Vegan Chocolate Sea Salt Tart

This weekend, my mom and I went to Mass for the memorial of my aunt who passed away one year ago. It was a very emotional morning and we were feeling pretty blue. What fixes that right away? You guessed it... SHOPPING! After a lovely brunch with my Grandma, Aunt's best friends, and my family in LA, my mom and I headed to the Grove for some retail therapy. We walked into Anthropologie and because it was Earth Day, they had some really cute little tables set up with flower planting, coffee stations, and, our favorite, a vegan cookbook signing. We have a large cabinet full of cookbooks and a few minutes before we went in the store my mom even said to me that she needed to clean the cabinet out because she has so many. Well after talking to the author for a few minutes and turning to the last recipe in the book, we had no choice but to buy the book and run home and check out the chocolate sea sat tart from Pure Vegan by Joseph Shuldiner. I have to warn you, this is EXTREMELY rich and almost more of a truffle than a tart. But my lord it is AMAZING! Now, you may think that the salt will throw you off but really nothing is better than sugar with a salt chaser, right? You'll need jut the TINIEST slice of this to give in to your chocolate craving or else you might pass out (in a good way, of course). This probably won't be a big hit with the kids, but you can try adding a dollop of whipped cream on top to cater to their liking. Either way, it is rich, decadent, and scrumptious! 

What you'll need:

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tbs. cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 cup cold vegan shortening, diced (I used vegan butter)
3 tbs. ice water

For the filling:
1 1/4 pounds good quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 tbs. instant coffee
2 1/2 cups unsweetened plain soymilk
1 tsp. salt
Fleur de sel for garnish

1. Preheat your oven to 350*. In a large food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Add the vegan butter and pulse until the shortening is in small pieces. Quickly add the water while you pulse it.
2. As soon as it comes together take it out and transfer to a 9-inch tart pan. Press the dough all over the pan, especially up the sides, creating a 1/4 inch thick crust. Pierce the crust about 15 times with a fork (this will let the steam escape the shell and eliminate any air bubbles). Cover the shell with saran wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
3. After the shell has chilled, remove the saran wrap and line the tart shell with parchment paper. Take a bag of beans and distribute around to paper to weigh the shell down. Bake for 20 minutes, remove the weights and paper, and bake for another 5 minute. Set aside to cool.
4. While the shell is cooling, chop the dark chocolate, add to a heatproof glass bowl, and heat the soy milk in a large sauce pan until it starts to steam. Once steamed, add the salt and instant coffee, stirring until it dissolves.
5. Pour the milk mixture over the chopped chocolate and let sit for ONE WHOLE MINUTE. After a minute, stir until the chocolate is fully melted and smooth (this may take up to 5 minutes. Don't give up, keep stirring!).

6. Pour the chocolate into the tart crust and let cool in the refridgerator for about 30-45 minutes. Once the chocolate has set, garnish with some fleur de sel. Remove from the tart pan and serve!

enjoy :)

the inspiration