Chocolate Truffle Tartlets

Dear Amanda,

Here are the results of my first tart adventure--not perfect in appearance but certainly tasty. I've included the recipe at the bottom. I have the odd habit of baking late at night--I think these were finished around one in the morning. While the other occupants of the dorm stumbled through on their way to the bars, I was preoccupied with pastry mats, rolling pins, and tartlet pans.

Usually I follow Mom's classic Crisco crust for pies, but with the advent of tarts this week I've entered the great shortening vs. butter debate. (By the way, where do you stand there?) These were made with a combination of Crisco and butter. I confess, they were just as flaky, and I relished the buttery taste. I was worried that they would stick to the pans and thus didn't press the dough tightly enough into the fluted edges, but after I chilled them them slipped right out. Next time I'll do it properly, and have lovely crimped edges. You were right about the baking temperature--I put them in at the same heat as the large tart the recipe described and simply took them out sooner, when I noticed that they had mostly solidified. I think some homemade whipped cream or chocolate shavings would set them off to perfection, but Kelly and I were too greedy to wait. We ate them plain, warmer than the recipe advised, and loved every bite regardless.

Then we fed the collection of guys who had accumulated in the kitchen.


Chocolate Truffle Tart
Pastry:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces
1 tbsp vegetable shortening
3 tbsp ice water

Chocolate filling:
6 squares (oz) semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream

Preparation:
1. In large bowl, combine flour and salt. With pastry blender, cut in butter and shortening until mixture forms pea-sized clumps. Sprinkle in ice water until dough is moist, shape into sphere, and refrigerate 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 425. Roll out dough and fit into pans or pan. Refrigerate or freeze for a few minutes until firm.

3. Bake tarts until golden. Time depends on the size of your pans. Also, I have no pie weights, so when my lovely little crusts swelled up I simply attacked them with the back of a spoon. they behaved after that. It didn't seem to hurt them any...

4.Turn oven to 350. While the crusts are cooling off, make the filling. In a two-quart saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter over very low heat, stirring frequently. Add sugar and vanilla. In another small bowl, whisk together eggs and cream. Whisk this egg mixture into the chocolate mixture in the saucepan.

5. Pour the yummy filling into the tart shells and bake until the custard is set but the center is still a bit jiggly.

6. Cool, refrigerate, or attack it while it's hot. Whichever.

Much love,

Celia