White Chocolate, Macadamia Butterscotch Tart

Published on January 1 2010.

Ingredients

For the Pastry:

• 250g Plain flour
• 100g Icing sugar
• 100g Butter, unsalted, chilled, cut in 1cm cubes
• 1 Egg, chilled
• 1 Egg yolk, chilled

For the Filling:

• 2 ¼ cups Macadamia nuts
• 3 cups Shredded coconut
• 4 cups Cream
• 2 cups Brown sugar
• 1 Vanilla bean
• 2 cups Belgian white chocolate buttons
• To serve:

Generous scoops of Vanilla Ice Cream

Method

For the Pastry:

• In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, blend flour, sugar and butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg and egg yolk and blend on high until a stiff dough is formed. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Roll out pastry to approximately 2-3mm and arrange in the flan tin. Prick the base 4-5 times with a fork. Freeze for 1 hour.
• Pre-heat oven to 180°C. Blind bake the tart shell, straight from the freezer, for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown in colour. Cool and reserve.

For the Filling:

• Roast the macadamia nuts and coconut at 180°C for 12-15 minutes, stirring every 3-4 minutes until the nuts and coconut are golden in colour.
• Place the cream, sugar and vanilla bean in a sauce pot and bring to the boil. Lower to a simmer and reduce mixture by half, stirring continuously.
• Strain mixture and cool.
• When cool, stir in the macadamia nuts, 2 cups of the coconut and the chocolate buttons. Note some of the buttons will melt and/or break up. This adds to the finished texture of the tart.
• Pour into the flan shell, smooth the top with a wet knife and sprinkle the remaining coconut on top.
• Refrigerate at least one hour before serving. Serve with as much Vanilla Ice Cream as you dare.