Dan Lepard's pecan crust bourbon chocolate tart recipe

There's a bit of a knack to getting perfectly crisp shortcrust pastry, but there are a couple of tricks that help. Egg yolk plus water make butter-rich dough easier to roll; it will also bake crisper than it would if you used whole eggs. Keep the dough soft, but chill it well both before and after rolling: the first chill firms and sets it, the second reduces the shrinking during baking. 125g plain flour, plus a little extra for rolling 25g icing sugar 2 tsp cocoa 75g unsalted butter, softened 50g finely ground pecans 1 egg yolk For the filling 300ml double cream 25g malt extract, corn or golden syrup 50g soft dark brown sugar 350g dark chocolate, chopped 75g unsalted butter, chopped 50ml bourbon whiskey Put the flour, icing sugar and cocoa in a bowl. Cut up the butter, add to the bowl and rub in with your fingertips until any lumps vanish. Stir in the pecans. Mix the egg yolk with a teaspoon of ice-cold water and mix in until you have a very soft dough: don't worry, it will firm when it chills. Scrape the mixture on to a sheet of clingfilm, wrap well and pat into a flat slab. Chill in the freezer until firm. When you're ready to roll, let the dough soften for five to 10 minutes at room temperature until pliable, then roll it out thinly on a floured surface and with a floured rolling pin. Line an 18cm round, deep tart tin, then place the tart case in the freezer to firm. Press a sheet of nonstick paper weighed down with baking beans against the base and side, bake at 170C (150C fan-assisted)/335F/gas mark 3 for 20 minutes, then remove the paper and bake for 10 minutes more. For the filling, heat the cream until boiling, remove from the heat and stir in the syrup and sugar until dissolved. Add the chocolate and butter, stir until both have melted, then stir in the whiskey. Leave to cool until barely lukewarm (about 42C), then beat the mixture slightly until it emulsifies. Pour into the pastry case and chill until set. danlepard.com/guardian