Mocha Tartlets
Delicate chocolate-coffee flavored tartlets filled with a rich mocha custard. These elegant petit fours feature a buttery pastry shell filled with smooth chocolate-espresso custard, enhanced with coffee liqueur.
Ingredients
- •2 large egg yolks
- •2½ tablespoons sugar
- •1½ tablespoons cornstarch
- •¾ cup whole milk
- •2 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate
- •½ tablespoon coffee liqueur
- •½ tablespoon unsalted butter
- •1 teaspoon instant-espresso powder
- •1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- •⅓ cup sugar
- •½ teaspoon salt
- •1 stick unsalted butter
- •1 large egg
- •½ teaspoon vanilla
- •1 set special equipment
Cooking Instructions
- 1.
Beat together yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and a pinch of salt in a bowl with an electric mixer until thick and pale, about 1 minute. Heat milk in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat until hot but not boiling. Add one third of hot milk to yolk mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Pour remainder of milk into yolk mixture, whisking, then transfer to saucepan. Simmer, whisking constantly, until very thick, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add chocolate, liqueur, butter, and espresso powder. Let stand until chocolate is melted, about 1 minute, then whisk until smooth. Force custard through a fine sieve into a bowl. Cover surface of custard with wax paper and chill until cold, at least 4 hours.
240 min
- 2.
Pulse together flour, sugar, salt, butter, egg, and vanilla in a food processor until dough is smooth and begins to form a ball (it will be soft, like cookie dough). Turn out dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and gather into a ball. Flatten dough into a disk and chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 30 minutes and up to 8 hours (overnight).
30 min
- 3.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
10 min
- 4.
Break off 1-teaspoon pieces of dough and press evenly into molds with floured fingers to form shells about 1/16 inch thick, pinching off excess from rim and making bottoms slightly thinner than sides. Arrange molds 1 inch apart in a shallow baking pan and chill until dough is firm again, about 30 minutes.
30 min
- 5.
Bake in middle of oven, rotating pan halfway through baking, until pale golden, 12 to 15 minutes total. Transfer molds to a rack to cool, then carefully remove shells from molds. Make more tartlet shells in same manner if desired.
15 min
- 6.
Fill pastry bag with custard and pipe decoratively into shells.
15 min
