White Chocolate, Peach Caramel & Candied Mint Tart

This is a riff on this excellent looking cake from Adventures in cooking. It is a perfect storm of deliciousness: toasted hazelnut base, peach caramel filling topped with vanilla white chocolate ganache (which I brûléed like a boass) all topped with the light touch of candied fresh mint leaves. Do it. 

 Ingredients:

HAZELNUT CRUST

1 and 1/3 cups flour
2 tbs crushed toasted hazelnuts
2 tbs corn meal
1/2 tspsalt
1/2 cup powdered sugar
½ cup butter (cut into small cubes)
1 egg, whisked
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

WHITE CHOCOLATE FILLING

400g white chocolate
1/2 cup double cream
Vanilla pod or essence
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

PEACH CARAMEL

4 peaches
125g butter
100g golden caster sugar

CANDIED MINT LEAVES

1 cup fresh mint leaves
100g golden caster sugar
1/4 tsp Lavender extract (optional)

Candy Mint Leaves

Lay out about 20 mint leaves. Mix sugar with 100g of water, add lavender extract if using. Brush this onto the mint leaves and put in the oven at 50 degrees Celsius for 15 min. Don't let the leave get too hot or they will discolour, you just want them to dry - if worried just leave out to dry on a rack.

Hazelnut tart base

Beat egg and sugar together with an electric whisk. Sift in flour, cornmeal, salt and cinnamon. Once all is incorporated mix in the butter. Wrap in cling film and leave in freezer for 30 minutes (this makes it much easier to roll out). Grease tart tin with butter. Add a little flour to the surface and roll out the evenly pastry so that its slightly larger than your tart tin. Roll it around your rolling pin them unroll it over the tart tin. Squeeze into the tin with fingers - doesn't matter if it broke up while unrolling, it should not look like this:

Put a layer of baking paper over the top and put some metal coins or baking beans onto the middle of the case to prevent it rising up during baking. Bake blind (that is without a filling) in a preheated oven for 30-40 minutes at 190 degrees C.  In the meanwhile...

Peach Caramel

Add 4 peaches to boiling water for 1 minute (makes easier to peel). Heat sugar and butter on medium heat until sugar is melted (be careful not to burn either butter or sugar). Peel the peaches and halve. Add peaches caramel and cook gently for 5 minutes. Leave to cool while tart is baking.

White Chocolate Ganache

Get a small pot of water boiling put a medium heatproof dish pan over (double boiling). Add broken up white chocolate to dish then add vanilla and peppermint extract. Once melted add cream. 

Putting it all together

1.Spoon some (half to a quarter) of the white chocolate ganache onto the base of the tart:

2. Add your peach caramel:

3. Now put your ganache into a piping bag or into a freezer bag and cut off the corner to make a piping bag. Pipe the ganache over peach mix in circular fashion working from centre outward. At this point I got out my favourite thing, my blow touch, and got my brûlée on to even it out:

4. Place the best specimens from the candied mint episode on top:

Now that's a bit of an effort but it will impress. Enjoy!