Carrot, Ginger & White Chocolate Tart with Whisky Ginger Ice Cream – butter & vanilla roasted carrots, caramel-like brown sugar & a nutty almond crust. Jump to Recipe
This time tomorrow, I’ll be hanging around the international departures terminal at Melbourne airport. Maybe by the time you read this, we’ll be up in the sky somewhere on the fourteen hour flight between home and LA, or even on the second leg of the journey towards New York City for the Saveur awards. Then it’ll be an airbnb in Williamsburg, Brooklyn – a whole week of exploring the city that I’ve only dreamt about for half my life. Eating momofuku cereal milk soft serve, Dominique Ansel cronuts, takeaway bagels, Union Fare croissants, Four & Twenty Blackbirds, Smorgasburg… My list is currently insanely ambitious for one girl walking the city.
That pre-holiday frenzy is all go today. It’s been building for the past few weeks, really. The smile that keeps breaking loose, the intoxicating bubbles of excitement mixed with anticipation growing the closer it gets. Like feeling caffeinated before I’ve even contemplated my morning flat white. It’s a whirlwind of activity getting work finished in time alongside long moments of distraction, browsing for places to go, things to see while there. A lengthening list of what to pack and what to do before I head to the airport, though I’ve only just pulled out my suitcase.
But first. This Carrot, Ginger & White Chocolate Tart with Whisky Ginger Ice Cream. I was concerned us three girls might struggle to finish all of the 26 cm tart in its pastry encased, almond crusted form – but two days later, there was only a solitary piece left languishing in the fridge, ready to be quietly abducted by someone for dessert. To clarify – we don’t really ‘do’ pies here in the Southern Hemisphere. They’re just not a thing. I bet 4 out of 5 people you meet walking down the street would have never tried pumpkin pie, and maybe 3 out of 5 pecan. Fruit pies in late summer are a rarity, and a dedicated pie shop? No way. You might find a slice on a restaurant dessert menu, but it’s more likely to be in ‘tart’ form, like this. Our meat pies are famous though – mince, steak & cheese or potato-topped – often from a service station or small town bakery as a stop on a long summer road trip, and always eaten with your hands, greasy with pastry flakes and topped with a squeeze of tomato sauce (ketchup, I mean).
I imagine this carrot and ginger version to be a little like a pumpkin pie. It’s a gingery short crust pastry topped with a filling that I can’t quite put my finger on: butter and vanilla roasted carrots; a hint of white chocolate sweetness; caramel-like brown sugar with a hint of spice; a border of nutty meringue-sugar almonds. Don’t be nervous putting carrots in a pie – you grate them into cakes, remember? And pumpkin is even stranger. It’s not dominant, but an unlikely sweetness that blends seamlessly into the filling. The no churn ice cream (it’s my go-to, if you haven’t noticed) is what takes it to the next level with a small whisky hit and small pieces of vivid crystallized ginger dispersed through out. Gradually dripping down the sides of a slice of carrot pie, it’s one of my all time favourite desserts.
And if you have any tips or recommendation for my way-too-short time in New York, please let me know!
Baker’s Notes:
- The ice cream is best made ahead the night before (or up to 3 days prior) to serving the tart
- This recipe is for a 26 – 28cm tart tin – with a 26cm tart I had a little bit of filling and pastry to spare, so made a mini tart as well.
- 500 ml cream (whipping cream)
- 1 x 400g can sweetened condensed milk
- 2 1/2 tablespoons whisky or bourbon
- 1/3 - 1/2 cup finely chopped crystallised ginger
- 230 g flour
- 2/3 cup icing sugar
- pinch of salt
- 165 g butter , cold, diced
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 900 g carrots , washed and chopped into 2 cm chunks
- 60 g butter , diced
- 1 vanilla bean or 1 tbsp vanilla essence
- 125 g white chocolate , finely chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 egg + 3 egg yolks
- 250 g brown sugar
- 310 g sour cream
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
- 1 egg white
- 2 tablespoons caster sugar
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In a large bowl, whip the cream to medium peaks.
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Slowly drizzle in the sweetened condensed milk and continue beating to just combine.
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Fold through the whisky and chopped crystallized ginger.
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Pour into a loaf tin or container. Cover and freeze overnight.
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Blitz the flour, icing sugar, ginger and salt together in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until a bread-crumb like texture forms. Add the vanilla and egg and pulse 10 times. The mixture will still be pretty dry and crumbly. Turn out onto a clean surface and gather and press together. Shape into a disc, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
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Grease a 26-28cm tart tin. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured bench to about 3mm thick and line the tart tin, pressing firmly into the sides of the tin. The pastry will be hard to roll out at first but don’t worry, it will soften as you go. Think of it as an arm workout! If it rips at all or you find that one edge is too thin, it is easy to use the leftover pastry scraps to patch it back together.
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Trim the pastry to form a neat edge - I usually just roll my rolling pin over the edge to cut through the pastry. It normally leaves enough extra pastry scraps to line another mini tart tin as well, but this is totally up to you.
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Rest the lined tart tin in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes
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Line the tart shell with baking paper (making sure it covers the top edges) and fill with baking weights or raw rice. Bake blind for 15 minutes in a 180°C oven. Cool.
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Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
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Place the chopped carrots on the tray with vanilla bean + seeds and diced butter. Toss to combine.
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Roast for 1 hour or until tneder when speared by a fork. Toss the carrots every 20 minutes or so to spread the butter evenly and ensure even cooking.
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Place the hot carrot mixture (including butter and vanilla seeds, but remove the vanilla bean if you used one) in a food processor. Blitz to finely chop.
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Add the finely chopped white chocolate and blitz until fully melted and combined.
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Add ground ginger, egg, egg yolks, brown sugar and sour cream. Blitz until very smooth..
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Reduce oven temperature to 160°C. Pour the carrot pie filling into the blind-baked tart shell and bake for 50 minutes.
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Meanwhile, stir together the sliced almonds, egg white and caster sugar. At 50 minutes cooking time, remove the tart from the oven and gently press the almond mixture around the side of the tart.
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Return to the oven for a further 20 minutes or until the carrot filling is just set.
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Cool to room temperature. Chill for 2-3 hours before serving.
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To serve, dust the pie with icing sugar and serving with the whisky & ginger ice cream.
This tart is spectacular, Claudia! Just a true testament to your creativity and delicious recipe making. Wishing you the best of luck at the awards. New York is fabulous – you will love it! XO
Thanks Beeta, I’m so excited! xx
oh whoa; love how bright orange that filling is!
i’ve only been to nyc once, but i really loved the oatmeal raisin cookies from levain, the pork belly buns from momofuku (the crack pie was good but veryyy sweet), the pastrami sandwich from katz, and the chocolate almond croissant from bouchon bakery! hope you have an amazing time exploring and relaxing!
Hahaha it is pretty orange – I think most people would assume it was pumpkin if they didn’t kno.
Thank you so much! Definitely heading to Levain Bakery and Momofuku, thank you for the tips – can’t wait to eat everything! xx
this looks insanely delicious! and so exciting about new york and the awards!!!!! way to go!!! you deserve it.
Looks delicious!! Best of luck at the awards!
Thanks Jena! I had the best time – hopefully a post coming soon about what I got up to!
Hey Claudia can’t believe it, carrots in a pie, definitely going to trial this one! Outside the square. Tell us all about the awards the minute you can.x
you’d love it Nancy, especially with the ice cream! I had the best time in NY – can’t wait to go back. didn’t win anything but didn’t expect to, and a trip to NY was the best best thing that could have happened! are you heading to Melbourne at all this year?
I LOVE NYC, you’re going to have so fun! And good luck at the awards – that’s so exciting! So once again, you’re flavor combinations and creativity have totally blown my mind! This is just a stunning tart, Claudia!
me too!! probably my favourite city in the world as of this trip. so different to anywhere else! thanks so much Kathleen, hope you’re having a lovely week!! x
Hi Claudia,
I am totally digging this combination of carrot and ginger and chocolate and whisky .. sounds so so good! especially want to try to the ginger pastry. Thanks for sharing.
thanks so much Jenny! All the ginger goes so well with the carrot, and the white chocolate isn’t super a dominant – just a background sweet edge.
wow. this tart. i’ve baked with carrots before, but never in a tart or pie. and now i must try it. these are all my flavors and it really sounds so delicious. good luck at the awards! i’m pulling for you. and i know you’ll love nyc. i used to live in the city, but now in a suburb of it. so many wonderful foods to eat and places to visit. i would say walk the highline, stroll through the village, visit eataly, devour the gnudi at the spotted pig and maybe squeeze in brunch at the gallow green. you’re going to have the best time! good luck!
thanks so much Cathy! had the absolute best time – loved the highline (and chelsea market!), and the east and west villages were my favourite. I would love to live in NY at some point! whereabouts did you live?
xx
i lived all over manhattan…gramercy, mulberry & prince (now known as nolita, then as just grimy), and a couple of places on the upper westside. i still miss it like crazy, but get back in a couple times a month for dinner or drinks or just to get my fix. so glad you had a good trip!
Claudia… congratulations on your trip to NYC and being a finalist for Saveur blog awards! I am thrilled for you and know you must be through the moon! Your blog is creative, and always mouthwatering. This tart for example… there’s so much flavor packed in I’m literally flipping out inside! You made carrots into a tart!! So smart and simple – I can see how they could easily fit into the dessert category now that you’ve shown me! How was NYC!? Looking forward to your update! xo
thank you so much Traci!!! you are far far too kind, that really means a lot to hear.
I had the best time in NY, and just can’t believe everything that has happened in the past month. definitely will be back there sooner rather than later! xx
Wow, this looks amazing!!
Thanks!
This tart is just stunning Claudia! The flavors in the tart along with that whiskey ginger ice cream sounds amazing. So perfect for the Thanksgiving dessert table.
Thanks so much Mary Ann!
What a delicious tart! I love all the flavors happening here. And have fun in New York with the awards!
Thanks Amanda! I had the best time , ahh just can’t wait to go back!
Such a beautiful tart! Would never have thought that carrots could complement such a sweet treat!
they really do, especially with the brown sugar-white chocolate caramel flavours going on. thanks Cassie!
I am not a big pumpkin fan (I feel like this is a horrible thing to confess) so this is THE perfect fall pie for me!
haha well I’ve never eaten pumpkin pie so I think that might be an even more horrible thing to confess!! I’ll have to make one soon to try it. thanks Joyce!
I was intrigued by this recipes. So I made it and we served this at our last secret dining society. Served 20. This tart was an absolute hit! And, I added some cinnamon and nutmeg to the ice cream. Voile! Eggnog ice cream!
Thank you! so glad it worked out for you and everyone liked it! cinnamon and nutmeg sounds like a lovely addition too.
I hate carrots! But I am totally intrigued and impressed by this. So much creativity and passion behind this recipe. I would love to try it =)
Thanks so much Ashley, would love to know what you think if you give it a go! x
The tart is really, really good. The kids ate it up even after they knew it was made of carrots. One kid came back for seconds. Truly a winner.
Would it be possible to make the ice cream without the ice cream maker?
Yes definitely! This recipe is actually made for not having an ice cream machine – it’s no churn 🙂