mulled wine plum rose tarts with dark chocolate ganache

You guys I have an internship!!! I have a place to live!!! Things are coming together and I'm unbelievably excited.  I want to share with everybody, but I'm going to wait until I'm completely set up to tell all.  Every moment I'm trying to calm myself down and concentrate on wrapping up things here in Vermont, but it's difficult.  I keep wandering around on the internet, looking at what my life might be like in just a few weeks. 

I'll do a post on it soon, I swear, but for now - more cozy winter sweets.

This season, I'm all about plums and cranberries, I love the rich color and tart flavor the two can provide, and each time I'm wondering what flavor I want to use, my mind immediately jumps to one of the two.  So, when asked for a new tart idea - oh I'll make plum roses! The rose is beautiful and quite easy to accomplish.

M u l l e d   W i n e   P l u m   R o s e   T a r t s 

Makes 12 tarts

12 plums

2 cups Mulled Wine

1 cup dark chocolate ganache

Chocolate Tart Dough

I.  Make and par bake 12 chocolate tart shells.  Martha's recipe works well.

II.  Begin reducing 1 1/2 cups mulled wine.

III.  Slice all 12 plums so that each slice is about 1/4" thick, and place in pot with 1 cup of sugar and about 1/2 cup of mulled wine.  Put on medium low heat and stir until the plums have softened enough that they are flexible, about 15-20 minutes.

IV. Spoon in the dark chocolate ganache into each tart shell so that it fills about 1/4 of the tart.

V.  At this point the mulled wine should have reduced to a thick syrup.  Drizzle in the reduction onto the layer of ganache.

VI.  Now you can make your plum roses!  Begin by taking about 5 slices of the plums and laying them so that they are nearly upright, skin side facing up towards you, around the perimeter of the tart.  Then continue to do this along the perimeter of the plums you just added, alternating the order so that the peak of each slice is placed right on where the previous two slices meet.  Continue to do this until you get to the middle.  When it is no longer possible to layer them, take one plum slice and roll into a little scroll, place the scroll skin side up right in the middle of the tart and there you go!  Beautiful roses.

VII.  Bake the tarts for about 8 - 10 minutes and then there you go!  Warm and rich winter sweets.

< 3