Posted on Friday, 18th June 2010 by Grace Massa Langlois
My son, Matt, had the worst chocolate craving all week and I was hoping these Chocolate Custard Tartlettes would hit the spot. I admit a bit of skepticism when I initially spotted Bill Granger’s recipe for these tarts. The recipe was so easy, seemed almost too good to be true. But I thought why not?
Skepticism lingered as I prepared the tarts. But all it took was one bite – the skepticism quickly disappeared!
Truth is these chocolate tarts are amazingly good. The chocolate custard is incredibly rich but light and smooth almost like mousse. And the butter puff pastry was crispy and tasty. And if you purchase store-bought puff pastry these tarts take no time at all to prepare.
I would recommend purchasing a good quality butter puff pastry and also good quality dark chocolate. The dark chocolate adds an exceptional, deep rich flavour to the custard.
Aside from simple tart making it’s been a very quiet week, not much happening on the home front. In fact a new friend, Marly, mentioned I was probably feeling a bit of after party sadness now that my niece Vera’s bridal shower has come and gone. The lull won’t last for too long because my niece, Natalie, has announced her engagement.
And I can take a little credit for this engagement since I played matchmaker and brought the two of them together. The best part of being part of a large family is that there’s always a special event happening, in fact, there’s very rarely a dull moment.
The quiet did give me a great deal of time to think and reflect on my new blogging journey. My journey’s given me a sense of purpose again and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I’ve learned so much and I’ve also been quite fortunate because it’s brought some wonderful people into my life.
Marly is one of those people. It’s weird how you can feel a particularly strong bond with someone you’ve never met face to face. Marly is a remarkable woman, she’s funny and she has a great big heart. Marly’s faced quite an extraordinary journey herself. She legally changed her first name and she writes about that very experience in her blog, Namely Marly. She’s currently interviewing readers about their names and recounting their stories on her blog. If you have a fascination for names, why not take a few minutes and visit Marly’s site and throw your name in the mix? Marly also shares mouth-watering Vegan recipes.
Next time you have a craving for chocolate turn to these quick and easy Chocolate Custard Tartlettes, you won’t be sorry! And just a bit of friendly advice – double the recipe. If one chocolate dessert isn’t enough to satisfy your craving you may want to try these chocolate desserts - Triple Chocolate Mousse Cakes or Chocolate-Caramel Tarts.
Happy weekend!
Chocolate Custard Tartlettes
(from Bill Granger’s “Bill’s Open Kitchen”)
makes 16
- 3 large egg yolks
- 55 g (1/4 cup) caster sugar (extra fine sugar)
- 2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch), sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 185 ml (3/4 cup) cream
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) water
- 150 g (1 cup) dark chocolate, finely chopped
- 2 sheets butter puff pastry (defrosted)
- confectioners’ sugar (for dusting)
- Preheat oven to 220° C ( 425° F )
- In a medium saucepan, combine egg yolks, sugar, cornflour, and vanilla extract, whisk until smooth. Add the cream and water and whisk until fully incorporated.
- Place the saucepan over medium heat and whisk constantly for 5 to 8 minutes until thickened.
- Remove from heat and add chocolate. Whisk until all chocolate has melted and custard is smooth. Let custard cool for at least 10 minutes, stirring custard occasionally, before fill pastry cases.
- On a lightly floured work surface, place the puff pastry sheets on top of each other and tightly roll into a log. Cut pastry roll into 1 cm (1/2 inch) wide slices. Using a rolling pin, roll out each piece of pastry, cut side up, into a 10 cm (4 inch) round. Flour lightly as you go to prevent the pastry from sticking. Using two 12-hole muffin tins, line 16 of the holes with the pastry rounds, carefully tucking in the edges and pressing firmly (greasing the tins isn’t necessary as the pastry has enough butter in it for the pastry cases to slip out easily).
- Evenly dividing the custard mixture, spoon the mixture into the pastry cases.
- Place in the oven, bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry edges are golden. Remove from oven, place on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes before removing tartlettes. Lightly dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve.
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Tags: after school treat, afternoon tea, baked pudding, chocolate, chocolate dessert, dessert, desserts, food, food photography, food photos, individual dessert, individual desserts, mini dessert, mini tarts, pastry tart shells, puff pastry, puff pastry recipes, quick desserts, tartlettes, tarts
Posted in Baking & Pastry, Baking Mise en Place, Custards, Creams & Mousses, Eggs, Fillings, Frostings & Dessert Sauces, Pastry Doughs & Batter, Recipes
Comments (15)
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June 19th, 2010 at 5:09 am
What a lucky boy Matt is to have a mum that can bake as well as you, they look delicious.
Have a great weekend.
June 19th, 2010 at 7:25 am
Thank you Ryan, you too!
June 19th, 2010 at 11:05 am
These tartlettes sure look wonderful!
June 19th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
These are just perfect – chocolate, one or two bites and one can have their chocolate fix; of course The Professor would have 3 (or more) as he’s quite the chocoholic! Beautiful, Grace!
June 20th, 2010 at 3:05 am
The Professor and I seem to share the same love for chocolate.
June 21st, 2010 at 2:13 am
These look amazing! Puff pastry and dark chocolate, that’s right up my alley. Can’t wait to give this recipe a try!
June 21st, 2010 at 10:06 am
The tartlettes look delicious! I love your blog – its so cute =D
I’ve nominated your blog for the Happy 101 award =) You can check it out on the latest post of my blog.
June 21st, 2010 at 11:19 am
Thank you Lisa, I am so honoured, you’ve just made my day!!! Looking forward to visiting your blog and hopefully getting to know you better through your posts.
June 22nd, 2010 at 2:07 pm
These look delightful! I’ve been toying with a similar idea for chocolate hazelnut tartlets–I think I might just have to snag your recipe and add a few hazelnuts in.
June 22nd, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Thank you Laura, if you take a look in my recipe page I do have a recipe for Chocolate Hazelnut Tarts, they are delicious!
June 23rd, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Grace – Thanks for mentioning me in your post. You are too sweet. I absolutely love coming to your site. Are you sick of hearing this yet? I just can’t help myself. I’m kind of glad we live far apart because I think I might be tempted to give up my vegan ways and eat all your tasty desserts. OK. Not really, but the pics look so good that the thought has crossed my mind…
June 23rd, 2010 at 4:50 pm
I just love you Marly, wish you did live close, would be lovely to meet you in person. We’ll have to do something about that in the near future!
January 29th, 2011 at 11:01 am
[...] the sweet end of things, my Chocolate Custard Tartlettes and Cannoncini will taste extraordinary with homemade pastry dough I can’t wait to [...]
April 24th, 2012 at 11:26 pm
Hi this looks really lovely!
Just a few queries, hope you could help me with them
The cream that asks for cream refers to…? Heavy cream?
i don’t have muffin tins, so could i use silicon muffin molds / aluminium cupcake holders!
thanks, can’t wait to make them
April 25th, 2012 at 4:28 am
Hi C, the cream is in fact heavy cream (or whipping cream), 35%. I’ve not used silicone molds or aluminum cupcake holders but it shouldn’t be a problem to use either. I love these by the way but haven’t made in a while, might make a batch too.