Mazurek – Easter tart with chocolate and prunes

There is still an Easter recipe waiting for you, even though Easter seem to be so far away.

This year like the year before I won’t tell you too much about Polish Easter traditions, although I feel I should, as there are so many and they are so different. Maybe next year I will be a better girl, so for now let’s focus on mazurek (plural mazurki).

The origin of the cake is believed to be in Turkey. Mazurek can have many different variations, you will find some on a thin sweet yeast cake base, on a shortcrust pastry or on a wafer, but the most important it should be thin and sweet.

I never used to like mazurek as it was dry shortcrust pastry with jam and some raisins. My opinion has changed when a friend introduced me to a mazurek with dulce de leche filling, since then I have been always using this recipe, only this year I decided to go with something else.

I was looking for a recipe for a while, I really wanted to something really classic, but usually old recipes were with some kind of walnut meringue and that didn’t convinced me, so I went for prunes with rum in chocolate, it couldn’t go wrong.

The recipe is combination of two recipes. I couldn’t find smoked prunes so I used standard dried ones. And I soaked them in rum. Rum, chocolate and prunes is really good combination. Yum…

Recipe based on mix of recipes of Polka and Basia 
Use 25-cm tart tin

Shortcrust pastry:

• 150g plain flour
• 40g grounded almonds
• pinch of salt
• 25g caster sugar
• 90g butter, cubed cold
• 1 egg
• 2 drops of almond extract

Filling:

• 150g dried prunes
• 150g smoked dried prunes (you can replace them with dried prunes)
• 3 Tbsp rum
• 100g milk chocolate, broken into chunks
• 100g dark chocolate, broken into chunks
• 100g double cream

Decoration:

• 50g white chocolate

Sift the flour, grounded almonds and a pinch of salt. Add sugar and butter.
With your hands, rub together the flour mixture with the butter cubes until the mixture forms small breadcrumbs. Alternatively, you can use a food processor for 10-12 second.
Add the egg and almond extract and knead it quickly. Don’t overwork the dough. Wrap it into cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (you can even prepare it 2-3 days before, or you can freeze it and store it for few months).
Grease a tart case with butter. Dust it with flour. Set aside.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface until it covers the tart base and its sides. Transfer it gently into the pan. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pan. Prick the dough with a fork. Refrigerate for another 20-30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan.
Line the crust with parchment and fill with baking beans, and bake blind in the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove the beans and bake it for another 3-4 minutes or until golden.
Remove from the oven and let it cool off.Filling:

Cut prunes into strips and soak them in the rum.
Mix the milk and dark chocolates in a medium bowl.
In a small pot boil the double cream and pour it over the chocolates. Stir to dissolve it.
Add prunes and stir to distribute them.

Pour the filling into pastry shell.

Decoration:

Melt the white chocolate over a hot-water bath. Pour it over the tart.

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