If you want to create a dessert with a French taste and great success, the Crumble with chocolate ganache and salted caramel is what you are looking for. It has a very particular taste that will be able to please all your friends and guests.
There are several recipes around and the most common is the tart, but personally I find that by modifying the structure of the shortcrust pastry (from tart to Crumble) this delicious dessert becomes even more versatile (you can make single portions) and aesthetic as you can serve the cups and glass glasses that will allow you to see, and enjoy, the different layers.
But let’s see what you need for about 6 people:
Ingredients for the crumble
- 250 g of soft butter
- 350 g of 00 flour
- 150 g of granulated sugar (you can also mix white sugar and brown sugar if you want a more robust taste)
- grated lemon zest
for the salted caramel
- 7 tablespoons of sugar
- 8 tablespoons of whipping cream (at room temperature)
- 1-2 knobs of salted or semi-salted butter
- a pinch of fine salt
for the chocolate ganache
- 200 g of dark chocolate
- 70 – 100 g of whipping cream.
CRUMBLE: knead the butter (still a little cold), sugar and flour with your hands, adding it a little at a time. You should obtain a fairly coarse crumbled mixture (if it is sticky, add flour). I recommend not working it too much otherwise the butter will heat up too much. Put the mixture in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.
Take the mixture out of the freezer and spread the crumbled pastry on a baking tray lined with baking paper in a messy and sparse way, but so that no piles form that will cook like improvised biscuits. Bake for 20 minutes at 180°C in a fan oven, until you see the grains starting to brown.
SALTED CARAMEL: (photo recipe: you will find the steps photographed below). Take a non-stick saucepan (I recommend the ceramic-coated ones) and pour in the sugar. Heat over a high heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until the sugar begins to melt (caramelize), then lower the heat.
When the sugar has completely melted and the caramel has taken on a nice golden color, pour in the cream. Stay calm and well away because a disaster will seem to happen: the mixture will swell 4-5 times and will start to make bubbles… but have faith … after a while everything will calm down and the cream will be incorporated into the caramel making it a fluid and soft mixture.
If it seems too dry, add a little more cream and stir until it is perfectly smooth. At this point add the (abundant) knob of salted or semi-salted butter – you can decide how salty you like it by adding a pinch of salt if necessary.
Keep the caramel obtained warm so that it does not solidify too much (in the photo below you can see how it takes on the consistency of a mou candy as it cools). However, for your information, this caramel cream can also be kept in the fridge in an airtight jar for 15 days and can be used for many purposes.
CHOCOLATE GANACHE: Now make the chocolate ganache. In a bain-marie or in a non-stick pan, melt the chocolate with the liquid cream (put them together immediately) and melt them over low heat.
You will get a very soft and shiny dark chocolate cream (if it is too compact, add a little more cream).
ASSEMBLAGGIO: prendete delle ciotoline in vetro da dessert, oppure delle flute o calici da champagne e procedete come indicato: mettete sul fondo uno strato di crema al caramello alto un dito e livellate, mettete uno strato di crumble sbriciolato alto un dito il più uniforme possibile. Pressatelo un poco con le dita, ma con estrema delicatezza, non deve affondare nel caramello ma costituire uno strato a se.
Ricoprite di ganache al cioccolato – anche un po’ più di un dito – colandolo la crema piano piano. Livellate e mettete in frigorifero per qualche ora rima di servire a temperatura ambiente (il giorno dopo è ancora meglio!).
Davvero buonissimo… e bellissimo! Fatemi sapere che ne pensate!!!
