Raspberry and Apricot Tartlets
Crisp shortcrust shells filled with silky ganache or a light cheese cream and crowned with summer raspberries and juicy apricots: this is the dessert worth heating the oven for even in the heat. The contrast of crunchy pastry, cool cream, and tart berries makes every bite truly full of flavor.
A tartlet is a French style of open pastry made from pâte sablée, baked blind (with beans in place of the filling) so the base holds its shape and doesn’t puff up. Here it’s offered in two readings: a dark chocolate ganache with rum for those who love richness, and a delicate cream of cream cheese and whipped cream for a lighter version. Apricots simmered in a port wine syrup add depth and gloss.
A Few Pointers
- Keep the butter and water as cold as possible, and don’t overwork the dough, or it will turn tough and lose its crumbly texture.
- Blind baking is essential: without the weight of the beans, the base will puff up. Ceramic pie weights or dry rice work in place of beans.
- You can replace the Philadelphia with mascarpone or a thick sour-cream filling; for the ganache, use chocolate of at least 70%, or the mass will turn out too sweet and runny.
- In winter, canned peaches or pears work well instead of apricots; the raspberries can be supplemented with blackberries or blueberries.
Serve the tartlets right after assembling, while the base is crisp. The baked shells and cream keep separately in the refrigerator for up to a day; fill them just before serving so the pastry doesn’t go soggy.
Part of French cuisine — 22 more recipes in the section.
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Ingredients
Instructions
Dough and shells
Grate the cold butter on a grater and mix it with all the other dough ingredients. Knead a smooth, uniform dough, wrap in plastic, and rest for 15 to 20 minutes.Grease small tartlet or muffin molds 8 to 10 cm in diameter with butter and dust with flour. Roll the dough into a thin sheet 5 mm thick, cut into equal squares about 15 cm on a side, and lay them into the molds. Smooth them so the dough sits snugly against the mold, trimming off any excess.
Prick the dough in several places with a fork, fill with beans or other dry beans (for blind baking), and place in an oven preheated to 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tartlets are well browned. Remove from the oven, take out the beans, and cool the shells.
Syrup
Mix the sugar, port, and water in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat without stirring for 5 to 7 minutes, until the sugar fully dissolves.Reduce the heat to low, skim off any foam that has formed, add the apricot or peach slices to the syrup, and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool.
Ganache and cream
For the ganache, combine the dark and milk chocolate broken into small pieces in a bowl along with the cream, butter, and rum. Set over a water bath and melt, stirring constantly, to the consistency of a thick sauce. Remove from the heat and cool.For the cream, whip the cream with the sugar to a fluffy, firm mass. Separately, whip the cream cheese for 2 minutes, then gently fold it into the whipped cream with a spatula. Chill.
Assembly
Fill some tartlets with a layer of ganache and others with a layer of cream. Arrange the raspberries, apricots, or peaches on top (without the syrup). Alternatively, the apricots or peaches can be placed in the tartlets without any cream, just with the sweet syrup.Decorate the pastries with mint leaves, dust with powdered sugar, and serve.
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