Nutella Cream Tartlets with Grand Marnier
Welcome friends of Nutella! First, let us pause and forgive those who sneer at the Nutella-lovers, they know not what they miss.
For many of us Nutella afficionados (Although, may I put a pitch in for my made-up word: ‘apprecianados?’ Doesn’t that sound more on the money?), we can find deep Nutella satisfaction with a a dessert of a spoonful of Nutella. Albeit, a large spoonful.
These Nutella tarts take a little more fussing than that, but not much. The result are heavenly tarts, fluffy with whipped cream, streaked with Nutella and warmed with the orange booziness of Grand Marnier.
(Prefer peanut butter to chocolate-hazelnut spread? Want to serve these to the kids without stunting their growth with liquor? Alternatives can be found after the recipe.)
Nutella Cream Tartlets
Makes 24 tartlets
Special equipment:
1 mini-muffin pan
1 1/2-inch cookie circular cookie cutter
Ingredients
Half a batch of Easy, Flaky Pie Dough
1 cup heavy cream, chilled
1/2 cup Nutella (or chocolate-hazelnut spread of your choice)
2 Tablespoons Grand Marnier
How to:
On a well-floured surface, roll the dough 1/8” thick. Using your 1 1/2” cookie cutter, cut circles of pie crust and gently drop them in the muffin pan indentations. Re-roll the dough as necessary to make enough tart shells to fill all the holes. Refrigerate the pan for 1-2 hours. This will prevent the dough from shrinking as it bakes.
In an oven preheated to 375 degrees F, bake the tart shells for about 10 minutes until golden. Oven temperatures and pie pan materials vary. Watch these tartlets carefully because they can quickly go from done to burned. Let the pan cool on a rack.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, drop the Nutella in great blobs (Note: I try to avoid measuring things like Nutella and peanut butter in measuring cups because it is a pain in the tush. Instead I just use my large spatula to ladle big blobs of Nutella that seem to be about 1/2 cup’s worth into the bowl. Add the Grand Marnier and beat until combined. This takes some work. Cheer yourself along remembering you get to lick the spoon after this. And the spatula.
In a separate chilled bowl, whip the cream until soft peaks form.
Stir about 2 Tablespoons of the whipped cream into the Nutella mixture to lighten it. Add the remaining whipped cream to the bowl and gently fold the whipped cream into the Nutella mixture. I like to mix until the cream has turned a light cocoa-brown and streaks of Nutella remain. You do whatever appeals to you. Refrigerate.
Before serving (although I’ve done them up to 3 hours before), remove the tart shells from the muffin tin to a serving platter. Using a piping bag and star nozzle, pipe the Nutella cream decoratively into the tart shells. Alternatively you can gently plop the cream into the shells using two teaspoons—one to scoop, the other to push the cream off the scooping spoon into the shell.
Eat one or two while no one is looking. Refrigerate the rest until serving.
NOTES:
Don’t want to add liquor? Replace the Grand Marnier with a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Prefer peanut butter? Replace the Nutella in the recipe with peanut butter and the Grand Marnier with 2 Tablespoons of confectioner’s sugar and follow the recipe as written.
Don’t want to bother hassling with tart-making? This makes a delicious, easy dessert without the pastry, too. Or as a whipped cream alternative to pecan (or any other chocolate-favoring) pie.
