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1
Dust a surface with flour and roll out your pastry to a bit bigger than an 8 1/2-by-11-inch sheet of paper.
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2
Brush with the egg yolk and scatter the rest of the ingredients over, being subtle with the allspice and cinnamon.
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3
Roll the pastry up tightly like a Swiss roll to make a long sausage shape.
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4
With a knife, cut across the sausage into 1-inch (2 1/2-centimeter) pieces.
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5
Take 8 pieces aside, and freeze the rest of the pastry for a rainy day.
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6
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C/gas 6).
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7
Turn all the pieces of pastry swirl-side up and flatten them slightly.
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8
Dust the surface of your pastry with flour, then roll each piece out into a thin circle (around the size of a teacup saucer).
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9
Even I don't have proper pastry molds at home, so I just grease and flour the outsides of 8 of my glass tumblers.
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10
Then, I place a circle of pastry on top of each tumbler, pleating, pinching and hugging the pastry around them.
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11
Place the tumblers on a baking tray, pastry at the top, and put in the preheated oven until crisp and golden, around 15 minutes.
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12
Remove from the oven and, while still hot, take a tea towel and pat the slightly raised top of the pastry back down on to the flat bottom of the tumbler ?
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13
giving you a flat base again.
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14
Allow to cool, and carefully remove the pastry cases from around the tumblers.
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15
Fill your pastry cases with the chocolate filling: Place the double cream, sugar, and pinch of salt in a pan and bring to the boil.
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16
As soon as the mixture has boiled, remove from the heat, and add the butter and chocolate.
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17
Stir until it has completely melted.
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18
Allow the mixture to cool slightly, stirring in the cold milk until smooth and shiny.
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19
Sometimes this mixture looks like it has split.
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20
Allow the mixture to cool down a bit more, and whisk in a little extra cold milk until smooth.
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21
Scrape all the mixture into the cooked pastry shells.
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22
Shake to even it out and allow to cool for around 1 to 2 hours, until it is at room temperature.
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23
Dust with the cocoa powder.
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24
Ultimately the pastry should be short and crisp and the filling should be smooth and should cut like butter.
