P & Q: Chocolate Truffle Tartlets

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This is where you can ask questions about the upcoming recipe and share your tips and tricks if you’ve already made them.  Have at it!

92 thoughts on “P & Q: Chocolate Truffle Tartlets”

  1. I made the tartlets today. The crust dough comes together beautifully (I used the food processor) with 5oz/cup for the flour weight, as it says in the front of the book. Does anyone know why the recipe says to remove the bottoms of the tart pans? I did it with my little 4″ tarts but if I were making a full size tart I’d definitely leave the bottom in.

    For the filling, I went with 15 grams/egg yolk and it turned out fine. I learned from my Ad Hoc cookbook that egg yolks vary – those on the West Coast (of the US) are smaller than on the East. So when you are using a large quantity, the differences can really multiply!

    If you’re not using the egg whites they are super easy to freeze – just pop them in a sandwich bag and lay it flat on a freezer shelf. When you go to follow a recipe (meringes or macarons) you can just break off some and weigh it: 30 – 35 grams for each white.

    Which leads to the observation that if you’re not using a scale for your baking, you might want to consider taking that step. It revolutionized my baking and my cooking also! There are lots of basic models out there, but I just got the My Weigh kd9000 and I love it even more than I loved my last scale. If you bake bread, this scale can calculate “baker’s math” to scale your bread recipes. It’s very very cool.

    Didn’t mean to write a dissertation here, sorry!

  2. I made the tart tonight too and I used the food processor for the dough like Nancy. I used amaretti instead of biscotti which were fab. I don’t have the mini tins so I used one 9inch tart pan. Worked just fine, only needed a little extra baking time to set. Oh and make sure you give it at least the 20 min to cool before serving, maybe even a little bit longer.

  3. i left out the egg while making my dough..just put 1-2 tbsp of cold water more and it was fine.. but am curious to know why take the bottoms out of the tins?? i did one with the bottom on and that did not cook completely!!!! so i want to know whats the mystery!!!

  4. So far I’ve just made the dough (it’s in the freezer) and I’m planning to make the rest next week. At first I couldn’t understand the directions in the book for making the dough so I had to watch the episode of Julia Child’s show where they made the tart on YouTube to see the technique! I love the internet :) I’m a little nervous about the egg in the custard part only baking for 10 minutes. I know it’s supposedly safe to eat raw egg yolk, I’m just paranoid I guess. I made espresso-almond biscotti this week that I’m planning to use in the tarts – I love coffee and chocolate together so I hope the coffee flavor comes through and the chocolate doesn’t completely overpower it!

      • they are so good – I usually can’t eat biscotti without dunking it in coffee but these taste just like coffee-flavored cookies, I couldn’t stop eating them straight from the baking sheet!

    • I had issues with the dough. Followed the intructions but when I tried to roll it out is just kept on crumbling. Not sure what was the problem with it. Would really appreciate the link to the video as I am fairly sure I did something wrong.
      Anyways, in the end i just took bits of dough and tamped it down into the 4 and a half inch tart pans and baked it and it turned out ok.
      Otherwise the tart turned out fine.
      Any help with the dough problem would be appreciated! :)

      • if it gets too crumbly, you can always add a little extra cold water to help it come together. With different size eggs, it is sometimes difficult to get the wet ingredients right on.

      • The dough looked really crumbly when David Ogonowski was making it as well… Here are the links (it’s broken up into 2 parts):

        Part 1:

        Part 2:

      • whoops, didn’t mean to embed the videos! It cuts the sides off but if you click on the titles it should take you to YT where you can watch it normally :)

      • thanks spike and jen for the advice and links. I come from a very humid country so generally when making pie crust dough I put less water than what the recipe requests. In this case because so little was asked for in the first place, I followed the recipe to the “t”.
        will try adding a little more water the next time I do the dough.
        It is also good to know that the dough is actually quite brittle.

      • Jen, actually it was great to watch the videos right here and see David’s techniques. Thanks for posting!
        Removing the tartlet bottoms probably helps with more even baking in this case, but it all depends on the specific pans you use. Also, the removable bottoms tend to disappear in restaurants and bakeries, so pastry chefs learn to make do without them!
        Quite the old school plated dessert! Wow!

      • Steph and Jen thanks for posting the links to the episode with David Ogonowski. My husband surprised me by purchasing three volumes of Baking with Julia DVDs. They are wonderful but none of the three include the Ogonowski episode.

      • Thanks for the video links! So helpful. I was intimidated with the use of the french term “frissage” in the recipe. Now, I am not so. Seems simple enough.

      • thanks for posting this, I didn’t even think to check the temperature of the filling to make sure it was cooked thoroughly. I’m making the tarts tomorrow so I saw this just in time :)

    • Brilliant to watch it on YouTube! I looked for the episode on the PBS site but did not find it. I left the bottoms in and they took 19 minutes to bake in my convection oven which usually cooks more quickly than the recipe calls for. Good but a little dry. I’ll have to try again with the bottoms out and look for that YouTube video!

    • Night of, the filling was actually pretty light but more pudding than truffle. Struggling for a description. After time in the fridge I’m expecting more truffle like. All of the mix ins make for some fun texture and crunch!

  6. Used my food processor for the dough – it worked out wonderfully. My mini-tart pans don’t have removable bottoms – but I didn’t have any issues with the dough baking through.
    I did find it very rich – vanilla ice cream was a must for me to cut down the chocolate factor. If I make this again, I would love to try it with a more traditional sweet tart dough.

  7. I made the tarts last night for our anniversary dessert. They came out beautifully. I made some with the bottoms in and some out, and pricked some and did not prick some. With the tart dough being frozen in the pans for 30 minutes before baking, there was no difference in the pricking or not…the dough baked beautifully and stayed flat in the pan bottoms. The dough, when rolled out very thin, is fragile, so I liked keeping the bottoms in until ready to eat. (I rolled to 1/8th inch). I placed my baking sheets in the lower third of the oven when prebaking the tart shells, and all baked well. When using the pricked crust I thought that some filling might seep through, thus the lined baking sheet and maybe would have stuck to the tart bottoms making them difficult to remove…but nothing seeped through, everything baked perfectly. The dough is a little dry with the ingredients as written…especially here in AZ where I expect to use an extra Tablespoon of water, but I used 2+ extra Tablespoons for this dough, and it rolled out well. With only the amount specified, the dough would have been crumbly…ok for press in, but not ok to roll. (I doubled the recipe and tried first to roll out a batch of dryer dough and it tore and crumbled so I pressed it in and it turned out as beautifully as my 2nd batch with more water which rolled out well.)

    As far as the texture: I thought the tarts would be more like a baked pudding. Hubby wondered if they were a type of brownie and I agreed…a very rich and delicious moist brownie-like tart. The tarts were hot all the way through when finished…I baked for about 14 minutes for the filling to be all set. No problem with eggs not getting cooked.

    I used a side of ice cream…kinda like a warm brownie with ice cream.

    Hope this answers some questions. This recipe is wonderful.

  9. For those who have made it, how does it compare day of vs. day after? Better, worse, just different? Want to bring it into work on Monday, but not sure whether I should do it Sunday night or Monday morning.

    • Casey, I just had my second helping of the tart on the day after baking – still delicious! Plus, it had set a lot more after a night in the fridge – when we ate it after about a 30 min cooling period after baking the inside was still very runny. So I reckon it’d be perfectly fine to bake on Sun evening and enjoy on Mon:)

      • The tarts are delicious the second day. My biscotti was super crunchy and did not “dissolve” into the filling after a day and the chopped chocolate also had good texture. However, I baked my tarts for just under 14 minutes, until they were just set. Being hot, they continue to bake a little upon removal from the oven. These tarts were not runny…did not set more after a day.

    • I thought they were much better after a night in the fridge. The filling went from gooey (almost like partially cooked batter) to truffle-like. My biscotti weren’t as crunchy the next day, but everything else improved and made up for it.

  10. I had no problem with either crust or filling but I split the tasks and did the crust last weekend and froze it without a problem.I made the filling this weekend. Dividing recipes is often a time management solution for me. My biscotti was not pronounced but I attribute that to the fact that I chopped them fairly finely. Overall, these are very rich!!! One tart could sustain a family of four.

    • I plan on making a full-sized tart and bringing it to an evening out with friends. I have no intention of bringing home leftovers. my friends are choco-holics, and so are their husbands!

  11. Absolutely wonderful! The tart pastry was easy to work with & the filling was divine! I’m a little early because I wanted to make these for Valentine’s Day!

    • Susan- We all post on February 21st together as a group. Its fine to make the recipe whenever you want, but please do not post Tuesdays with Dorie posts on your blog before the scheduled day.

  13. Looks like this recipe will be as yummy scrummy as I’m imagining, I do have one question about the biscotti. How much of them should you use? I mean is it 4 Startbucks size cookies or 4 finger size biscotti? I could just guess but I was curious to know what you guys did.

  14. Thanks for all the tips! I will be making the tartlets tomorrow for Valentine’s Day. Since I am new to blogging…for this next post, how do I link my blog with the host?

      • You just type e.g. the name of the host or the word “here” in the post. Highlight the word. Search for a button saying link somewhere near font size and stuff like that. A window will pop up which asks for the link. Here you paste the blog link of the host. There you go. At least this is how it works in blogger. I am sure wordpress should be very similar.

  15. I rolled out the tartlet dough like I do for rolled cookies: I put the dough between two sheets of waxed paper and I also used 1/8-inch “guides” to help me get the correct thickness. The dough behaved well, although I did take the advice of someone earlier and used an extra 2 tablespoons of ice water. I used 5-inch bottomless tart rings, and had enough dough left over for an extra 4-inch tart. Am planning to make the filling and bake the tartlets off tomorrow.

  16. I used amaretti which gave the tart a lovely almond flavor but only the largest chunks survived. The rest dissolved as did the smaller bits of milk and white chocolate. Not really a problem but if you’re looking for crunch you might use biscotti and don’t chop the chocolate too small.

    • I left the bottoms in my tins, they were well greased so no problems getting them out.

      I made the full amount of dough and froze half and only made 3 tarts. They went down so well the dough was defrosted again at the weekend to make the other half of the recipe. The dough was fine after freezing no change in quality at all. These are a must-bake

  17. To those who have already made these….any advice on the perfect chocolate % to use for the filling? I know it wasn’t indicated in the recipe and probably doesn’t matter overall but I have various kinds of bittersweet chocolate including a 70 and 85% which I’m wondering if they would turn out too strong for this.

    • I’m in the process of making this now. As I’m chopping my chocolate, I’m thinking it’s a bit overkill and is going to be really, really, rich and sweet. I would go for the higher percentage to cut down the sweetness. I’m using 60% but thinking higher would be better. Then again I’m a fan of dark chocolate. I really don’t want to even stir in the white and milk chocolates, but I like to make the recipe first time around as directed.

    • I used semisweet chocolate chips and white baking chocolate chips – very chocolately and pretty sweet but still ok.

      I don’t like dark chocolate or bittersweet chocolate so I can’t comment on using that in the filling :P

  18. Has anyone else played around with the tarts and used something else besides biscotti? I know the biscotti is for texture, but I’m thinking of replacing the biscotti with caramels in one of them. I’m curious to find out what others are doing.

    • I didn’t have biscotti so I chopped up some sugar cookies. They gave the tarts a nice texture, although it may not have been quite as crunchy as biscotti would have been. But I’m thinking other crunchy and/or chewy cookies would also substitute.

    • I was thinking of using finely chopped nuts instead of biscotti — I didnt want to buy a whole box of biscotti just for this, and I would imagine it is there just to add crunch to the filling? I am making them this afternoon so we will see!

  19. I just made these today for V-day and they were much better than I thought they would be! I have 4 inch pans without removable bottoms, so I decided to make 7 tarts instead of 6. I should have made 9 or 10 because I had way more filling than would fit in 7 pans, but I did not want to reroll the dough, so I just overfilled. Of course, they over flowed, so I would say to keep the level of the filling level with the top of your pans. It does expand upon baking. Because of this, I had trouble figuring out when they were done, so to be safe, I baked them for an extra 5 minutes. I used 56% bittersweet and thought that it was not too sweet at all. The filling was nice and fluffy, but not thick, like pudding. Also, I used Amaretti and, like someone else mentioned, they disappeared in the filling.

  22. I made this today for Valentine’s Day

    Started the dough over the weekend and took it out of the fridge today. Could not shape it into a round shape straight out of the fridge so I let it sit out for about 30 min first. After that, rolling it was a breeze as long as I floured it generously. If a piece came off on my rolling pin, I simply pressed it back down. You don’t need your tart dough to be perfectly even for this recipe :)

    I used semisweet chocolate chips in the double boiler.

    also used semisweet chocolate chips and white chocolate chips for the filling. I did not have any biscotti so I omitted it. after reading another comment, now I think I should have thrown some toffee bits in there for crunch and more flavor. I’m not sure if they would have melted in the oven, though?

    I baked mine in (2) 5.5″ tart pans and there was the perfect amount of filling to fit in these 2 pans. Glossed over the directions to remove the tart bottom so I left mine in there. I also did not use the baking sheet b/c in past experience with TWD, that always messed up my end results. So I baked these tart pans directly on the oven racks and with the tart bottoms in my pans. I had to bake for an addition 15-20 min due to the larger size of my pans.

    Mine were not cakey or brownie-like at all, perhaps it was slighty underbaked? or others slightly overbaked? Either way, I loved these! Wish I had some vanilla ice cream to eat with it!

  23. I am such a newbie at tart/pie crusts – I never would have imagined that you could take the bottoms out of the rings to bake them. I suppose being inexperienced, I like the structure of the bottoms in the rings??

  24. Question regarding biscotti… none available at the small store in town, so fine with making my own. I’m thinking that the book’s cattuccini would be a good one? Have hazelnuts in the pantry, as well. so I guess I should flip a coin, huh?
    If there are recommendations, please let me know. Thanks!

    • I also decided to make my own biscotti and uses the cantucci recipe. They turned out great but I have yet to use them in the tart recipe! I’ll let you know when I do.

  25. Jen, thanks for posting the videos.

    ingredient switches:
    Didn’t want to buy a bagful of biscotti when I just needed a few. So, I’m adding malted milk balls (which were in my pantry) to the chocolate filling. It has both the crunch factor and the milk chocolate element…works for me…

  26. Made the dough today using my food processor. I had to use an extra tablespoon of water because just one wasn’t enough. Let it rest in the fridge for a few hours and it actually rolled out beautifully. I lined six 4″ tartlet pans and had extra dough for a few more. Going to finish the recipe tomorrow.

    My tartlet pans don’t have removable bottoms so I hope the baked tartlets come out easily.

  27. I made the dough tonight and it is resting in my refrigerator. I’ll make the filling either tomorrow or Sunday morning as my plan is to serve the tart with Sunday lunch. I will probably use a 10″ tart pan because everyone will want small servings (lots of dieters at my Sunday lunch table!) and I only have four 4″ tartlet pans. I have some without removable bottoms, but don’t want to risk using them and not have the tarts release. I plan to leave the 10″ pan bottom in when I bake the tart. I’ll report back after I make the filling. BTW, the dough came together beautifully in the food processor and only required 2T of water. I used cocoa powder that is a mixture of Dutch process and regular. Can’t wait to make the filling!

  29. made the dough yesterday and the tarts today. I had a little trouble getting some of them out of the pan. Not sure if they weren’t greased enough or over cooked. I haven’t tasted them yet!! Sent a photo to my college age daughter and she thought “they look bomb”

    • I’m thinking that I will have leftover filling–I made the shells today and they shrank a fair bit, also I used 6 X 4-inch tart rings and had lots of leftover dough, enough for another tart, if I had another pan. I though about halving the filling but don’t think that will be enough. Anyway, I plan to bake the extra filling in ramekins. I was planning to freeze some of the tarts, but I may freeze all of them and just eat the mousse in the ramekins! I will report back and let you know how it goes.

  31. I just made my tarts today. I think I need a scale. I kinda guessed on the 2 oz of chocolates at amaretti cookie–esp since I used the small amaretti cookie snaps. They are good, but super-duper rich for me. I think whipped cream or ice cream is needed to cut all that chocolate. I wonder if my kiddos will sleep tonight after all that chocolate!!!!!?

  33. Wrapping up my blog post and have a question about the bakers’ link.
    ADMINS, can you post a link on TWD of all the bakers? I want to include this link in my blog post.

    Is it already available? If so, forgive me…I can’t find it.

    Also, do you have a TWD:BWJ BADGE that I can add to my blog? Where can I find the code?

    Thanks,

    ~Carmen

  35. If anyone is using a 10′ pan and still hasn’t made the tart, I used a 10″ tart pan, baked the crust for 20 minutes and then the entire tart for twenty and it turned out beautifully. It was the perfect amount of dough and filling for a 10″ pan.

  36. Hi, I realize that I am SUPER late on getting started…traveling a bit but don’t worry I will catch up! I have loved reading all of your posts about what you did and watching the video was very helpful. I had never made a tart to I went out and bought a 4×12 inch tart pan. It was perfect for this recipe! Thanks for your tips on leaving the biscotti and chocolate pieces LARGE. The presentation was great when I sliced the tarts and you could see those large chunks! Next time, I would substitute the white chocolate for dark chocolate! :)

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