| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 3 hr 10 min |
| Prep: | 30 min |
| Inactive: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Cook: | 1 hr 10 min |
| Yield: | 1 (11-inch) tart |
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons cornmeal
- 3/4 cup pine nuts, plus 3/4 cup, toasted (about 8 ounces in total)
- 1/4 cup sugar, plus 3/4 cup
- Pinch salt
- 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1/2 cup water
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (about 1 1/3 cups)
- 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
- 3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 3 large egg yolks
Instructions
- Blend the flour, cornmeal, 3/4 cup pine nuts, 1/4 cup sugar, and salt in a food processor until finely ground. Add the butter and pulse, just until the dough forms. Press the dough over the bottom and about 2 inches up the sides of an 11-inch-diameter tart pan with a removable bottom. Refrigerate until the dough is firm, about 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line the tart dough with aluminum foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake the tart shell in the lower third of the oven until just set, about 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and pie weights. Bake the shell until golden, about 10 minutes longer. Cool completely.
- Combine the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar with 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Cool the sugar syrup slightly.
- In a double boiler, melt the chocolate over very softly simmering water.
- Pulse the ricotta cheese and cream cheese in a food processor until smooth. Add the egg and egg yolks, 1 at a time, and process until smooth. Add the melted chocolate and process until combined. With the machine running, add the sugar syrup in a thin steady stream and process until smooth.
- Pour the custard into the tart shell and bake until the filling is almost set, about 30 minutes or until the custard has set. Scatter the remaining 3/4 cup toasted pine nuts on top of the filling. Let the tart cool completely before serving.
- The tart can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 3 days. Return the tart to room temperature before serving.
Reviews
This is delicious. I especially like the crust. My husband said to add this to the dessert rotation. I followed the instructions online exactly. I think the next time I make it I will use half semisweet and half bittersweet chocolate. It was just a little sweeter than I want. Overall, a great recipe.
Surprisingly this tart is very chocolatey, even though it has cream cheese and ricotta. I think I’ll need to use bittersweet chocolate chips next time, as it was a bit too sweet for me.
The filling on this pie did not impress me. I used very good chocolate along with the other ingredients. Usually I love Giada’s recipes, but not this one.
I did not have a tart pan so I sub in a pie pan which was fine but for some reason the crust kind of got burnt. I did not have pie weights or beans because I really did not think that you needed it boy was I wrong. The center of the crust when it was in the oven bubbled up to bad I regretted not putting something heavy in the center to prevent that from happening. the filling turned out good it was not effected by my screw up of the crust but the whole pie would have tasted so much better if I had just did what the directions called for. lessons learned. I do plan on making this again but with better prepping on my end.
This chocolate pie is EXTRAORDINARY!!! It earns every star given for its’ taste, texture and presentation. My family, friends and I absolutely LOVE it and it’s actually become my personal favorite dessert! Thank you Giada, for another amazing recipe! :-
this recipe is amazing – every time I make it people ask me what bakery I bought it at – beautiful and delicious – not the fastest but worth the effort. I am ‘lazy’ and don’t do the whole beans in the bottom of the pan when I bake the crust but have found it comes out just fine anyway. I do have a nonstick tart pan but I coat it with some cooking spray to be doubly sure it doesn’t stick. I use Sharfenberger 70% cacao chocolate which is from our area and it is well worth the little bit of extra cost.
I have made this recipe 3 times now since last November and it is delicious. My only problem was with the crust. It kept sticking to the foil, no matter what I did. I’m making this again today for a birthday party tomorrow and have decided on a different style crust. My crust is a chocolate graham cracker and pine nut crust. I pressed it into the tart pan and have it setting up in the fridge before I’ll add the filling and bake.
WOW, this dessert is amazing! You will be SOOOO pleased; it’s easy to make and simply divine! I used the pine nut recipe over the hazelnut one. When I tweeted Giada asking her what type of nut to use she wrote me back “either are great” so I bet it’s just as wonderful with hazelnuts. I will be making this for years to come! Thanks Giada we are all enjoying this recipe.
I love this, its not hard to make and the crust was awesome!!! The filling was fantastic and I couldn’t be happier with the way it came out.
I tried this both cold and heated a piece in the microwave and it was even better! I will definitely be making this again I may try it with almonds or hazelnuts.
I tried this both cold and heated a piece in the microwave and it was even better! I will definitely be making this again I may try it with almonds or hazelnuts.
The filling was really tasty, I used milk chocolate instead of semi sweet. It was a very thin filling though and took a lot longer than 30 mins to set in the oven.Also the dough for the crust didn’t come together for me, it was very crumbly so I had to press down really well in the pan. So my crust came out very hard and over done. I think next time I will leave out the cornmeal, add some more butter, take about 10 minutes off the pre-cook for the crust, and it might turn out better. Overall the flavors are really good, just need to tweak it a little. Also I think hazelnuts would be better than pine nuts.