These mini chocolate tarts or tartlets feature chocolate or vanilla-flavored homemade shortbread crusts. Fill them with a rich but effortless bittersweet chocolate ganache.
Add first 1¼ cup unbleached flour, ¼ cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder, ½ cup confectioners' sugar, and ¼ teaspoon table or sea salt to a food processor and pulse until well blended.
Cut ½ cup unsalted butter, cold into 8 pieces. Add to dry ingredients and pulse until the mixture looks like oatmeal.
Use a fork to break up and mix 1 large egg then pour it all at once into the food processor bowl. Pulse 5-6 times to begin to moisten the mixture. Let the machine run steadily for a few seconds. Observe until the mixture begins to stick together and starts to form a ball. The machine will make a different sound as this happens.
Press dough into a cylinder (like a roll of refrigerated cookie dough), cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30-45 minutes or up to a week.
When ready to make crusts, cut the cylinder into 12 equal slices. I usually end up with 13 tarts because I roll all the scraps together to make the 13th shell.
Roll each slice between plastic wrap until just slightly larger around than tart shell. The dough should be just shy of 1/4 inch thick and a consistent thickness throughout. This can be a little tricky at first. Practice makes perfect.
Cover and freeze mini-tart shells until rock hard.
Place tart shells onto a cookie sheet. Cover the inside of each tart with foil pressed to fit down inside. Bake in preheated 400˚F (200˚C) oven for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 2-3 more minutes.
Cool for 5 minutes. Remove crust from pan or mold. Fill when completely cool.
Chocolate ganache filling:
Chop 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate and place into a deep bowl. Set aside.
Heat ½ cup heavy cream just until it starts to boil, then pour over chocolate and let sit for several minutes until chocolate has melted.
Use a whisk or spoon to begin stirring in lazy circles starting from the middle until mixture is uniform. Don't go crazy stirring or chocolate will lose its beautiful gloss. Gentle motion is good.
Add 2 tablespoons butter in small pieces and continue mixing gently until the ganache is once again uniform.
The mixture should be thick enough to go straight into the crusts, but if runny, refrigerate for a few minutes until it thickens.
Assembly:
Fill cooled tartlet shells with ganache.
Chill tartlets until ready to serve. Remove 30 minutes before serving to allow the filling to soften a bit. Garnish with fruit or whipped cream.
Notes
Crust dough may be stored, well-wrapped, in the refrigerator one week. Or store in the freezer for 6 months. I prefer to freeze the raw tart shells and bake the day I want to serve them for maximum freshness with last-minute convenience.Ganache may be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator. Warm very gently. I put it in a small bowl inside a larger bowl partially filled with hot water until it softens enough to spoon into baked crusts. Re-chill before serving.