I was happy to finally be able to try my new tartelette rings and my silicone moulds which have been lying around in my baking cupboard for way too long.
I do indeed have a cupboard just full of baking equipment ranging from baking forms, silicone moulds, praline moulds, colors, palette knifes, piping nozzles.....the list is endless. It's everything a pastry chef needs to be creative in my opinion ;)

Even with the organization of my equipment and labeling of the items, I often times forget many of the things I have.
I guess you could say I'm a bit of a baking equipment hoarder...but in the good way I like to think ;)
My baking equipment has just been collecting over the past few years and I'm slowly running out of space. There's always something new on the market; new baking moulds or chocolate moulds, colors...etc.. which I feel like I need to try out and create something new with.

Chocolate tartelettes with a pear caramel filling, vanilla creme diplomate and pear mousse

So with my reorganization of the cupboard and rediscovering some of the moulds I had, I came up with these tartelettes.
These tartelettes have a great combination of textures from the crunchy chocolate sablé, the light and creamy pear mousse and the intense vanilla flavored creme diplomate. Having the poached pear caramel filling at the bottom gives you a surprising fruity flavor which combines very well with the rest of the flavors.




The Recipe:

Chocolate Sablé:

180g butter, cold and cubed
350g plain flour
25g cocoa powder
145g powdered sugar
50g ground almonds
pinch of salt
2 eggs

Instructions:

Place the butter, powdered sugar and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Shortly mix the two ingredients together until combined.
Add the flour, cocoa powder and ground almonds and mix until you have a crumble like mixture.
Add the eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition. Mix until you have a combined dough that forms into a bowl.
Wrap the dough in cling film/plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30-45 minutes.
Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper or on a well floured surface. Roll till about 3mm thickness and cut rounds that fit your tartelette rings. Line your tartelettes moulds, trim the edges and pierce the bottom with a fork.
Freeze your tartelette moulds about 1-2 hours
Bake at 180°C for about 15 mins.

Pear-Caramel filling:

3 large pears
150g sugar
50ml of orange juice (hot)
2 tsp cinnamon
50g Dulce de leche
Lemon zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1 vanilla pod- scrapped

Instructions:

Peel the pears, remove the core and cut into small even sized cubes. Add the lemon zest and the  cinnamon powder.
Caramelize the sugar a little at a time. Once a light amber color add the vanilla seeds and the orange juice. (Caution! the mixture is very hot and will splatter, so keep a slight distance) Let it boil on a medium heat for 5 minutes and the add the pear. Cook the mixture until the pear has softened slightly, but still remain a crunch. Remove from the heat, let cool down for about 5-10 minutes and add the dulce de leche.
Let the filling cool down completely before filling the tartelette moulds.

Vanilla creme diplomate:

415g milk
1 tsp vanilla sugar
2 whole eggs
195g sugar
pinch of salt
60g custard powder (Maizena)
1 vanilla pod-scrapped
105g butter, cold and cubed

4 gelatin leaves (soaked in ice cold water)
280g whipped cream.

Instructions:

Mix 1/3 of the milk with the custard powder snd the eggs and whisk till incorporated and lump-free.
Place the rest of the milk, sugar, vanilla and salt into a pot and bring to a boil.
Add the egg-custard mixture into the boiling milk constantly whisking until the mixture thickens and becomes a creamy pudding like consistency. Remove from the heat and place the mixture into a heat proof bowl. Add the cold and cubed butter piece by piece while whisking. I like to use a hand mixer to incorporate it quickly and to have a creamy smooth texture.
Cover the cream with cling film so it doesn't form a skin. Cool down rapidly.
Dissolve the soaked gelatin on low heat. Fold in 2/3 of the whipped cream into the vanilla cream until smooth.
Add 2 tbsp of a vanilla cream into the gelatin and mix quickly until combined. Add to the rest of the vanilla cream constantly whisking until combined and smooth.

Pear Mousse:

250g milk
100g pear purée
70g sugar
40g egg yolks
4 gelatin leaves (soaked in ice cold water)
500g lightly whipped cream
1/2 vanilla pod-scrapped

Instructions:

Bring the milk, purée, sugar and vanilla till almost boiling. Add 1/3 of the hot milk mixture onto the egg yolks constantly whisking. Add it back to the rest of the milk mixture and on medium-low heat mix with a rubber spatula till thickened (max. 85°C)
Remove from the heat and add the gelatin. place the mixture onto an ice-bath and cool down as quickly as possible. Once the mixture has cooled down enough carefully fold in the whipped cream.
Fill the mouse into a piping bag and fill the silicone moulds. Freeze immediately.


Chocolate Glaze:

180g water
235g sugar
155g cream
80g cocoa powder
13g gelatin leaves (soaked in ice cold water)

Instructions:

Bring the water, sugar and cream to a boil. Add the cocoa powder and bring once again to a boil.
Sieve the mixture to remove any cocoa clumps. Add the gelatin and mix till dissolved.
Cool the mixture to about 25-30°C before glazing the mousse.
The mousse must be completely frozen before glazing. This way you will get a clean and smooth end result.

Decorate the tartelettes as you desire. I decorated them with some gold leaf, mini chocolate macarons and golden caramelized hazelnuts.