Recipe: Greek Chocolate Mousse Tartlets

I was also very disappointed in these. These little buggers were a b*%&# to put together. It was an hour and a half from hell, and quite frankly, for results that were average at best. There was a lot of clean up, a lot of waste, and a lot of work in making these. All I have to say is- lesson learned.

Cook grade: D+

They were horrific to make. The only thing that I can say is that I learned what "baking beans" are and I earned a little bit of experience with pie dough.

Taste grade: C

I thought the taste was average at best. I just was not impressed at all. Even after I had gone through all of the trouble of making them, I had a strong feeling that this was going to be the case. I think I also over worked the pie dough since the crust was pretty hard when I tried them. Also, the yogurt in the filling makes it taste like liquor is in it, which I did think was pretty cool.

My mother suggested these should actually be made into bite-sized tartlets rather than the 4 inch ones that I made/was suggested in the recipe. If that's the case, I would serve these at a party after dinner with coffee. They could be served at a small party even as 4 inch tartlets with coffee, but for all of the trouble, I again stress small party.

If you really want to torture yourself, here's the recipe:

German Chocolate Mousse Tartlets (Appetizers, Finger Foods, Buffets, and Parties, 2009)

Crust:

1 1/2 cups (6 oz) plain (all purpose) flour
2 tbsp (unsweetened) cocoa powder
2 tbsp icing (confectioners') sugar
1/2 cup of butter

Filling:

7 oz white chocolate
1/2 cup of milk
2 tsp powdered gelatine
2 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, separated
9 0z or generous 1 cup Greek (US strained plain) yogurt

Preheat the oven to 375. Sift the flour, cocoa, and icing sugar into a large bowl.

Place the butter in a pan with 4 tbsp water and heat gently until just melted. Leave to cool, then stir into the flour to make a smooth dough. Cover with clear film (plastic wrap) and chill until firm.*

Roll out the pastry and use to line six deep 4 in loose-based flan tins (tart pans).

Prick the base of each pastry case (pie shell) all over with a fork, cover with greaseproof waxed paper weighed down with baking beans and bake blind for 10 minutes. Remove the baking beans and paper, return to the oven and bake a further 15 minutes, or until the pastry is firm. Leave to cool in the tins.**

Make the filling. Break the chocolate into squares and melt in a heatproof bowl (double boiler) over a pan of barely simmering water. Pour the milk into a pan, sprinkle over the gelatine and heat gently, stirring, until the gelatine has dissolved completely. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate.

Whisk the sugar, vanilla extract, and egg yolks in a large bowl, then beat in the chocolate mixture. Beat in the yogurt until evenly mixed.

Whisk the egg whites in a clean, grease-free bowl until stiff, then fold into the mixture. Divide among the pastry cases and leave to set.

Drizzle melted chocolate over the tartlets to decorate. ***


*I left the dough in the refrigerator for about an hour.

**Lentils or dried beans can be used instead of baking beans. I used risotto rice, although, I wouldn't suggest this since a bunch of steam/smoke came flooding out of the oven when I opened it after 10 minutes.

***I used semi-sweet chocolate.

Over all grade: C-