Chocolate Tartlets

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 I had some of the family yesterday, and as my daughter is a chocoholic, I thought I'd make these.


The recipe has been adapted from a French cookery book that my penfriend gave me years ago, but which has languished at the back of the shelf. The book has some other great tarts to try, so will be posting more recipes. It's called simply 'Les tartes' but I can't find an author.

The recipe makes 8 tartlets.

250g  shortcrust pastry [your own or bought], 175g dark chocolate, broken into pieces, 2-3 tbspn water,1 tbspn butter - softened,1 tbspn cognac or cointreau [opt!], 3 eggs, separated,  chocolate shavings or grated chocolate to decorate

Preheat oven 200C/gas6  Tartlet tin or 8 tartlet moulds

Roll out the pastry and line 8 moulds. (I bought a lovely 12 hole tartlet tin from Lakeland)  Put in the fridge for about 15 mins.

 Line them with parchment and fill with beans and bake them blind for15mins; take out the beans and paper and cook them for another 5 mins; leave to cool.

Melt the chocolate over a bowl of hot water or in the microwave and leave to cool. Add the butter and mix till it's melted then add the egg yolks. Now's the time to pour in the cognac or Cointreau. Mix it all together.

Beat the whites stiffly then fold in the chocolate mixture .

Spoon the mixture into the pastry shells and put in the fridge till they're set [2-3 hours].

Before serving, sprinkle some shavings or grated chocolate on top.




I didn't add any cognac or Cointreau to the tartlets as my grandchildren would be eating them. We liked the texture of the chocolate in the filling - silky and very more-ish and a good contrast to the crunchy pastry. The chocolate shavings add another texture.

These will be on my Christmas baking list, with the alcohol this time!

Comments

Phil in the Kitchen said…
I really do love a chocolate tart - probably too much, if I'm honest. These do sound great. I must admit that I find Cointreau and chocolate a very fine combination indeed.
17/10/22 7:51 am
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