Valentine’s Tarts for Two
Serves 2
50 mins prep
30 mins cook
80 mins total
Chocolate tart shells filled with raspberry cheesecake, white chocolate ganache and raspberry sauce hearts.
Tart dough
Raspberry cheesecake filling
White chocolate ganache
Make tart dough
Sift together cake flour, almond flour, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt into a large bowl.
Add cold butter pieces and work them into the flour mixture with your hands until a sandy texture forms. The mixture should hold shape in a clump when pressed into your palm.
Add egg and mix by hand until the dough comes together. Form a ball and cover the dough in plastic wrap, flattening into a disk. Rest in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, or overnight.
After resting, roll it out into 2mm thickness between thick plastic or two silicone baking mats. Do not use extra flour for rolling.
Place the dough into the freezer for 15 minutes to make it easier to work with. Prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.
Take the dough out from the freezer and cut out circles the size of the bottom of your tart rings. Place your tart rings onto your prepared baking sheet. Place circles into the bottoms of your rings.
If your dough becomes too warm to work with, stick it back in the freezer for a few minutes.
Next, cut long strips for the sides of your tart rings. Place strips into your tart rings without trimming the excess yet. Set the pan in the freezer to freeze solid for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 325°F.
Take the pan out and trim excess dough. Prick the bottoms with a fork. Place parchment and pie weights in each cavity, then bake for 20 minutes. Remove parchment and pie weights and bake again until bottoms look dry and done, about 5-10 more minutes.
Cool completely, then unmold and brush bottoms with melted semi sweet chocolate to prevent a soggy bottom.
Make the raspberry sauce
Place cornstarch and water in a small saucepan. Whisk until combined. Add raspberries, lemon juice and 1 tbsp of sugar. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, then mash raspberries. Cook 5-10 more minutes, until thickened slightly. Remove from heat.
Sieve raspberries through a fine mesh strainer to remove seeds. Set sauce in the refrigerator to cool.
Make the raspberry cheesecake filling
Beat heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
Beat cream cheese in a medium bowl until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add 1 tbsp sugar and beat until combined. Add sour cream, vanilla and salt. Beat until combined.
Fold whipped cream and half of the raspberry sauce into the cream cheese mixture. Fill tart shells ¾ full with the cheesecake filling. I used a piping bag and smoothed the tops with a bent spoon.
Make the white chocolate ganache
Melt together white chocolate and heavy cream in a heatproof bowl over a bain-marie. Remove from heat and cool slightly before pouring over cheesecake filling to the tops of the tart shells.
Using a piping bag or squeeze bottle place small drops of raspberry sauce over top of the ganache in lines. Drag a toothpick through the drops to create a heart effect.
Move the tarts to the refrigerator to cool the ganache completely. Garnish with whipped cream, if desired.
