Chocolate-Hazelnut Tartlets

Hi. I’m Amy Traverso, Lifestyle Editor at Yankee Magazine. I’m going to show you today how to make some delicious Chocolate Hazelnut Raspberry Tarts. They are a terrific holiday dessert or a little thing to pass around at your holiday party. So let’s get cooking. Now I’m going to make the shortbread crust. I start with a stick of room temperature butter and then a quarter cup of brown sugar, firmly packed. I’m going to turn on my mixer and mix it for about two minutes. Now I’m just going to add my flour and some hazelnuts. Now these I have already pre-ground in the food processor so that they have sort of a nice, sandy texture. Those are all the ingredients for the shortbread. It’s very, very easy. You see how it starts to clump here. That means it’s ready. I’m going to take this and put it in the refrigerator. I’m going to cover it with some plastic wrap and let it chill for about 30 minutes. To make the tart shells, you take your dough that’s already chilled, you roll it into a little ball, and you press it into your mini-muffin pan. A mini-muffin pan is great for this. Then you just use your thumb and you make a little well, which you are going to put the chocolate into. So I’ve got all of my little balls of dough. It’s much faster if you always do the same, do like with like. So first do the balls, and then press them. To make the ganache, pour the chocolate chips into a heat-safe mixing bowl. In a heavy saucepan, heat the cream over medium-high heat until it just begins to simmer. Remove the cream from the heat immediately and pour it over the chocolate chips. Stir steadily until all the chocolate is melted and blended. Set aside or refrigerate for up to three days. The shells are now baked and out of the oven. I’m going to show you how to fill them. To get them out of the pan, you just give them a little twist and then you gently lift them. If you’ve sprayed your pan ahead of time, you won’t have any trouble doing that. I’ve heated up a little bit of seedless raspberry preserves in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Now I just spoon a little bit of that in there. Then I take my chocolate ganache, which I have put into this zip-top bag. I’m going to cut a tiny hole in the bottom. Then I can use it just like a pastry bag. Then I take a raspberry and I put it right on top, and then I can dust that with powdered sugar to finish. Get the Recipe: Chocolate-Hazelnut Tartlets