This decadently chocolate cream pie has a special spot in our recipe file! It originally came from my godmother Eva whose sister worked for Stouffer Foods in their Cincinnati test kitchen for years. They were always sending recipes back and forth and sharing with our Grams, too. Lately, Grams (who still loves baking and tinkering with recipes at age 88) decided to make this dessert for dinner guests, which prompted us to bring out this old favorite again too. We gave it a tartlet twist, using mini tart pans. Made with dark chocolate and shortbread crust, these are the perfect combo of crispy and creamy, and besides, they are so cute, right? Add a peak of Kahlua whipped cream and dark chocolate shavings to give the dessert lovers in your life a first-class ticket to Cloud Nine!
We use an oil-based shortbread piecrust, which is just perfect for cream pies or strawberry-glazed pie, but it does get soggy, so you have to eat the dessert within a day or two. The crust remains crispy for about two days once it has the filling added, and then it’s a roll of the dice. You can make the shells a couple of days ahead of time and store them in an airtight container, then fill them when you are ready to serve.
Dark Chocolate Cream Tartlets
Ingredients
Chocolate custard filling for a 9-Inch Pie or 16 Tartlets
- 1 cup sugar
- 3½ tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups milk
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon butter
Garnishes:
- 1/2 cup chocolate shavings
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Shortbread Pie Crust for one 9-Inch Pie Dish or eight 3-inch Tarts
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon sugar
- 2/3 cup 2/3 cup oil
- 1 cup whipping cream whipped to stiff peaks
- 3 tablespoon milk
Whipped Cream
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon Kahlua
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix egg yolks with a fork or whisk blend Set aside.
- Mix sugar, cornstarch, flour, and salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, or the top of a double boiler. Add 1/4 cup milk to dries and stir well to make a paste. Then add the rest of the milk and chocolate. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring all the while, until the mixture comes to a boil.
- Once the mixture comes to a boil, remove it from heat. Add 1/4 cup of the chocolate mixture to the beaten yolks, and stir well to incorporate. Then, whisk this back to the main mixture and bring to a boil for one minute, again stirring often. Remove pudding from heat and add butter and vanilla, stir until blended. Put plastic wrap right on the filling to prevent skin from forming and cool completely.
- Fill the cooled tart shells with the cooled pudding. (Remember you will have extra filling to use for another batch of shells or to serve by itself.) Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and shaved chocolate curls. *Note -If you have a pastry bag, you can make pretty swirls of whipped cream using a “swirl” or “open star” piping tip.
Whipped Cream:
- Beat cream with electric beaters until stiff peaks form. Stir in Kahlua.
Notes
The oil-based
