Grandpa’s Tart – Torta del Nonno from Tuscany

Today, in Italy the Grandpa’s day is being celebrated. We believe it’s a great occasion to honour and say thank you to all of our grandparents, who are always willing to help us when we need them. While I was thinking about which cake my daughter’s Grandpa would love to eat today, I thought about his taste when it comes to sweet treats. He is very fond of every kind of sweet food, but he has a penchant for chocolate. So, wanting to be impartial and still giving credit to all the Grandmothers, albeit satisfying his craving for chocolate, we went with this luscious version of the Grandma’s tart we already baked in the past. (Recipe here: Torta della Nonna).

🍷 Francesca & Marinella🍴

RECIPE:

Grandpa’s Tart

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INGREDIENTS

For the pastry:

• 300 g (10.5 oz – 1 1/3 cups) flour
• 200 g (7.1 oz – 1 cup) sugar
• 100 g ( 1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• butter and flour to grease a tin

Custard for the filling:

• 500 ml (2 cups) milk
• 4 yolks
• 130 g (4.7 oz – 2/3 cup) sugar
• 70 g  (2.2 oz – 1/2 cup) flour
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 cup of pine nuts

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INSTRUCTIONS

• In a bowl (or on a wooden working surface) whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and cocoa powder. Then add the egg until well incorporated into the mixture. Add the butter, cut into little pieces, and lightly knead to form a ball. Chill the dough, wrapped in plastic for at least 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile prepare the custard.
• Place the milk and cocoa powder over medium heat. Cook until hot (do not allow to boil). Remove saucepan from heat. Whisk egg yolks, sugar and flour in a bowl until well combined. Pour hot milk mixture over egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly.
• Return mixture to saucepan over low heat. Cook, while stirring steadily in the same direction until the custard thickens and coats the back of a metal spoon (do not allow custard to boil, as it might curdle). Pour the custard into a bowl, cover the surface with cling film and leave to cool.
• Pre-heat the oven to 180 ºC. Grease a 20 cm round baking tin of removable bottom with butter and flour.
• On a lightly floured work surface, roll out 2/3 of the dough. Ease the pastry into the baking tin, pressing the dough evenly into bottom and up sides. Cut off any extra dough from the edges.
• Spread the filling in the tart shell.

• Roll out the remaining dough and cut a circle with 20 cm in diameter. Place the circle over the filling. Fold the excess dough over the top of the pie in order to seal the filling.
• Bake the cake until golden brown (about 35 minutes). After 20-25 minutes, scatter pine nuts on top of the cake and keep baking.
• Let it cool and dust with powdered sugar, before servings.