These delicious mini tarts are made of a buttery tart crust, filled with rich, creamy dark chocolate custard and topped with pomegranate seeds. It is very fun to make these mini tarts and they turn out so beautiful and irresistible!
Chocolate and Pomegranate Tarts
These delicious mini tarts are made of a buttery tart crust, filled with rich, creamy dark chocolate custard and topped with pomegranate seeds. It is very fun to make these mini tarts and they turn out so beautiful and irresistible!
Ingredients
Chocolate Tart Dough
- 1 cup + 1 tbsp all purpose flour - 127 grams
- 3 tbsps Cocoa powder - 15 grams
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup powdered sugar - 60 grams
- 7 tbsps unsalted butter - cold and cut into cubes - 100 grams
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3-4 tbsps ice cold water
Chocolate Filling
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tbsps milk
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate (I used %72 percent chocolate) - 113 grams
- 1 egg - at room temperature
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp espresso powder - optional
- ½ tbsp unsalted butter - at room temperature
Topping:
- Pomegranate seeds
- shaved chocolate - optional
Instructions
Making the Tart Dough with Food Processor:
- Add flour, salt, cocoa powder and powdered sugar into the bowl of food processor and pulse a few times to combine.
- Add in cold, cubed unsalted butter. Pulse 4-5 times until it resembles coarse crumbs.
- Combine egg yolk with 2 tablespoons of water and vanilla extract and add it to the mix. Pulse a few times until combined and looks like a wet sand. Squeeze a small amount of dough together, if it's crumbly, add 1 more tablespoon of water and mix. The dough should not be too wet and sticky. If needed, add more water half a tablespoon at a time until no longer crumbly. I added 3 and a half tablespoon of water in total.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 1 hour.
Making the Tart Dough with Hand:
- In a large bowl, whisk flour, salt, cocoa powder and powdered sugar together until combined. Add the cubed pieces of cold butter. Then use your fingers to work the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs.
- Combine egg yolk with 2 tablespoons of water and vanilla extract and add it to the mix. Use a fork to distribute the liquid. Keep adding ½ tablespoon of water at a time and mixing until the dough starts to come together and you don't see any dry spots. You can test the dough by squeezing the dough pieces together, they should hold together.
- Now bring the dough pieces together to form a ball, I like to knead it VERY lightly, just with my fingertips for maybe 10 seconds until it comes together and the water is distributed evenly in the dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 1 hour.
Rolling and Blind Baking Tart Crust:
- Lightly grease 6 4-inch tart pans. These are the ones I used.
- After an hour, divide the dough into 6 pieces. Lightly flour your surface and roll out each piece into about ⅛ inch thick. Then carefully transfer to the greased 4-inch tart pan and press the dough into the sides and bottom of the pan to fit tightly trim the edges. Transfer the tarts to a small baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Crumble up some parchment paper and line the tart pans with them. Fill the lined tarts with pie weights or dry beans and rice. Bake the tarts for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, take them out of the oven and remove parchment paper and beans. Using a fork, poke the crust a few times to prevent them from puffing up. Return the crusts to the oven for 5 more minutes. Then set them aside to cool down while we prepare the filling. Reduce the oven temperature to 300°F.
Prepare the Filling:
- Chop the dark chocolate into small pieces and transfer them to a large bowl.
- Heat heavy cream, milk and salt in a sauce pan until steaming and just starting to boil. Pour over the chocolate, let it sit for 1 minute. Then whisk to combine.
- Add in egg and whisk to combine. Then add in sugar, vanilla extract, espresso powder and butter. Whisk until combined.
- Divide the filling into six cooled crusts.
- Bake at 300°F for about 10-15 minutes ° Transfer to a wire wrack and let them cool completely. Top with pomegranate seeds and enjoy!
Notes
How to use this recipe for one 9-inch tart pan instead of 6 mini ones:
- The dough crust amount is the same for a 9-inch pan. Just roll out the dough to fit into the pan. Line the crust with crumbled parchment paper or aluminum foil. Then, fill it with pie weights or dry beans. Transfer the pan to a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Remove weights and parchment paper. Using a fork, poke the crust a few times to prevent from puffing up. Bake an additional 5 minutes, set aside to cool. Remember the crust will continue to bake with the filling, so we don't fully bake it at this stage. Reduce the oven temperature to 300F.
- For the filling, you need to double the amounts to be enough for a 9-inch pan. Pour the filling into the crust and bake at 300F for about 20 minutes, or until the filling is set and just slightly jiggly in the middle.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
2 comments
Step 3 in the blind baking section does not have any instructions. Less experienced bakers will find this very confusing.
Thank you so much for letting me know! Somehow step 3 had been erased without me realizing, I just added it again! 🙂