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Chocolate Short Dough

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Chocolate Short Dough is a great dough to have in your pastry recipe repertoire. It is a versatile dough that can be rolled out with a rolling pin, or, for those of you who claim to have a ‘fear of crust’, it can easily be pressed into tart shells. I like to use this dough in Chocolate Pecan Pie, warm chocolate tart or one of my favourites:  Chocolate Truffle Tart.

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Chocolate Short Dough | urbnspice.com

Chocolate Short Dough

Chocolate Short Dough

Yield:  Crust for 1 – 9″ pie shell    

Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:

CHEF TALK: This is a crust that can be rolled out with a rolling pin or pressed into the tart shell.  It can easily be adapted to gluten-free crust by substituting a gluten-free flour blend.  For a dairy-free tart, substitute the butter for coconut butter.

INGREDIENTS                

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
  • 8 oz. (1/2 lb) unsalted Butter (softened, but cool)
  • 1/2 cup Icing (confectioners) Sugar

METHOD: 

  1. Sift together the flour and cocoa powder in a small bowl.  Set aside.
  2. Place the butter in the mixer.  With a paddle,  beat on low speed for 2 to 3 minutes, or until lightly creamed. Scrape down sides of the bowl.
  3. Add the icing sugar and mix for 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl.
  4. Add flour mixture and mix on low speed just until the dough comes together – approximately 30 seconds.  Gather the dough into a disk or log as shown above.
  5. Wrap the dough in plastic film and chill for at least 4 hours.
  6. Roll or press out and dock bottom of the dough.  CHEF TIP:  For tarts or small pies, I like to shape the dough into a log (or cylinder).  Slice off 1/2 inch slices to make it easier to roll out (or press in) the tart shells individually.
  7. To pre-bake, the dough: blind bake the large tart shell for 15 minutes, remove the pie weights and bake 6 minutes more. Cool before using.

Here is a visual step-by-step in photographs How to prepare a Chocolate Shortcrust:

Chocolate Short Dough | urbnspice.com

Chocolate Short Dough is chilled and then cut into small rounds as shown for tarts or larger pieces to press into a tart pan

Preparing the pan and coating with cocoa powder | urbnspice.com

Prepare the tart pan by brushing with butter and dusting edges well with cocoa powder

Preparing the tart pan with a parchment circle | urbnspice.com

Add a circle of parchment paper into the bottom of the prepared tart pan

Pressed In Chocolate Shortdough Crust | urbnspice.com

The Chocolate Shortdough Crust is pressed into the bottom of the prepared tart pan

Pre-baking chocolate crust | urbnspice.com

Pre-bake the chocolate shortdough crust and cool slightly

Decadent Dark Chocolate Tart | urbnspice.com

The Shortdough crust is filled, baked and chilled before cutting

Chocolate Short Dough | urbnspice.com

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Chocolate Short Dough

Prep

Cook

Total

Yield 1 9" crust

Chocolate Short Dough is a great dough to have in your pastry recipe repertoire. It is a versatile dough that can be rolled out with a rolling pin, or, for those of you who claim to have a ‘fear of crust’, it can easily be pressed into tart shells. I like to use this dough in Chocolate Pecan Pie, warm chocolate tart or one of my favourites:  Chocolate Truffle Tart.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
  • 8 oz. (1/2 lb) unsalted Butter (softened, but cool)
  • 1/2 cup Icing (confectioners) Sugar

Instructions

  1. Sift together the flour and cocoa powder in a small bowl.  Set aside.
  2. Place the butter in the mixer.  With a paddle,  beat on low speed for 2 to 3 minutes, or until lightly creamed. Scrape down sides of the bowl.
  3. Add the icing sugar and mix for 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl.
  4. Add flour mixture and mix on low speed just until the dough comes together – approximately 30 seconds.  Gather the dough into a disk or log as shown above.
  5. Wrap the dough in plastic film and chill for at least 4 hours.
  6. Roll or press out and dock bottom of the dough.  CHEF TIP:  For tarts or small pies, I like to shape the dough into a log (or cylinder).  Slice off 1/2 inch slices to make it easier to roll out (or press in) the tart shells individually.
  7. To pre-bake, the dough: blind bake the large tart shell for 15 minutes, remove the pie weights and bake 6 minutes more. Cool before using.

Notes

For further details, including step-by-step photographs, please refer to my original post.

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Tag me @urbnspice on Instagram and hashtag #urbnspice

Courses Dessert

LEARNING TIPS:  

  • Blind Baking
  • Creaming
  • Docking
Chocolate Short Dough in a warm chocolate tart plated dessert | urbnspice.com

Chocolate Short Dough is used to line a warm chocolate tart

More Like This from Urb’n’Spice:

Learn How to Make a Chocolate Short Dough Tart

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread with Crunchy Topping

Milk Chocolate Torte with Almond Praline Crust

If you try my recipe for Chocolate Short Dough, please leave me a comment below with your feedback.

You can find me on social media (see links below) – just be sure to tag @urbnspice and #urbnspice so I am sure to see it. Enjoy! 

Denise Pare-Watson - The Urb'n'Spice Chef | urbnspice.comDenise Paré-Watson

The Urbnspice Chef

 

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How to Make a Sour (Tart) Cherry Pie

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It is a beautiful thing to enjoy a slice of sour (tart) cherry pie. I live in the Okanagan, where I am fortunate to be able to find sour cherries at the local farmer’s markets. Sour cherries are not as easily available as the more popular sweet dark cherries. I buy as many sour cherries as I can while they are in season and freeze them in 1 ½ lb. bags. These packages are used in breakfast Danish, Black Forest Cake and Sour (Tart) Cherry Pie throughout the year.

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Sour (Tart) Cherry Pie | urbnspice.com

Sour (Tart) Cherry Pie

Professional bakers prefer sour (tart) cherries for pies, Danish, pastries, cakes or jams because sour cherries have a characteristic tartness and bright red colour.  They maintain their cherry flavour during baking or jam making processes.

Sweet cherries are more commonly available and are eaten fresh or they can be used in the making of cherry clafouti (a French baked custard dessert), cherry vanilla ice cream, or used in an unbaked summer fruit tart.   Sweet cherries do not hold up well to high heat cooking, and lose their colour and texture and quickly become mushy. It is important to understand the difference because the sugar requirements for each type of cherry are significantly different. Make sure the recipe you are using indicates whether you are to use sour (tart) or sweet cherries, otherwise the texture and sugar balance will not meet your expectations.Sour (Tart) Cherry Pie | urbnspice.com…

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Easy to Make Decadent Dark Chocolate Tart

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Do you have a fear of making pastry crusts? In this post, I want to teach you how easy it is to make a press-in chocolate crust (no rolling pin required), as well as a simple-to-make chocolate ganache filling that is poured into the crust and then baked.  This Easy Decadent Dark Chocolate Tart is rich and delicious and perfect when served with a light dusting of icing sugar or a dollop of softly whipped cream.  For a special event, such as Valentine’s Day, a few fresh berries and a chocolate garnish will make this dessert a real hit.  It is also lovely when served with Raspberry Coulis.

Skip to my Recipe

Plated Decadent Dark Chocolate Tart | urbnspice.com…

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The Ultimate Canadian Maple Butter Tarts

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Urb’n’Spice Ultimate Recipe Series

Is there anything more Canadian than butter tarts made with pure maple syrup? I truly believe you will agree that these Ultimate Canadian Maple Butter Tarts are hard to beat.  Maple is as much a part of the Canadian food scene as poutine, tourtière or Nanaimo Bars.  This particular recipe is also included in an article pertaining specifically to maple for the Culinary Historians of Canada‘s CANADA 150 FOOD BLOG CHALLENGE.  You can read all about it here.

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My Mom always made this family favourite with maple syrup and I have carried on that French Canadian tradition. The filling for this tart recipe is essentially a custard (similar to pecan pie filling or cheesecake). The addition of maple syrup is delightful and oh, so Canadian. While many butter tart purists prefer their baked treats without embellishments, roasted pecans or walnuts and/or raisins are a great addition.

Maple Butter Tartlet with Pecans | urbnspice.com

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Maple – A Timeless Canadian Tradition

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CHC CANADA 150 FOOD BLOG CHALLENGE

Prelude:  I am a proud Canadian. When the Culinary Historians of Canada invited food bloggers to participate in the “CHC Canada 150 Food Blog Challenge”, I knew that I wanted in! What a great way to celebrate and honour Canada’s 150th birthday by featuring a different Canadian dish or discussing a topic which reflects on what it means to be Canadian.  For March, the topic is maple.  For that reason, I am pleased to present:  Maple – A Timeless Canadian Tradition.

I was excited to learn that this month’s challenge is maple, a favourite in both sweet and savoury recipes. Even before I began my research for this article, I was very much aware that maple has evolved from its humble beginnings as a natural sweetener. Maple syrup is one of Canada’s quintessential food products.

Skip to Maple Butter Tart Recipe

I sometimes think that we, as Canadians, take maple syrup for granted – it is not just for pancakes and waffles. We have what the rest of the world wishes they could access as easily as we can. Many of my international colleagues have Canadian maple syrup on the top of their shopping list whenever they come to Canada.

Maple Butter Tartlet with Pecans | urbnspice.com

The Ultimate Canadian Maple Butter Tart

Maple Syrup is uniquely Canadian with 80% of the world’s production coming from Canada and 91% of our domestic production originating in Quebec.  My research indicates that in 2015, Canada had an annual maple syrup production of 8,908,000 gallons, generating revenue of $358 million CDN.

Canada’s maple syrup has health benefits that far exceed any other natural sweetener. It has over 60 anti-oxidants and minerals including calcium, copper, manganese, potassium, zinc and sodium, which offer a number of health-related benefits.

Why is maple syrup so timeless in its uses and its benefits? As a chef who works in recipe development on a daily basis, I have noted that the use of maple syrup has evolved into an important lifestyle and culinary movement – essentially the elimination of white and brown sugar and the reintroduction of natural unprocessed sugars such as honey and maple syrup. These ingredients are being substituted for granulated sugar in home kitchens as well as commercial kitchens. Canada’s Maple syrup has specific health benefits, which makes it a superior alternative to sugar. (See the topic Maple Syrup Substitution in Recipes below).

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Chocolate Desserts Cookbook Series by UrbnSpice

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Hello, there!  Did you know that Urb’n’Spice has written four books called the Chocolate Desserts Cookbook Series?  The books are all about Chocolate Desserts and have just about every dessert imaginable.

Book One – Cakes

Book Two – Cookies, Brownies and Squares

Book Three – Pies and Tarts

Book Four – Gluten Free Chocolate Desserts

Here is a more detailed information about the series, “Chocolate Desserts Made Easy and Delicious.”  I am quite proud of these books – it was a bucket list goal to write a cookbook after slowing down a bit from an amazing career as a pastry chef and chef.

Chocolate Desserts from the Cookbook Series | urbnspice.com

A few photos from Chocolate Desserts Made Easy and Delicious Cookbook Series | urbnspice.com

These recipes have been created, collected and treasured from my career. They have been lovingly tested and retested until they were perfect – for you, my reader.  I have a group of special folks that I call my taste testers – they enjoyed their ‘work’ throughout my cookbook process of baking, testing, tasting and writing these books.

 

Here is how you can get more information about my Chocolate Desserts Cookbook Series cookbooks:

  1. Click on the links provided below to get detailed information (affiliate link). The books link to my Amazon (Canada) page.

If you purchase a copy – well, I thank you!  This will enable me to continue to share recipes and information with you on this blog.   I appreciate your support very much.  I am hoping to self-publish my books one day when funds will allow.  At this time, my books are available as e-books on Amazon.ca.  All four books have received very good reviews, which you can read when you click on the links provided.

Thanks for visiting – I am so glad that you did.  If you have made one of the recipes from my books, kindly leave me a comment. Even better, please leave a review on Amazon.ca.  You can read the reviews on Amazon.com – they do not carry over to Amazon.ca.   I would love to hear what you think of my books.

Book One:

Chocolate Desserts Made Easy and Delicious – Cakes

Chocolate Desserts Made Easy and Delicious - Cakes | urbnspice.com

Chocolate Desserts Made Easy and Delicious – Cakes!

Book Two:

Chocolate Desserts Made Easy and Delicious – Cookies, Brownies and Squares

Chocolate Desserts - Cookies, Brownies & Squares | urbnspice.com

Book Three: 

Chocolate Desserts Made Easy and Delicious – Pies and Tarts

Chocolate Desserts - Pies and Tarts | urbnspice.com

Book Four:

Chocolate Desserts Made Easy and Delicious – Gluten-Free Chocolate Desserts

Chocolate Gluten Free Desserts | urbnspice.com

Or just CLICK on any of the book covers on my blog page www.urbnspice.com  (to the right side of this post).  This will take you directly to the Amazon site where you can read the reviews from folks who have purchased my book as well as introductions of my books from my colleagues.

That is all about my Chocolate Desserts Cookbook Series.  Thanks for visiting – I am really glad you did!  The photo below shows one of the most popular recipes in the series – Quadruple Chocolate Brownies.  They are so popular that I re-engineered the recipe to also be included in Book Four – Gluten Free Chocolate Desserts.  Looks yummy, right?

Quadruple Chocolate Brownie | urbnspice.com

Quadruple Chocolate Brownie – this award-winning Recipe is included in Book 2 – Cookies, Brownies and Squares as well as Book 4 – Gluten Free Chocolate Desserts 

A Pastry Chef’s Mantra:

“Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it.

Autograph your work with excellence.”

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Denise Pare-Watson - The Urb'n'Spice Chef | urbnspice.com

 

Denise  Paré-Watson

The  Urbnspice  Chef

 

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