Pastry Chef Deborah Snyder, JUdson Grill, New York, NY.
Chocolate-Blood Orange Tart with Blood Orange Panna Cotta and Citrus Salad

If you're planning on ending up naked, it's probably a good idea to eat light. But if you or your honey has an insatiable sweet tooth, sharing this creamy luscious treat wouldn't be such a bad idea either. -Pastry Chef Deborah Snyder

Tart Dough:
3 cups flour
1 1/2 ounces cocoa
5 ounces confectioner's sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 ounces butter, cold, cut into pieces
2 eggs
1 yolk

Cream butter and sugar in an electric mixer until completely homogenous. Scrape down and add eggs and yolk slowly, mixing well until combined thoroughly.

Sift together flour and cocoa. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and mix just until combined.

Roll dough 1/8-inch thin between pieces of parchment and chill for at least 2 hours. Cut rounds from the dough using a cutter with a diameter approximately 2 inches larger than your tartlet pans. While the dough is pliable, but still cold, line each tartlet pans with dough. Trim edges with small knife or by rolling the pin over the top edge of the pans. Chill for 1 hour or more. Bake for 7-8 minutes in a 325°F oven. Cool.

Blood Orange Curd:
Zest from 6 blood oranges (if blood oranges are unavailable (see note), use any type of tangerines or clementines)
8 ounces blood orange juice, strained (6-8 oranges or tangerines)
6 eggs
6 yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean
8 ounces butter

Bring a pot of water to a simmer. In a bowl fitted atop the pot, combine eggs, sugar, yolks, zest and vanilla. Whisk well until mixture starts to warm. Add orange juice and allow to thicken, whisking occasionally. When mixture coats the back of a spoon thickly, it is ready.

Take off the heat and purée it well with an immersion blender and pass it through a fine-meshed strainer. Allow to cool to room temperature. Add butter in pieces and whisk or blend with the immersion blender until smooth.

Chocolate Filling:
2 eggs
2 yolks
5 ounces sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate
5 ounces butter
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler, whisk until thoroughly smooth. (You may also melt chocolate and butter in the microwave, running for 30 seconds at a time and stirring in-between). Cool slightly.

In a separate bowl, whisk together yolks, eggs, salt and sugar. Slowly add chocolate mixture into egg mixture, stirring constantly until thoroughly combined. Sift flour over the top and whisk well until incorporated.

To assemble the tarts:
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Place a heaping teaspoon of curd in the tart shells and spread gently (you don't need to spread it thin or cover the whole bottom, in fact it's best not to.) Fill the rest of the way with the chocolate filling. Bake about 8-10 minutes, until chocolate is set on the edges but still slightly wobbly in the center.

Panna Cotta:
1 vanilla bean
14 ounces heavy cream
3 ounces sugar
1 envelope unflavored gelatin, dissolved
1 cup blood orange juice

Heat cream, sugar and vanilla to boil. Take off the heat and whisk in dissolved gelatin and blood orange juice. Strain and pour into lightly sprayed ramekins. Chill for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

Citrus Salad: Assorted citrus fruits such as blood oranges, ruby red grapefruits, tangerines and clementines, peeled, segmented and chopped into bite-sized pieces Lemon juice Sugar Pinch of salt and white pepper Finely grated citrus zest

Toss fruits with lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper. Sprinkle zest on top.

To serve, warm tart in oven. Run a small knife around each ramekin to loosen sides of the panna cotta ramekins. Unmold a panna cotta onto a plate, place tart nearby and decorate with Citrus Salad.

Note: You can order blood oranges by mail from Melissa's World Variety Produce PO Box 21127, Los Angeles, CA 90021; 800-588-0151. 10 lbs. for $26.50, or a tray of four fruits for $4.49 plus shipping.