Recipe for Mini Tarts with Black Forest Flair

Sweet Cocoa Dough
Mix the powdered sugar, salt, and softened butter with a whisk. Add the egg. Add the flour (in which you have mixed the cocoa) with a spatula or by hand. Do not over-knead the dough, as this will make it lose its crumbly texture and become elastic. Once you have formed a ball, you need to fraisage the dough, as with shortcrust pastry. Roll it out roughly, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or half that time in the freezer if you are eager to taste it.

Baking: Preheat the oven to 190°C. Roll out the dough and line the tartlet circles or a large tart ring or small tartlet molds... Prick with a fork and blind bake (I forgot to take a photo of this step and the egg wash step, but don't skip them!). To do this, cover each tartlet with a circle of parchment paper and fill them with weights. You can use ceramic beads or lead weights made for this purpose, or, like me, you can use dried beans, lentils, or rice. You can reuse them several times.

After 10 minutes, when the dough begins to dry and holds itself, remove the weights and unring. Whisk an egg yolk with a pinch of salt and, using a brush, coat the inside and the outer edges of the tartlet bases. Bake again for about 10 minutes, keeping a close eye on it as the cooking time varies depending on the oven and the thickness of your tart bases.

Creamy Cherry Mix the cherries with the cream and the cherry brandy until you achieve a smooth and thick liquid texture. Pour into a saucepan and heat the mixture. Once the mixture is warm, add the cornstarch and return to the heat, bringing to a boil while whisking until thickened, about 1 minute. Add the butter and mix until the mixture is homogeneous. Pour this creamy mixture to about halfway up the bases of the tartlets. Place in the refrigerator.

Creamy chocolate Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, do not heat the chocolate above 45°C. Bring the milk to a boil. When the chocolate is around 33°C, add the egg yolks one by one, mixing well between each addition.

Slowly pour the warm milk over the mixture while stirring. Once the mixture is smooth, return it to the heat and cook on low. The cream should coat the spoon well; you can cook it for about 5 minutes while continuously stirring. Pour the cream into the tartlet shells, over the layer, up to the edge. Refrigerate and let it set for at least one to two hours.

In the bowl of the mixer, equipped with the whisk, place all the ingredients. Start by whisking on low speed to combine everything, and once the mixture is homogeneous or nearly so, increase to high speed. Stop when the whipped cream has risen and has an airy consistency; it should not be too firm or too tight.

Place the whipped cream in a piping bag fitted with a Saint Honoré nozzle or simply a piping bag cut at an angle. Keep in the refrigerator. When ready to serve, pipe the whipped cream onto the tarts.

To finish, find more tips for this recipe on the blog.