White Chocolate and Mascarpone tartlets
This dessert is very easy to prepare, the outcome looks impressivly sophisticated and tastes wonderful!
There are two phases when preparing the White Chocolate and Mascarpone tarts: 1. preparing the pastry cases 2. preparing the filling
The cases will be baked without the filling and this is called Blind Baking. When baking blind, we need to put some weight over the pastry base, so it won’t puff or rise. This is where the baking beans come for our rescue. You should line the pastry base with baking paper and fill it with baking beans. Baking beans can be either ceramic or dried ones. I usually use red kidney beans as they seem to be the haviest available, relatively cheap and are re-useable.
You’ll need:
- 6 x 10cm tart tins
- Baking paper
- Baking beans (Red kidney bean are perfectly fine and you can re-use them)
For the pastry:
- 250g plain flour
- 125g butter, chilled and diced
- 25g caster sugar
- 1 large egg
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
For the filling:
- 200g white chocolate
- 400g mascarpone cheese
- 125ml cream
- 2tsp vanilla extract or beans of 0.5 vanilla pod
Approx 350g strawberries for topping
How to:
The pastry:
(1) Preheat the oven to 150c
(2) Place the flour, butter, sugar and lemon zest in a food processor and process until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs
(3) Add the egg and process until a ball is formed
(4) Roll the pastry dough out and line on the tins, then chill for 20 minutes
(5) Line the pastry cases with baking paper and fill with baking beans
(6) Bake blind for 10 minutes
(7) Remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 5 minutes
(8) Remove the tins from the oven and allow to cool
The filling:
(1) Place the white chocolate and 100g of the mascarpone in a heat proof bowl over barely simmering water and stir until melted
(2) Add the remaining mascarpone and mix well until smooth
(3) Stir in the cream and mix well
(4) Fill the pastry cases with the filling mixture
(5) Cover with cling film and cool for at least 3 hours before serving
Tags: cheesecake, tart, white chocolate