What's Black and White and Red All Over?

From what you see on this blog, I don't think you'd realize just how often I make tartlets. I'm not talking pies or quiches or tarts but tartlets, just large enough to showcase all the fabulous ingredients you put inside it, and just small enough to inhibit feelings of guilt. I'm not going to pretend that tartlets taste any better than full-size tarts. Small food is simply adorable.

Incidentally, my signature dessert (I aspire to coin the term, coup de cuisine), is my Nutella Tartlet. It has appeared only once on this blog, in the early days of my blogging, which certainly does not do justice to the frequency with which I am devouring slice after slice of Nutella Tartlet. But I shall save my coup de cuisine for another day. Instead, I present to you another tartlet, which my boyfriend, Daniel, has taken to calling "The Strawberry Delight." It lives up to its name.

But isn't it an ordinary strawberry tart? you ask. Oh no, my friends - you are mistaken. This is the empress of strawberry tartlets, the tartlet to which all other fruit tartlets bow. On the bottom is a shell of dark chocolate, fulfilling the double duty of deliciousness and crispness. It was a tip I dug out from an old Food & Wine issue to help prevent the bottoms of tarts from getting soggy. Absolute genius. Nobody ever complains about extra chocolate at the bottom. And on top? Not just any old pastry cream but caramelized white chocolate mascarpone cream. Try saying that five times fast. I've sung the praises of caramelized white chocolate before, but mascarpone takes it to another level. It's a breeze to make (and requires only three ingredients!) and can be used as tart fillings, in mille feuilles, on crepes, as a dollop of whipped cream on apple pie...wherever your culinary imagination takes you. And finally, the bright, juicy flavors of the last strawberries of summer make for a one-of-a-kind, stuff-of-dreams dessert. 

Tartlet crust recipe adapted from Epicurious. 

The Strawberry Delight

Makes 3 (4-inch) Tartlets

For the Crust

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons butter, chilled

1 tablespoon ice water

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, salt, and sugar. Use a knife to shave slices of butter into the flour. Combine with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle in the ice water (adding more by the half tablespoon if needed) and knead until smooth. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and chill for 45 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 400°F and butter 3 tartlet molds.

Divide the dough into three even balls and place two of them back in the fridge. Place the first ball on a floured piece of parchment paper and roll into a circle about 1/8 inch thick (you may need to soften the dough first by kneading it gently). Lightly flour the rolling pin and dough when necessary. Fit the dough into a buttered tartlet mold and trim the edges. Return the tartlet to the fridge while you repeat with the remaining dough. Reserve the excess to patch up any cracks after the crust bakes. 

Place the tartlet molds on a baking sheet and cover each one with a buttered piece of foil. Fill the molds with beans, uncooked rice, or pie weights, and bake for about 20 minutes until the sides are set. Remove the foil and prick the bottom of the crust with a fork. Return to the oven and bake about 5 minutes, until the bottom is golden. Let cool completely on a cooling rack 

For the Filling

4 oz white chocolate

8 oz mascarpone cheese

4 oz dark chocolate

About 10 strawberries, sliced

Preheat the oven to 250°F.

Chop or break up the white chocolate on an unlined, ungreased baking sheet. Sprinkle with sea salt. Caramelize in the oven for about 15 minutes, checking occasionally to ensure it is not becoming lumpy or dry. Halfway through, stir with a rubber spatula and rotate the baking sheet.

With an electric beater, cream the mascarpone and caramelized white chocolate in a medium bowl and set aside.

Melt the dark chocolate in the microwave, in thirty second intervals.

For each tart, layer dark chocolate on the bottom, then caramelized white chocolate mascarpone cream, and top with sliced strawberries.