May the 4th be With You: Han Solo in Carbonite

May the 4th Be With You! This year is homage to my favorite galactic renegade, Han Solo.

May the 4th is coming upon us, fast, and I want everyone to get their Han Solo supplies, if that’s what gets your Millennium Falcon gears started.

Is this the coolest mold or what? It can be used for a giant ice “cube” for punch or melted chocolate, as I did for the pie. Hot or Cold is jedi power magic.

Below is the list of equipment and supplies used to create this Star Wars tart:

Han Solo in Carbonite Silicone Mold 11.3 x 6.5 x 2.6 inches. (Mine took about week to arrive, but I also live off the beaten path so to speak.)

Rectangle Tart Pan 12 x 8 x 1 inch with removable bottom. As I wasn’t sure how a pie would hold up with chocolate Han Solo, this was the safest and it was superb!

Moonstone luster dust and Nu Silver luster dust. If you only want ONE luster dust, Moonstone is a darker shade and Nu Silver is brighter. I did use both.

(The links above will take you to Amazon; if you choose to purchase after clicking a link, I may receive a tiny commission at no extra cost to you.)

For this tart I made chocolate almond crust with almond frangipane filling. Bake for 40 minutes and set it aside to create Han Solo. If you don’t like almonds, by all means make another flavor! There’s no law against rectangle pie. Regardless what you choose, your Star Wars friends and family will not complain.

I only filled the mold half way as it’s pretty darn deep. Melt the 12 ounces chocolate chips with 10 ounces Ghirardelli dark chocolate melting wafers (which will help chocolate release from mold without coating first).

Now, pick up and let the pan slam/drop (about 1 inch) repeatedly for 1 minute or until bubbles stop coming to the top. Depending on heat of chocolate it may take longer. This is an important step as you don’t want air bubbles on Han’s face, hands, or feet; which is the best part of the mold. (This is shown in video below.)

Refrigerate Han Solo on a baking sheet in the fridge 5 to 6 hours, or overnight. I chose overnight as I am still nursing a sprained wrist and broken leg, yes dominant hand of course.

Loosen the sides of the mold and carefully release onto a parchment lined baking sheet. If you look closely, there are a few tiny air bubbles on his fingertips. ARGH! However, the remaining Han Solo was perfect so I didn’t re-melt. Relief! Besides, do we know how carbonite reacts with fingertips? No, no we do not.

Now it’s luster dust fun time! Use a soft bristle brush to brush on the Moonstone luster dust, followed by the lighter Nu silver for highlights. A little goes a very long way.

Spoon over black tinted chocolate ganache glaze (see recipe below) over the cooled almond tart and over the sides too. This gives Han an ominous yet tasty backdrop.

May the Force (4th) truly be with you as you create your own Star Wars pie to serve.

Other Star Wars pies I have created include: Baby Yoda, Mini Pies with cut out tops, Jawa Cream Pie, and I hesitate to show you R2D2, because I could have done so much better. That’s another May the 4th in the future.

May the 4th be With You: Han Solo in Carbonite

Recipe by Portlandia Pie LadyCourse: DessertCuisine: Star WarsDifficulty: Medium

Servings

12

servings

Cooking time

40

minutes

Prep – Assembly Time

2

hours

May the 4th Be With You-Han Solo in Carbonite! Han Solo immortalized in chocolate served on an almond frangipane tart smothered in dark chocolate ganache.

Ingredients

• Chocolate for Han Solo Mold

• 12 ounces (2 cups) semi sweet chocolate chips

• 10 ounce bag Ghirardelli dark chocolate candy melt wafers

• Chocolate Almond Crust (12 x 8 tart pan)

• 2-2/3 cups almond flour

• 6 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

• 1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

• Almond Frangipane Filling (12 x 8 tart pan)

• 3/4 cup butter

• 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar

• 3 eggs

• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1-1/2 teaspoons almond extract

• 2-1/2 cups almond flour

• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

• 2/3 cup seedless berry jam (optional)

• Chocolate Ganache Glaze

• 1/4 cup heavy cream

• 2 teaspoons corn syrup

• 1 teaspoon black gel food coloring

• 2 tablespoons water

• 2/3 cup semi sweet or dark chocolate chips

Directions

• Han Solo Chocolate Mold
• Melt the 2 cups chocolate chips and about half of the bag of Ghirardelli melting wafers in a glass microwave safe bowl at 30 second intervals, stirring each time.
• When the chocolate is completely melted, add in the remaining melting wafers and stir until melted. This should temper the chocolate so it is not too hot. IF the added wafers are not melting place the entire bowl of chocolate into the microwave for about 20 seconds and continue stirring until melted.
• Place the mold on a baking sheet. Pour in the chocolate. Pickup and “drop” the mold back onto baking sheet (about 1 inch from bottom) repeatedly for about 1 minute or more until bubble stop rising. Refrigerate 5 to 6 hours or overnight until ready to use.
• Chocolate Almond Crust
• Preheat oven to 375 F.
• Place almond flour, Dutch cocoa and sugar into a large bowl and stir thoroughly to combine.
• Melt the butter at 15-20  second intervals in a microwave safe bowl, just until barely melted and not too hot.  Use a fork and stir the melted butter into the almond chocolate mixture.  Stir in the vanilla.
• Place the chocolate almond dough into a 12 x 6-inch tart pan with a removable bottom.  Press in corners, sides and bottom. 
• Bake for 10 minutes @375 F. Remove from oven and let cool while preparing filling.
• Frangipane Filling
• Preheat the oven to 350 F.
• If using optional berry jam, spread the jam on the bottom of the cooled baked chocolate crust.
• In a large microwave safe bowl, melt the butter at 15-20 second intervals until just melted, let cool 5 minutes if hot.
• Stir in the powdered sugar.  
  Whisk in the eggs. Then whisk in the almond extract and vanilla extract.
• Add the almond flour and cornstarch and stir well until mixed through. 
  Spread filling into pre-baked chocolate almond crust. 
• Bake for 40 minutes @ 350 F. Let cool completely in refrigerator about 1 hour or so before adding glaze.
• Chocolate Ganache Glaze
• In a small saucepan, bring cream, corn syrup, black food coloring gel and water to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate until smooth. Let cool about 5 minutes and spoon over edges and sides of tart to cover.

Recipe Video