Hence an idea was born …
While waiting at the deli recently, I was quite intrigued by an ad for Boar’s Head Chocolate Hummus. I wondered what type of dipping vessel one might use… a strawberry perhaps? A sturdy cookie? I love the combination of chocolate and tahini so I came up with this little tartlet.
A note on pan size
I used 4″ tartlet pans because:
- I love mini desserts
- I need to justify the purchase of yet another size tart pan
- Empty nesters can’t finish a large tart; tiny tarts can be filled on an as-needed basis
- You may choose a 9″ tart pan instead- you have my permission
Strawberry & Chocolate Tahini Tartlets
6
servingsa lot
kcalThe combination of tahini and chocolate might seem odd but it is actually sooooooooo good! The earthiness of the tahini partners well with the chocolate and the walnut crust is the perfect base. If you don’t like walnuts (which I view as practically a crime), you can use your favorite pastry recipe. A food processor is handy.
Ingredients
- For the walnut pastry
1 cup of flour
3 T sugar
pinch of salt
8 T cold, unsalted butter cut into cubes
1/3 cup walnuts
2 egg yolks, beaten lightly with 1 T water
- Chocolate Tahini Ganache
8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
4 T unsalted butter
1/4 cup plus 2 T tahini (well-stirred)
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 T powdered sugar
1 t vanilla
- Strawberry Topping
strawberries
raspberry jam, melted or simple syrup (bar syrup)
sanding sugar to make the top sparkle
Directions
- For the pastry
- In a food processor, pulse flour, sugar, salt and walnuts until walnuts are very finely chopped.
- Add butter cubes and pulse until the mixture looks like wet sand or coarse meal.
- Drizzle the egg yolk mixture over and pulse until the mixture comes together just until you can pinch the pastry cohesively between two fingers. Don’t over process.
- Form the dough into a square and cut into 6 pieces (or just one disk if you are making a 9″ tart); shape each piece into a round, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Forming and blind baking the tartlets
- Spray the 4″ pans lightly with cooking spray
- Roll out each disk to a 5″ round and fit into the tart pans, pushing lightly into the sides and bottom. Trim the tops so that they are even with the pan. The dough is very forgiving and easy to work with- if it tears, merely patch it back together.
- Cover and refrigerate again for 1 hour to relax the gluten.
- Preheat the oven to 400º. Line each tartlet pan with a parchment square. I like these from King Arthur; I reuse them over and over and am convinced the pack I purchased will last for the rest of my life.
- Cover the parchment with dried beans or pie weights and bake for 10 minutes; remove parchment/beans and bake 3-5 minutes longer. They may not look completely brown on the bottom but they will continue to get color so you don’t want to overdo the baking time.
- Let them cool completely.
- Chocolate Tahini Ganache
- Put all the ingredients in a heavy bottom saucepan over very low heat, stirring until the chocolate is mostly melted. Remove from heat and continue stirring until the chocolate is completely melted and everything is well combined. Allow to cool 30 minutes.
- Divide the ganache between the six tartlets. If there is any left over, you can dip strawberries into it or just eat it with a spoon (which is what I did).
- Assembly
- After the ganache has become firm, slice the strawberries and make a nice pattern on top of your tartlets or just pile them on- either way it will be gorgeous.
- Brush with either melted raspberry jam or simple syrup and jazz them up with sparkle sugar if desired.
Notes
- Don’t put the strawberries on until you are ready to serve the tartlets. The chocolate filled shells can sit at room temperature for up to two days but any longer and the crust will become too soft.
