Mascarpone and white chocolate mini tarts: crisp shells for your Christmas cookie tray

Tip: tap a step to mark it as done.

1. Make the dough

   40 min

   Mix the flour, powdered sugar, and salt. Add the cold butter, cut into cubes, and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add the egg and quickly work into a smooth dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2. Line the tart molds

   20 min

   Grease 6–7 cm tart molds with butter. Take walnut-sized pieces of dough and press them into the molds with your thumb to a thickness of about 3 mm. Prick the bottoms with a fork. Refrigerate for 10 minutes to keep the dough from slumping in the oven.

3. Bake the shells

   20 min

   Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C (350°F) for 12–15 minutes, until the edges are golden. Leave the shells in the molds for 5 minutes, then carefully turn them out and let cool completely on a wire rack.

4. Make the cream filling

   45 min

   Break the chocolate into pieces and melt with 50 ml of the cream in a bowl set over simmering water. Let cool to room temperature. Mix the mascarpone with the vanilla sugar, then stir in the chocolate. Whip the remaining 150 ml cream to stiff peaks and gently fold it in with a spatula. Refrigerate the filling for 30 minutes to firm up.

5. Fill the mini tarts

   15 min

   Spoon half a teaspoon of raspberry jam into each shell. Pipe in the cream filling using a piping bag fitted with a star tip, and top each tart with a raspberry. Refrigerate the tarts and serve the same day, or the following day at the latest.

Tip: Store the empty shells in an airtight container for three days and fill them on the day of serving to keep them crisp. You can replace the raspberries with cranberries.

This recipe was translated from the Slovak original: Krémové tartaletky s mascarpone a bielou čokoládou: chrumkavé košíčky na vianočný tanier