Salted Chocolate Mousse Tart

Chocolate mousse (no eggs!) on a salty-sweet pretzel crust. This salted chocolate mousse tart is easier than it looks, but is an impressive and deeply chocolatey dessert.

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 65 grams pretzels
• 55 grams unsalted butter, melted
• 30 grams brown sugar
• pinch of salt

For the mousse layer:

• 400 grams heavy whipping cream, divided
• 135 grams dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), finely chopped
• 65 grams milk chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp espresso powder (optional)

For topping:

• cocoa powder, for dusting on top
• flaky salt, such as maldon or fleur de sel (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 Celsius or 350 Fahrenheit.
2. Make the crust: Crush the pretzels by blitzing them in a food processer until they are fine crumbs. Pour the crushed pretzels into a bowl, and add the melted butter, sugar and salt and mix well.
3. Press the mixture firmly into the bottom of a 26×8 cm tart ring, using a spatula or a glass with a flat bottom. You can also make this in a lined loaf pan, or double the recipe and use a 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inch) pan.
4. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the crust is fragrant and a shade darker (the crust will be soft when it comes out of the oven, but will harden as it cools). Let cool completely while you make the mousse.
5. Make the mousse: Place the milk and dark chocolate and espresso powder into a large heatproof bowl and set aside. Place 280 grams of the cream into a small saucepan, and heat on low heat until the edges begin to bubble up. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, making sure all of the chocolate is covered by the cream. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes, then stir gently until all of the chocolate has melted and you have a smooth ganache. Set aside and let cool completely.
6. When the ganache has cooled, whip the remaining 120 grams of heavy cream to soft-medium peaks. The texture should be similar to thick greek yogurt.
7. Add the whipped cream to the cooled ganache and fold in with a spatula. Make sure the two are completely combined, and then stop mixing – if you mix too much, the whipped cream will deflate, and you’ll get more of a dense truffle than a light mousse.
8. Pour the mousse mixture into your pan, cover, and refrigerate overnight, or at least 5 hours.
9. Serving: When you’re ready to serve, dust with cocoa powder and sprinkle with flaky salt, if desired. For a softer mousse, let the tart come to room temperature for about 20 minutes.
10. For perfectly sharp slices, dip your knife into very hot water, dry it off with a clean towel, and slice. Clean the knife and repeat. Enjoy!

Mousse adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Lisbon Chocolate Cake