PASTRY

220g plain flour

120g butter, chilled and diced small

3 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp icing sugar

1 free range egg yolk

3 to 4 tbsp cold water or a little more

1 egg white, to glaze

FOR THE CHOCOLATE GANACHE FILLING

500ml cream

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp amaretto liqueur 40g butter

350g dark chocolate chips

Chocolate stars, to decorate Berries, to decorate

Gold shimmer or sprinkles

METHOD

1 To prepare the pastry, place the plain flour into a bowl, rub the butter into the pastry so that it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the cocoa powder and icing sugar. 2 Beat the egg yolk and pour into the flour, add in enough cold water to form pastry dough.

3 Wrap the pastry and leave in the fridge for at least ½ an hour to rest before rolling out.

4 To bake the pastry, brush the base and sides of a 23cm loose base deep flan tin with melted butter.

5 Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/ fan 180°C/gas 6. Roll the pastry out thinly in between parchment, large enough to fit into the flan tin comfortably and to line up the sides, leaving a little extra over the edge on top. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes and then trim off the top edges neatly with a sharp knife or the rolling pin.

6 Prick the base of the pastry with a fork but don’t pierce all the way through. Line the pastry with parchment paper, fill with baking beans and bake for 20 minutes. Re-move the parchment paper with the beans.

7 Brush the pastry with beaten egg white and return to the oven for about 2 to 3 minutes until set.

8 To prepare the chocolate filling, place the cream and sugar in a saucepan to warm until hot, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add the amaretto. Place the chocolate and butter into a bowl and pour the hot milk over.

9 Cover the bowl and leave for 5 minutes so that the chocolate will melt. 10 Using a spatula, fold together, cool while mixing and spoon into the baked pastry base. Leave in the fridge overnight. 11 When ready to serve, loosen the flan tin and transfer onto a cake stand, decorate with chocolate stars, berries, rosemary, gold shimmer and gold sprinkles.