Kinder Bueno Tart

Last weekend I celebrated my niece Yasmine’s 9th birthday with the family. She requested a Princess Jasmine cake, from Aladdin, just like I made her for her first birthday. Just like Yasmine, the cake has matured, and so have I.

This time I created a bigger and more accurate chocolate sculpture of the Disney princess. Yasmine had one request: she did not want the princess to be eaten. She wanted to put it in her bedroom by her bedside to keep her safe from all the night monsters. Her wish was my command. But I cannot guarantee that the heat monsters won’t melt the princess this summer.

I also created a Moroccan-style pillow that was a better fit for the royal theme. Underneath the pillow I hid a chocolate cake with a layer of chocolate ganache in the middle. The kids don’t want to graduate from traditional chocolate birthday cake just yet.

The grown-ups, however, are a bit tired of it. To make everyone happy, I baked an additional dessert, especially for the grown-ups with a young soul: a Kinder Bueno tart, inspired by their favorite chocolate bar.

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Royal notes

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* In this Kinder Bueno tart recipe I use natural hazelnut butter. You can probably find it in most nature stores. Natural hazelnut butter is made from 100% hazelnuts, with no added oil, and doesn’t taste bitter at all (please taste it before you use it).

* It’s important to make the dough in a cold environment (the ingredients should be cold as well). Make sure that the kitchen is cold throughout the process. If the dough softens while working with it, put it in the fridge for a short rest.

*  In this recipe I use a Silpan to improve the baking of the crust. If you don’t have one, blind bake the crust and use pie weights, just like I did in this post.

*  Pailleté feuilletine: or in other words, caramelized wafer flakes. You can find it in most baking supply stores. You can also make it at home. Just get wafer rolls and crumble the crunchy layer that covers the filling.

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Ingredients

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Gelatin mass *
3 g gelatin powder
15 g water

Kinder Bueno crémeux
50 g natural hazelnut butter
50 g white chocolate
12 g gelatin mass
80 g heavy cream 38%
80 g milk 3%
40 g egg yolk (from 2 large eggs)
20 g sugar

Vanilla crust
235 g all-purpose flour
30 g almond powder
90 g powdered sugar
½ tsp salt
120 g cold butter (cut into cubes)
56 g eggs (1 large egg)
1 tsp vanilla paste

Baked hazelnut cream
55 g powdered sugar
30 g peeled hazelnuts
25 g almond powder
55 g soft butter (at room temperature)
55 g eggs (1 large egg at room temperature)

Hazelnut streusel
30 g peeled hazelnuts
15 g all-purpose flour
15 g demerara sugar
¼ tsp salt
15 g butter

Hazelnut crunch
80 g natural hazelnut butter
30 g pailleté feuilletine
60 g hazelnut streusel
25 g milk chocolate
15 g dark chocolate 58%

Glaze
100 g milk chocolate
60 g white chocolate
100 g heavy cream 38%

Decoration
50 g dark chocolate 56%
About 30 g toasted hazelnuts (unpeeled)

Equipment
Round baking ring, 20 cm diameter & 2.5 cm height
Round baking ring, 18 cm diameter
Thermometer
Measuring pitcher
Mesh sieve
Hand blender

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* The amount of gelatin is too small to weigh? You can make a bigger batch, let’s say 10 g gelatin powder and 50 g water and just weigh 14 g from the final mass to the recipe.

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Gelatin mass

Sprinkle gelatin powder over the water, mix well and keep in the fridge for at least half an hour. If the resulting texture is too spongy or lumpy, heat the gelatin mass gently just to melt it and put it back in the fridge to set again. Cut into small pieces before use.

Kinder Bueno crémeux

Prepare the smaller ring: warm the ring a little on low heat. Cover the bottom of the ring with plastic wrap by pulling and attaching it to the sides to form a flat sealed bottom. Place the ring on a flat tray.

Put white chocolate in a measuring pitcher. Add hazelnut butter and gelatin mass. Place a sieve on top.

Put milk, heavy cream, sugar and egg yolks in a saucepan and mix. Heat on medium heat up to a temperature of 80-82 °C / 176-180 °F (it’s ok to go a little higher, but not more than 84 °C / 183 °F), while mixing energetically, but gently, with a spatula to prevent the egg yolk from congealing (especially at the bottom of the saucepan).

Remove from heat and pour immediately through the sieve into the measuring pitcher (to get rid of egg chunks that may have hardened while cooking). Mix a little bit with a spatula and then use a hand blender to blend it to a uniform consistency.

Pour the mixture into the bottom sealed ring. Keep the Kinder Bueno crémeux in the freezer for at least 2 hours or until set.

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Crust

Put flour, almond powder, powdered sugar, salt and butter cubes in the mixer bowl and keep in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Remove from fridge.

Using the paddle attachment, start mixing at low-medium speed until the batter reaches sand-like consistency. Make sure the butter chunks are as small as possible at the end of the process without melting the butter. Make sure the room is chilled.

Using a fork, whisk the egg yolk with the vanilla. Add the egg mixture all at once and keep mixing at medium speed until the dough starts to form but is not yet completely uniform. Remove dough parts from the bowl and combine.

Divide the dough in two equal parts – one part to be used for this recipe and the second part to be kept for another use (up to a week in the fridge or two-three months in the freezer).

Place the dough on top of a parchment paper. Flatten the dough a little bit and lay another parchment paper on top. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin between the two parchment papers to 3 mm thickness. Keep turning the dough throughout. Place the dough with the parchment papers on a tray. Keep in the fridge for at least an hour or two.

Fonçage:

Lightly butter the inner side of the larger baking ring so that the dough sticks to it. When the dough is ready, peel parchment papers from both sides. Place the ring gently on top of the dough and cut a larger circle around the ring.

Please note (!) If at any point the dough starts to soften, put it back in the fridge until it is slightly stiff again.

Place the ring on a parchment paper and place the dough gently on top of it. Lift the edges of the dough, gently push the rest of the dough down and attach the edges to the sides of the ring, starting from the bottom of the ring to the top. Gently press down on the sides so that the corners at the bottom form a right angle. (It’s not the end of the world if the dough gets torn accidentally. Just attach the sides that have been torn apart and move on).

Before you move on to the next step, check that the bottom is straight and uniform from the lower side of the ring (if the dough is cold enough, you will be able to flip and check it easily. If the dough is too soft, put it back in the fridge till it’s set again).

Go over the top of the ring with a sharp knife and remove the excess dough. Prick the bottom of the crust all over with a fork and keep in the freezer until the dough is stiff again (about half an hour).

Baking:

Preheat oven to 170 °C (340 °F). When the desired temperature is reached, remove the crust from the freezer and set it on a Silpan (if you don’t have one, blind bake the crust and use pie weights, just like I did in this post).

Place immediately in the oven and bake for about 18-20 minutes, until the crust begins to brown. Set aside to cool.

Release the crust from the ring. Brush the top of the crust against a flat mesh sieve to straighten the edges and give it a cleaner, sharper look. Clean the crumbs from inside the crust using a clean brush. Set aside.

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Baked hazelnut cream

Preheat oven to 170 °C (340 °F). Put hazelnuts and powdered sugar in a small food processor and ground to a fine powder. Transfer to the mixer bowl and add almond powder and soft butter. Attach the paddle attachment and mix on low-medium speed until you get a uniform mixture.

Add the egg gradually to the butter mixture and keep mixing. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Keep mixing until you get a uniform cream. Transfer the cream into the crust.

Using a small offset spatula, spread the cream evenly inside the crust and flatten the surface. Put the crust back in the oven. Bake for about 16-20 minutes, until the cream is set and starts separating from the rim of the crust. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

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Hazelnut streusel

Preheat oven to 170 °C (340 °F). In a food processor, grind hazelnuts and flour together to a powder. Add sugar, butter and salt. Grind in short pulses until you get a crumble.

Spread the crumbly mixture on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Place in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let it cool at room temperature.

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Hazelnut crunch

Put hazelnut butter, pailleté feuilletine and hazelnut streusel in a bowl. Melt milk and dark chocolate together (on a double boiler or in a microwave). Add the melted chocolate to the mixture and mix until uniform. The texture should resemble a crunchy spread. If the mixture is not spreadable, add a little bit more melted chocolate (5-10 g).

Using an offset spatula, spread the hazelnut crunch on top of the tart and flatten the surface to be levelled with the rim of the crust. Set aside.

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Glaze

Put white and milk chocolate in a measuring pitcher. Bring the heavy cream to a simmer and pour over chocolate, making sure all the chocolate is covered. Mix well with a spatula until uniform.

Remove the Kinder Bueno crémeux from the freezer and release it from the ring by warming the outer side of the ring with the warmth of your hands. Do it on top of a raised cooling rack. The crémeux will just slide out by itself and land on top of the cooling rack. Place a parchment paper underneath the cooling rack.

Immediately pour the glaze on top of the crémeux starting from the outer edge and continuing inwards (make sure all the sides are coated). Gently remove the excess glaze on top of the crémeux using a large offset spatula to get a thin uniform layer.

Slide the offset spatula under the crémeux and move the crémeux around on the cooling rack to get rid of the excess glaze on the bottom.

Lift the crémeux carefully with the spatula and place it on top of the tart. Keep the tart in the fridge to let the glaze set. In the meantime, prepare the decoration.

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Decoration

Roast & grind hazelnuts: Preheat the oven to 180 °C / 355 °F. Place hazelnuts on a baking tray and bake for about 10-15 minutes, until roasted. Remove from the oven. Let cool at room temperature before use. Put hazelnuts in a small food processor. Grind in short pulses until crushed. Transfer to a small bowl.

Melt dark chocolate on a double boiler or in a microwave. Fill a pastry bag with the melted chocolate. Remove the tart from the fridge. Use scissors to cut a narrow opening at the edge of the bag. Pipe chocolate stripes on top of the tart, similar to a Kinder Bueno bar. Decorate the sides of the crust with crushed hazelnuts.

Keep this Kinder Bueno tart in the fridge in an airtight container for about 2-3 days.

Yum