When I saw the chocolate pomegranate tart on REMCooks, I knew I was going to bake it as dessert for Christmas dinner. The pomegranate aryls are so photogenic and Christmaslike. I thought the combination of chocolate and pomegranate would work well, and it did! The pomegranate really helps to lighten the chocolate and it was delicious. So thanks to Richard McGary, I was whacking pomegranates to get those pesky seeds out on Christmas morning 😉

Next time I bake this, I will use only half of the chocolate filling to balance them out a bit more. The recipe below has already been adjusted for this! I have made some other minor adjustments as well, including adding espresso powder and using brown sugar to boost the chocolate flavor of the filling.

It has been a tradition for a long time that I prepare Christmas dinner for my parents. This tradition started when I still lived at home, and has continued when I moved out. The other dishes I prepared this year will be posted in the upcoming days, so stay tuned. I’m starting with dessert. The recipe is for a 20-22 cm (8-9 inch) square or a 23-25 cm (9-10 inch) round tart.

Ingredients

For the crust

200 grams (1 1/4 cups) pastry flour

100 grams (1/2 cup) skinless almonds

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp sugar

110 grams (1 stick) cold butter, cubed

1 large egg

2 Tbsp ice water

For the chocolate filling (this is half the original recipe)

175 grams (6 oz) dark chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)

125 ml (1/2 cup) heavy cream

1 large egg

1 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp espresso powder

1/2 Tbsp flour

1/8 tsp salt

For the pomegranate topping

juice of 4 pomegranates, about 450-500 ml (2 cups)

3 Tbsp granulated sugar

fresh pomegranate arils of 1 pomegranate

Read here how to get the arils out of the pomegranates, and here how to turn them into juice. A foodmill also does a find job.

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF (with fan) and toast the almonds for 8 minutes or until golden.

Combine the almonds with the sugar in the blender and grind them.

They should be coarse powder to provide texture, so do not grind them to almond meal.

Combine the pastry flour, butter, and salt in a food processor fitted with the attachment for pie crust.

Process until you obtain a crumbly mixture, then add the ground almonds.

Process briefly to incorporate the almonds.

Beat the egg with the ice water in a small bowl.

Add the eggwash to the almond mixture.

Proces just until the dough comes together.

Butter a pie shape and line it with the dough. Refrigerate for half an hour to limit shrinkage when baking.

Meanwhile, prepare the chocolate stuffing. Combine the chocolate and cream in a saucepan.

Cook over low heat. Use a double boiler if needed to get low even heat. With induction and a saucepan with good heat distribution, a double boiler is not needed.

Keep stirring over low heat. Do not boil!

The mixture is done when all of the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth in color and texture. Turn off the heat.

In a small bowl, combine the egg, brown sugar, salt, flour, and espresso powder.

Whisk to mix.

Stir the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF (with fan). After the crust has rested, bake it for 20 minutes or until it turns golden.

Then, pour the chocolate stuffing into the crust.

Bake it for another 30 minutes.

Then take it out of the oven and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, pour the pomegranate juice into a saucepan…

…and add the sugar.

Bring to boil and then lower the heat to a gentle simmer.

Reduce, stirring now and then, to obtain a pomegranate glaze.

Pour the glaze on top of the chocolate.

Spread out the glaze.

Arrange the arils on top, and the tart is done once it has fully cooled down to room temperature.

Wine pairing

This is amazing with Recioto della Valpolicella, as that dessert wine from the Italian region of Veneto goes well with both chocolate and pomegranate. It is made from the same grapes as Valpolicella, but the grapes are dried before making the wine. The dry version of Recioto is called Amarone.