Valentine’s Day is just a couple of weeks away, which means ALL the red-and-white themed desserts and pastries! Raspberry and chocolate are my go-to flavors this time of the year, and they’re incredible together in these Raspberry Chocolate Mini Tarts! The chocolate crusts are the perfect vessel for delicious vanilla pastry cream, topped with raspberries and powdered sugar. This is the perfect dessert to surprise your significant other, and the mini sizes make them perfect for any Galentine’s Day celebration you’ve got coming up as well!
Raspberry Chocolate Mini Tarts
Equipment
- 6 6" mini tart pans with removeable bottoms
Ingredients
Chocolate Shortbread Crust
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (187.5g)
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar (52.5g)
- 3/8 cup cocoa powder (37.5g) I recommend Dutch-processed
- 3/8 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter (169.5g)
- 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
Filling
- 1 cup whole milk (227g)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (50g)
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened (42g)
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries
- powdered sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, sift in the flour, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt, and then whisk until fully combined.
- In a small saucepan, add the butter and melt over medium heat. Make sure not to boil it, you just want to get it liquid. Add the vanilla and stir until combined, and then gently stream the butter over the dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, stir everything together until it comes together into a dough. Make sure there are no dry spots of dry ingredients and everything is fully combined.
- Divide the dough into 6 equal parts and press into your 6" mini tart pans. Push the dough out to the edges and up to the rim, using your fingers to keep it smooth and level throughout the tart. Once you've done this with all the mini tarts, place them on a baking sheet and bake for 17-19 minutes. It can definitely be difficult to tell when they're done because they already start out so dark, so I recommend looking for them to no longer be shiny from the butter, but instead matte and dry.
- Once done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes on the pan before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once the mini tart shells have cooled (or just about), make the filling. In a medium heat-proof bowl (I recommend with a pouring spout), sift in the sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk together until combined, and then add the egg. Whisk until fully mixed and smooth.
- In a small saucepan, add the whole milk and bring to a low boil (just above a simmer, nothing crazy). Slowly stream in the hot milk to the egg mix, whisking constantly until everything is combined and smooth. If you add the milk too quickly, you can risk cooking the eggs, so there's no need to rush!
- Pour the milk and egg mix back into the saucepan and return to a medium-high heat, whisking constantly. After a bit it should start to thicken rapidly and boil. Make sure to be whisking this entire time to keep your pastry cream from getting lumpy! Once the filling starts to boil throughout, cook for an additional minute before removing from the heat. Add the softened butter and vanilla, and whisk until the butter has melted and smoothly combined with the pastry cream.
- Pour the pastry cream into the now cooled tart shells. Place them on a baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap, making sure to press the plastic down onto the surface of the pastry cream–this will prevent a skin from forming. From here, chill them for at least 1 hour, or until ready to serve.
- When ready to serve, remove from the fridge an top with fresh raspberries and powdered sugar.
- Enjoy!
