Chocolate and Hazelnut Tart

Line a baking tray with a silicone liner. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Put the egg whites and sugar in a bowl and lightly beat with a fork. Sift in the flour with the cocoa powder and stir to mix well. Add the butter and stir until evenly blended. Using a palette knife, spread a few thin strips of the tuile mix on the liner. Bake for 7–8 minutes until they are brown around the edges with a matt appearance. Leave to cool for a minute or two. While they are still pliable, lift each tuile with a palette knife and twist to resemble a pair of wings. Leave to cool and set. They will become crisp and brittle. Use all the mixture to make extras as these break really easily. The mixture normally makes 10–15. Store in an airtight container until ready to serve.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Roll out the pastry and line six mini loose-bottomed tart tins, then line the pastry with some scrunched up baking paper or heatproof cling film. Fill with either baking beans, rice or dried marrowfat peas. Bake the pastry blind for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and whatever you used to line it during blind baking. Return the tartlet tins to the oven and bake the pastry for a further 5–10 minutes in the oven until crispy. Take out and allow to cool.

Lower oven temperature to 90°C.

Start by pulsing the hazelnuts in a food processor until they are coarsely chopped. Place the chocolate, cocoa powder, eggs and sugar in a bowl. Boil the cream and milk together. Pour the hot milk–cream mix over the chocolate mix and whisk until smooth, then pass through a sieve. Once sieved, stir in the hazelnuts. Pour this mixture into the pastry cases and bake at 90°C for 30–40 minutes, or until there’s a slight wobble in the centre. Leave to cool, then place in the fridge until ready to serve.

Serve each individual tart on a plate and top with a tuile. To finish, add a neat scoop of chocolate and hazelnut ice cream on the side.