Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Chocolate Marble Tarts

I have been in the mood to bake and haven't done it much lately (cuz I eat what I bake) so I decided to try a new recipe. I have an external hard drive where I saved some files from an old computer, but I don't often look at those files (even though I'd be sad if they got erased). So I found a recipe there that I copied years ago from the wonderful Taste of Home recipe bulletin board and tried it. It was posted by Plumcrazy_Alta in 2003, but I can't find the post anymore. As soon as I started making the crust, I realized that these are almost exactly like the Mini Chocolate Cherry Tarts I have been making for years except these have chocolate chips swirled in and no cherry on top. So I knew we'd like them.

Notice the oh-so-pretty dish from my sis Heather that the tarts are in? I love it! It was funny that when I looked back for the cherry tart recipe post, the picture shows the cherry tarts sitting in an identical dish except it's white. I bought the dish for a friend's birthday present and filled it with the tarts, then took pictures before I gave them to her.
(Thank you Alex for taking the picture of me forming the crust.)
The crust recipe is different though and it was more crumbly than my other recipe. Also, it made enough for 24 mini muffin cups, but a few were kinda smaller and sad looking. (I think I'll use the other crust recipe next time.) But the filling made exactly the right amount. After 5 minutes of baking, you swirl the chocolate chips into the filling. The chips weren't quite melty enough so next time I'll wait 7 minutes so they're easier to swirl.
Chocolate Marble Tarts

1/4 c. cocoa
1/3 c. sugar
3/4 c. flour
1/8 t. salt
1/3 c. butter
3 T. cold water
3 oz. cream cheese
3 T. sugar
1/2 c. sour cream
1 egg
1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325ยบ. Combine flour, 1/3 cup sugar, cocoa and salt. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing gently until all the mixture is moistened. Form this mixture into a ball. Shape dough into twenty-four 1-inch balls and press onto the bottom and up the sides of ungreased mini muffin cups.

In a small bowl beat cream cheese and 3 tablespoons sugar until fluffy. Separate the egg and beat in the egg yolk, sour cream and vanilla. Divide the cream cheese mixture evenly among the muffin cups. Top each with about 1/2 tsp of the chocolate chips. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven. With a knife or chopstick, slightly swirl chocolate into mixture just to marble. Return to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes more. Cool slightly in pan. Remove and cool on a rack.
Since I love the cherry pie filling on the other tarts, I decided to top a couple of these with raspberry pie filling. It was yummy, but I think I'd like fresh berries even better! Pretty pop of color either way.

5 comments:

  1. My jeans are suddenly feeling a little tighter looking at this recipe. They look positivly sinful. And I want to eat them.

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  2. Oh my! What decadent, morsels of goodness! What lovely hands you have too!

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  3. Yum! I think I'll give these a try. :)

    Thank you for the comment today. Come back any time. You're always welcome!

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  4. That was a serious mistake for me to look at before lunch!! Thanks for your comment on my blog!

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  5. They turned out wonderfully. I do like your bowl, very pretty.
    ~ingrid

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