White chocolate and raspberry is my favorite dessert combination in the world. I love how the sweetness of matte white chocolate and sourness of bright juicy raspberries complement each other. And, needless to mention how pretty they look together!
- DC vs. Baltimore food truck Saturday..out of the 50 trucks there, I had my eyes stuck on this one truck that sold white chocolate raspberry cheesecake on a popstick.
A few months back, we had a friend visiting from the Midwest. So I made Paneer Pesto Wraps for dinner and tarts for dessert. I filled some of the tarts with the classic PBJ and some with pastry cream and strawberries. Then I had some leftover tart shells (they keep well for a good month) with which I made these Raspberry & White Chocolate Tarts.
The usual tart pastry recipes call for rubbing cold cubes of butter into the flour, forming the dough with egg or water and refrigerating the dough before baking. But this tart shell recipe is the complete opposite — uses melted butter, doesn’t use any egg and no refrigeration required. And good news is that it’s a guaranteed fail-proof recipe so do give it a try.
For the tart pastry:
90g – unsalted butter
3 tbsp – water
1 tbsp – vegetable oil
1 tbsp – sugar
Pinch – salt
1 cup – flour
1) To make the tart pastry, preheat the oven to 200 C (400 F).
2) Place the butter, water, oil, sugar and salt in an overproof bowl.
3) Put the bowl in the oven for about 15 minutes, until the butter is melted, bubbling, and just beginning to brown around the edges. This step can even be done by placing a saucepan on a stovetop on low heat.
4) Carefully remove the bowl from the oven and dump in the flour. Stir quickly, until the dough comes together and pulls away from the side of the dish.
5) Put the dough into the base of one 10″ tart pan or divide it equally into six 3″ tart pans.
6) Press the dough around the base of the pan with a spatula, and then once it is cool enough to handle, use your hands to evenly press it into the base and up the sides of the tart tin.
7) Prick the dough all over with a fork and place the tart pan(s) on a baking tray.
8) Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown all over. Remove the pans from the oven and cool completely before filling.
For the white chocolate filling:
3/4 cup – heavy cream
2/3 cup – whole milk
1 tsp – pure vanilla extract
6 oz – white chocolate, chopped
For the topping:
1 cup – fresh raspberries
Confectioner’s sugar for dusting
1) Whip the heavy cream till soft peaks form. Refrigerate.
2) Bring the milk and vanilla to a simmer. Pour it over the white chocolate and let it sit undisturbed for 2 minutes. The hot milk will help melt the chocolate. After 2 minutes, give it a good stir until it’s smooth. Cool this mixture to room temperature.
3) Gently fold in the whipped cream into the white chocolate mixture.
4) Pour this filling into the tart shell(s) and refrigerate for about an hour or till the filling is set.
5) Arrange the fresh raspberries on top.
6) Dust the confectioner’s sugar on those gorgeous red rubies!
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