I’m not sure why, but I think of black licorice as a dark and spooky kind of candy. I almost always make this dessert for Halloween. However, here I am in January, the dead of winter, craving this chocolatey anise flavored take on a crème brûlée.
I remember being inspired by this crème brûlée tart in a Martha Stewart magazine. I wrote down the recipe for the licorice custard that contained Pernod. My mind immediately wandered to the Bouchon Bakery cookbook, where there is a chocolate shortbread recipe they use for their TKO (Oreo) cookies. That would be my crust. But if I wanted this to be a composed dessert, I needed some freshness…oranges! Staying with the Halloween theme, and remembering a recipe for Caramelized Blood Oranges from The Last Course, I thought it was a perfect match!
This dessert has been in my back pocket ever since.
And now you’ve been let in on how a pastry chef’s mind works. Booo!
Serves 8
Chocolate Crust
Ingredients:
- 130 g flour
- 44 g cocoa powder
- 4 tsp baking soda
- 114 g butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 81 g sugar
Procedure:
- Beat butter, sugar and salt together in stand mixer until fluffy.
- Combine the flour with cocoa powder and baking soda in a separate bowl. Add this in 2 additions to the butter mixture.
- Mix until incorporated.
- Roll out and place over top of the tart pan (13″ x 4″ Rectangular). Use your fingers to press into the sides and corners.
- Blind bake the crust with pie weights/beans or whatever you fancy!
- Bake at 325F for 10ish minutes.
Caramelized Oranges
Ingredients:
- 4 small oranges (I used Cara Cara)
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tsp light corn syrup
- ¼ cup water
- 2 Tbsp orange juice
- Pinch of salt
Procedure:
- Peel and segment oranges into beautiful pieces. Squeeze out 2 Tbsp of juice from the remaining membranes and drink the rest.
- Combine sugar, water and corn syrup and simmer until a dark amber.
- Add the orange juice and salt and simmer again for 3 minutes.
- Add the orange segments. Stir.
- Chill.
Black Licorice Custard
Ingredients:
- 2 cups 35% cream
- 5 oz black licorice
- 6 egg yolks
- ½ cup sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 ½ tsp Pernod
Procedure:
- Bring cream and licorice to a simmer. Cover and turn off heat. Let stand for 45 min.
- Whisk yolks with sugar and salt. Add steeped cream.
- Strain twice, making sure there are no leftover bits of licorice.
- Add Pernod.
Assembly:
- Pour black licorice custard over baked crust and bake again at 250F for 25 minutes or until just set.
- Cool to room temperature before chilling in the fridge.
- Unmold from tart pan, sprinkle with white sugar and use a blow torch to caramelize the top.
- Serve with caramelized oranges.
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