Monday, February 25, 2008

Warm Chocolate and Raspberry Tarts


From the moment I first flicked through Claire Clark’s "100 Perfect Desserts" I have wanted to make these. It’s a well-known combination but there is just something special about chocolate and raspberry. I just needed a dinner when there would be more than just me and The Doc. Once we had been invited to his parents for Sunday dinner I immediately offered my dessert making abilities.

My previous experiences with chocolate pastry have been a bit hit and miss, it can be very delicate and prone to breaking but this pastry crust is a dream to work with. I managed to roll it out really thin with ease, resulting in a crisp crust (you really do have to get the pastry thin when making individual tarts in order to get the optimum crust to filling ratio).

The chocolate filling is really a variation on chocolate mousse and I can confirm that it tastes good all by itself. It doesn’t set firm, as you break the crust with a spoon there is an unctuous flow of chocolate, so I wouldn’t advise scaling this up to a big tart. I served mine with crème frâiche which I much prefer it to cream with rich chocolate desserts; I just feel that it cuts nicely through the richness.

This would make a really wow dessert for a dinner part, all the constituent parts can be assembled well in advance and the tarts then just need 8 mins in the oven to finish them off.

Pastry:
100g unsalted butter, softened
100g icing sugar
1 large egg
¼ tsp vanilla extract
225g plain flour
25g cocoa
Pinch salt

  • Cream together butter and sugar
  • Beat together egg and vanilla
  • Add in stages to butter/sugar mix, beat well between each addition
  • Sieve in flour, cocoa and salt
  • Bring together with your hands
  • Rest in the fridge for 30 mins
  • Roll out on a lightly floured surface
  • Cut out 8 15-cm diameter circles to line 10-cm individual tart dishes
  • Rest again in the fridge for 15 mins
  • Line tartlets with greaseproof paper and baking beans
  • Bake @ 160°C for 15 mins
  • Remove beans and bake uncovered for a further 10 mins

Filling:
400g raspberries
3 eggs
4 egg yolks
50g caster sugar
200g unsalted butter
300g good-quality 70% chocolate

  • Whisk together eggs, egg yodlks and sugar until tripled in volume (you really need an electric whisk for this unless you are looking for a sore wrist)
  • Melt together butter and chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water
  • While it is still warm fold the chocolate mix into the eggs
  • Place 6-8 raspberries in each tart shell
  • Spoon over the chocolate filling and level with the back of a knife
  • Bake @ 180°C for eight minutes until the middle still retains a little wobble

5 comments:

Rachel@fairycakeheaven said...

YUMARAMA nothing like chocolate and raspberries

Anonymous said...

Oh yum!!! Totally agree with Rachel...

Anonymous said...

That's got me drooling! Love the idea of it being all gooey on the inside.

lorraine@italianfoodies said...

you had me on white chocolate!!:) Send some down Limerick way pleeease!!

EducatedNobody said...

dude, you have to stop posting all this food. It really makes me hungry. On a lighter note, next time we have GAB over, we are inviting you as well! the things he says when your not around, I was blushing!