Chocolate Mint Strawberry Tart -

Toolbar

Printer Friendly

RSS Feed

Bookmark

Home

Recipes

Desserts

Pies

Chocolate Mint Strawberry Tart

Rate it!
Votes (0) | Comments (0)

By Melanie Barnard

Posted July 23rd, 2007

This article is reprinted with permission from Ready, Set, Dough!: Incredibly Easy and Delicious Ways to Use Store-Bought Doughs, by Melanie Barnard, (2004, Broadway)

Ready, Set, Dough!: Incredibly Easy and Delicious Ways to Use Store-Bought Doughs

Servings:	8
Author Notes:	Unbelievable easy, this tart is one of my most often baked desserts, since it combines pastry, chocolate and strawberries - an all-time favorite combination. It looks bakery perfect and tastes homemade terrific. Look for small strawberries, especially the increasingly available French fraises des bois, but most important is that the berries are uniform in size for the prettiest presentation.
Ingredients:	one-half of a 15 ounces package of refrigerated, folded piecrusts 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate 1 cup heavy cream 2 tablespoons white creme de menthe 1 pint small strawberries (about 30 berries) hulled 2 tablespoons strawberry jelly 8 small sprigs fresh mint
Instructions:	1. Keeping one crust refrigerated for another use, unFold the other crust and ease it into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Fold any crust that hangs over the side inward to reinforce the edge of the tart. Press firmly to form the rippled edges, then use a rolling pin or sharp knife to trim the pastry even with the top of the tart pan. Prick the bottom of the tart 4 or 5 times with the tines of fork. Place the tart shell in the freezer for at least 20 minutes and up to 2 hours. 2. Preheat the oven to 450° F. Bake the tart shell, directly from the freezer, until it is golden and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack. 3. In a small bowl set over hot water or in the microwave, gently melt the chocolate. Stir in 1/3 cup of the cream and 1 tablespoon of the creme de menthe until the mixture is smooth. Spread the chocolate over the bottom of the tart shell. Refrigerate the remaining 2/3 cup cream. 4. Arrange the berries in concentric circles, hulled side down, in the lukewarm chocolate. Refrigerate the tart until the chocolate is set, 15 to 20 minutes. In a small saucepan or microwave oven, melt the jelly with the remaining 1 tablespoon of crème de menthe. Carefully brush the berries with the jelly, trying to avoid brushing the jelly on the crust or the chocolate. Refrigerate until ready to serve, up to 3 hours. 5. Shortly before serving, whip the reserved cream to soft peaks. 6. To serve, cut the tart into wedges and serve each with a spoonful of softly whipped cream and garnished with a mint sprig. Tips: strawberries should be rinsed before they are hulled, since the cut hull allows berries to soak up water. Use strawberries within a day of purchase, since they have a rather short shelf life. Choose berries that smell fragrant - the best indicator of good taste. Variations: Use raspberries in place of strawberries and brandy in place of crème de menthe. Use lemon juice sprinkled sliced bananas in place of strawberries, and brush with orange marmalade melted with rum. This fruit should be added no more than 1 hour before serving. Use quartered apricots in place of strawberries, and brush with apricot jelly melted with brandy.