It’s National Raspberry Tart Day! I found a recipe that combines the tarts with white chocolate, but I think milk or dark could be substituted with (more) delicious results!

Raspberry Tarts

Dough:
3/4 c. flour
3/4 c. cake flour
1/4 c. sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp. whipping cream
4 oz. chilled butter, cut into bits
Ice water

Mix flours and sugar in food processor. Add butter and pulse until mixed. Add egg yolk beaten with cream. Add ice water, if needed. Chill 2 hours. Roll out and put into a 2-part 10-inch tart pan. (Cover with foil and add pie weights before baking.) Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. If not done when you remove the foil, bake a short time longer, but watch carefully.

Add enough fresh raspberries to line the bottom of tart after it has cooled.

Topping:
12 oz. white chocolate
1/2 c. hot whipping cream
2 oz. butter, cut in small pieces

Melt chocolate, stir until smooth, and add cream and butter. Pour over the raspberries in the pre-baked tart shell. Cool and store in refrigerator.

[image: flickr]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

Tarts may seem like a lot of trouble but they really couldn’t be easier. If you don’t have a tart pan you can use a springform pan, or just put it in a pie dish!

Chocolate Raspberry Tart

Crust
1 1/2 cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs (about 6 ounces plain chocolate wafers)
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine cookie crumbs, melted butter, and sugar in processor; process until crumbs are evenly moistened. Press mixture onto bottom and up sides of 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Bake crust until set, about 10 minutes. Cool crust completely on rack.

Filling
1 1/2-pint container fresh raspberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 8-ounce container mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine raspberries, 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons water, and lemon juice in processor. Puree until smooth. Pour puree through strainer set over medium bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard seeds in strainer. Combine mascarpone, heavy whipping cream, vanilla, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in another medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat until mixture is smooth and stiff peaks form. Fold in raspberry puree. Spread filling evenly in cooled chocolate crust. Cover and refrigerate tart overnight.

Topping
2 1/2-pint containers fresh raspberries
1/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves

Arrange fresh raspberries in concentric circles atop tart. Stir raspberry preserves in heavy small saucepan over medium-low heat until melted to form glaze. Brush glaze over fresh raspberries. Refrigerate tart at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.

Remove tart pan sides. Place tart on platter. Cut into wedges and serve.

[epicurious.com; image: sxc]

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

During a chocolate expedition a couple of weeks ago I came across some Limited Edition Razzberry M&M’s.

Each bag is 1.5 ounces and a bright shade of fuschia. These M&M’s follow the Wildly Cherry size formula and are also about the size of a peanut butter M&M. The color is a typical raspberry used by candy makers – not quite pink but not red either (but at least they’re not an inexplicable blue!).

Now, I love raspberry and chocolate together. When I go to See’s I have to stop myself from getting an entire pound of just raspberry creams. They’re divine.

So while these are “just” M&M’s, I was really looking forward to trying them (and I’m not comparing them to See’s, just disclosing that I love raspberry and chocolate). Sadly, the raspberry/chocolate combo in the M&M’s doesn’t work for me. These have a fakey raspberry flavor that seems to be trying too hard and overpowers the chocolate, which eventually comes through but mostly as an aftertaste.

Have you tried them? What do you think?

Post from: Chocolate Bytes