At my local CrossFit gym I pulled my bar off the rack preparing for my next rep sequence of jerks until I hear Chris; one of the trainers, call my name from the distance. Thinking it was urgent I re-racked the bar and turned around and he immediately says “have you ever tried dark chocolate with sea salt?”. The cool thing is that he is totally into the healthy eating and Paleo scene but I was slightly stunned by the question because I’m all about chocolate with crunchy sea salt on top, but he didn’t know that so I’ll let him off this time.
Once I got home my mind was clouded by incessant thoughts of salted chocolate. There is nothing quite as enjoyable as that perfect salty sweet contrast that meets the tongue along with a nice crunch that comes with salt studded chocolate. I don’t know how anyone came up with it but it was obviously a genius move. Either that or they were walking with an open salt shaker in one hand and a square of dark chocolate in the other as our solar system’s planets aligned perfectly causing them to trip and spill the salt over their chocolate. Cosmic magic resulting in culinary magic.
With the many nuances that chocolatiers like to add to their chocolates like herbs, spices, chiles, fruit, and of course salt; I felt that there was a necessary nuance that could fit well in addition to being salted. My cousin Jenny introduced me to Mexican Hot chocoalte a few years ago which is essentially just a hot chocolate but with chilies and cinnamon added to it. The chilies give it a slight peppery taste along with just a slight bit of heat which combines wonderfully with the fragrant cinnamon.
With those two additions in mind I felt the best way to do this combination justice was to make it into a thick ganache. It’s quite hard to go wrong with a ganache. Even the name sounds amazing, it just seems to roll off the tongue in such a sophisticated manner. Sometimes I like to just say it in super slow motion just because I can’t help it. Whether you choose to play with the word ganache or just make it is up to you, by personal preference I do both.
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil melted plus more unmelted for greasing
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons honey
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil softened
- 8 ounces dark chocolate chopped(70 percent or higher but preferably something in between 70 and 75 percent)
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 dried guajjillo chile
- optional: ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- flakey or coarse sea salt for sprinkling
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease 4 - 4 inch tart pans with unmelted coconut oil. In a medium sized bowl combine almond flour, coconut flour, salt, and stir to combine. In a small bowl shisk together egg, honey, and melted coconut oil then pour wet into dry ingredients and stir until thorougly incorporated and there are no clumps remaining.
- Divide and press the dough amongst the tart shells and bake them for 10 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Pull out of the oven and allow to cool slightly.
- While wearing gloves snip the stem off the guajillo chile and shake out most of the seeds. Chop the chocolate finely and place into a medium sized bowl along with the coconut oil.
- In a small sauce pot heat coconut milk until hot and steaming then add guajjilo chile, cinnamon sticks, cinnamon, and if using, cayenne pepper. Turn off the heat, cover and let steep for 10 minutes then with kitchen shears snip the cinnamon sticks and guajjilo chile into pieces, stir, and reheat until hot again then turn off the heat, cover, and let steep for 20 more minutes.
- Remove the lid and reheat the coconut milk mixture once more until hot and steaming then pour the hot coconut milk through a mesh strainer over the chocolate while pressing the cinnamon and chili against the strainer. Let the hot coconut milk and chocolate sit for 1 minute then gently whisk until completely smooth.
- Pour chocolate ganache into cooled tart shells, shape with a spatula, sprinkle with sea salt and place in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes to harden. If you are not serving them the same day then salt them when serving otherwise the salt will dissolve into the ganache over time.
This looks amazing. I love salt and chocolate together, and I love that I’m now going to be saying ganache in slow motion during the entirety of the preparation process.
Oh my. I love dark chocolate and sea salt together, so this sounds simply divine! The chilies and cinnamon would make it even better. I can’t wait to try this!
Absolutely gorgeous! I love the mexican chocolate combo— One day you’ll have to try my mexican chocolate martini… you’ll have to wait 4 years, though. Tough cookies.
I’m just as surprised that a post beginning with pictures of Salted Mexican Chocolate Ganache Tarts then begins the text as, “At my local CrossFit gym I…” Very unexpected twist you did there. Your’e good at telling the story and also this looks amazing.
Looks sooo good!
Can you use another type of chile? I have never heard of a guajillo chile and i don’t think I would be able to get one where I live (Canada is not a chile mecca :))
You have done it again! This looks amazing, Will be making it this afternoon <3
AMAZING! And as usual, fabulous photography 🙂 awhile back I was working on a chocolate ganache tart recipe but just could not get the crust down! Your tart crust looks beautiful!
how much more liquid would i need to add to skip the shell and make this into a pudding? LOVE guajillo chiles!
This is a ganache not a shell. If you skip liquid it will be even harder. To be honest I’m not sure if it’s adaptable as a pudding or not. Ganache is kind of lick a soft chocolate, it’s really delicious you should try it as it’s listed if you have never had ganache before.
Ganache is pretty thick. If you add a bit more liquid, and whip it as it cools, it will take on a more fluffy texture. If you really wanted to make it like a mousse, I’d whip some coconut cream and fold it into the ganache once it’s cooled.
Wow.. love this,Grain free and dairy free. Perfect, it looks amazing..Will make this for my boys this weekend.. . thanks.. 🙂
Awesome, let me know if you like it!
I only have a regular sized tart pan, not minis. Would it be possible to make this just a large tart?
Thanks for reminding me about that. It can definitely be done in a regular sized one but I’m not sure how large it can go. It should fit an 8 inch tart pan for sure and possibly a 12 inch. The only thing is that you might have to bake the tart shell a bit longer, just bake it for 10 minutes and then check on it at 1 minute intervals until its lightly golden brown around the edges and continue the recipe as explained. If you try it let me know how it goes and what what the size of your tart pan is and I’ll update the recipe with that info.
So…I went ahead and did this with an 11″ tart pan. The crust recipe made plenty, but I’d likely double the filling recipe next time. The recipe as written only made about a 1/4 thick layer of filling within the crust. Still delicious, and so rich that that was plenty, but I’d rather have thicker tart and serve thinner slices.
Jamie, have you tried it in a regular sized tart pan? I’m thinking of doing this for dessert tonight but was in the same quandary. I’d love to hear about your experience.
You already got me at the title! Chocolate and Sea Salt? A gorgeously mandatory thing in my life – so good!
I’ve never heard of Mexican Chocolate though, but if it is just a little spicuer and not too hot (?) then I think I’ll try it in the future 🙂
Also hands down on the pictures – as the first one right from above appeared on my screen it simply made me wanting to reach through the screen to grab one of these little goodies NOW! 🙂
They are mildly spicy but if you want you can reduce or completely omit the cayenne pepper to reduce or eliminate that factor if you’re worried. It’s nice with a little bit of spicy in my opinion though but if you’re very sensitive to it then just do a tiny sprinkle of cayenne or none.
it looks delish!
I’ve never heard of mixing guajillo chile with chocolate, You got me thinking about the flavour you achieved!
Your tarts look delicious! 🙂
Hi,
You use almond flour, can i use ordinary flour instead? I´m allergic to almonds.
Love your page, beatiful and very inspiring.
// Madelyn
I actually made these to be gluten/grain free on purpose so I have no idea what the substitution would be for a tart crust. Supposedly you can convert equal parts almond flour with equal parts regular flour so you could try and it could very well work but I’m not certain.
I’m also allergic to almonds 🙁
Can one use brown rice flour or tapioca flour, etc?
I’m sure that you could but I don’t know the substitution ratio for those flours I’m afraid.
Any thoughts on a different type of chilli? Would any dried chilli do? I’m in Australia.
Well you could definitely use a different kind of chili but you will likely have to adjust the amount you use because you don’t want it to be too spicy. Just a touch of heat. So I would say look for a semi-sweet, mildish chili, that is relatable to the one I used in this recipe.
As soon as I saw this circulating through Tumblr, I just had to click on it since the photographs looked amazing! Thank you for the recipe!
I am, however, curious about this Mexican Hot Chocolate with chile. I grew up with this drink when traveling to Mexico with my family when I was young, but never once encountered a variation of the drink with chile in any of the states that I visited – at least to my knowledge. I just want to know where you had it because it sounds kind of delicious.
This recipe sounds delicious!! One really huge problem, though- I’m extremely allergic to palm tree products (coconut fruit, milk, and oil, etc.) I wonder if it would work with substitutions?
you had me at “mexican chocolate ganache” … sooo glad I came across your post via Pinterest. We *try* to be grain-free as possible, and I am so subscribing, bookmarking, Pinterest and Facebook following you!
I just found you and I love your story, you are an inspiration! I do a lot of holiday baking and I am going to try your crust for a few of my recipes! Happy Holidays.
Awesome, thank you!
I have never made a glf pastry shell. Does it behave differently to a normal pastry? Does it need to be chilled before baking to prevent it shrinking? Do I need to use beans to blind bake it, or to prick the pastry like with a normal pastry? Does it need to be sealed to prevent the filling from seeping through it? I’m intrigued!
Nope nothing special, just follow the directions because that’s what I did and they turn out great every time! I’m sure pricking the pastry would help a bit but that’s all I really see necessary.
Hello, Would you store these in fridge or outside please? would they stay for 2 days?