CHOCOLATE & RASPBERRY TARTS

This month’s Classic French challenge over on Blue Kitchen Bakes  is chocolate ganache.  I always find this incredibly rich so this time I decided to add a bit of raspberry sauce to the bottom of each tart to counteract the richness.  I thickened my normal raspberry sauce with a touch of cornflour to stop it running out once we cut into the tarts and it worked well.  There is nothing difficult about making the ganache and it is really quick to prepare.  The only time consuming process to these delicious tarts is making your own pastry but if you are short of time then a good quality store bought pastry would speed the process up giving you an elegant and decadent dessert in just over half an hour. 

 

CHOCOLATE AND RASPBERRY TARTS

 

For the printable version - click here

Prep time: 2 hours, including resting time for pastry shells

Cook time: 25 mins

Total time: 2hrs, 25 mins

 

Yield: 6 individual tarts

 

 

Ingredients

• Sweet shortcrust pastry
• 150ml double cream
• 190g dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 300g raspberries
• 2 tblsp icing sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice

 

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200 deg C.
2. Make up one batch of sweet shortcrust pastry and prepare 6 small individual tart cases.
3. Bake blind for 15 mins. Remove paper and baking beans and return to oven for a further 5 - 10 mins to dry out.
4. To prepare raspberry coulis, puree raspberries (leave some back for decoration), icing sugar and lemon juice using a stick blender.
5. Pour through a sieve to remove all seeds.
6. If you prefer the raspberry sauce to be slightly thicker you can mix 1 tsp of cornflour with some of the puree. Heat remaining puree in a saucepan and then stir in the cornflour mixture and stir until thickened.
7. Set to one side.
8. To make the chocolate ganache, heat the cream in a saucepan until just boiling.
9. Add the chopped chocolate and stir with a spatula until fully melted and smooth.
10. Remove from heat and leave for 5 mins to cool slightly.
11. To assemble tarts, spoon some raspberry coulis into the bottom of each pastry shell.
12. Fill the shells with chocolate ganache ensuring a nice smooth finish on top.
13. Decorate with whole raspberries.
14. Serve at room temperature.

Recipe by Angela Darroch 

    

LEMON TART

I can happily spend hours in the kitchen working on a dish but like anything in life there are a few things which I just do not enjoy doing.  No. 1 on the list has to be peeling potatoes - definitely one for hubby to deal with.  No. 2 is making pastry cases.  I find it so stressful especially when it comes to making a rich shortcrust pastry.  You have to get the pastry really thin so that it is not too doughy and then of course it tears just as you drop it into the tin.  Of course you can patch it up but it never looks the same.  The next problem is getting it to dry out nicely without going too brown and of course last but not least is getting it out of the tin without breaking the edges.  No, no, no - life is too short to make your own pastry cases.  Thankfully there is a good selection of ready made ones in the shops for cowards like me.  Of course if you are a domestic goddess and prefer to make your own then this tart requires a rich shortcrust pastry case.

 I did in fact make the pastry case for my lemon tart and all was going well until I went to fill the case with the filling.  Yup - not enough filling - my tin was too deep.  I went ahead and baked the tart and when it had cooled slightly I went round the edge very carefully with a pair of kitchen scissors and trimmed down to the filling edge. 

This is not a traditional lemon tart but only because I find them too eggy (not a real word but very descriptive)?  It is nevertheless a lovely tart and very tangy and very easy.  No need to worry about the egg curdling or splitting.  It can be served plain with some icing sugar dusted over the top. Alternatively you can fancy it up a bit for a special dinner by caramelising some caster sugar on the top and serving with some sharp raspberry coulis on the side.

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 40 mins

Yield: 6 servings

For the printable version - click here

Ingredients

• 1 shallow 20cm sweet shortcrust pastry case
• 3 egg yolks
• 397g tin of condensed milk
• Rind from 3 lemons
• 160 ml fresh lemon juice, strained

Cooking Directions

1. In a large bowl pour condensed milk, lemon juice and rind onto egg yolks.
2. Mix well and pour into prepared pastry case.
3. Bake at 180 degrees C (350 deg F) for 30 mins or until just set.

To caramelise the top

Cut the tart into slices.

Sprinkle with caster sugar

Using a cooks blowtorch, caramelise sugar

Sprinkle another layer of caster sugar

Caramelise again.

Do not refrigerate after this step as the sugar will soften.

 

Written by : Angela Darroch