Raspberry tarts with chocolate pastry

One of the highlights of skiing trips used to be stopping at the service stations on the way down through France, and buying a raspberry tart.  They were always delicious, with a crisp pastry, unctuous filling and firm tart raspberries on top.  The two I had each year were enough, but no, of course, I wont be buying them even if I do manage a trip to France.  I have been intending to make a version for myself, and now I need  the recipe for to complete my Fruit Pies, Cakes and Puddings recipe book, I am running some tests.

First question - shall I stick to plain pastry or do a chocolate pastry.  I like chocolate with raspberries.
If chocolate pastry, then shall it be an ordinary shortcrust with added cocoa and sugar or shall I add some egg?  Shall I try my new coconut fat instead of butter?  How strong a chocolate taste? I can see myself with a sequence of about twenty pastries to try.

To start with, a simple enriched pastry, and if I don't think it works I'll try the other varieties.


150g flour (40% urid, 40& tapioca, 20% cornmeal)
100g ground almond
125g butter
50g caster sugar
20g cocoa
1 egg

Rub fat into flour, stir in cocoa and sugar, mix in egg.  Form into a ball, wrap and leave to rest at room temperature for fifteen minutes.  Don't put it in the fridge or you wont be able to shape it.

Cut pastry into four.  Press into small tart tins with removable base or whatever shape you have / like.

Bake for fifteen minutes at 180C

Leave until cold.  Fill with cold plain or chocolate pastry cream and top with raspberries.

You can make these in advance, freeze, and just make your dessert with bought pastry cream and raspberries for an almost instant fancy desert.

250ml milk
60g sugar
10g flour
3 egg yolks
tsp vanilla

This amount of pastry cream filled two tarts.  I put the others in the freezer for later.

A punnet of raspberries gave a single layer of fruit on top of each tart.

This was quite good, but the balance of pastry to cream to fruit wasn't quite right.  Either the pastry needs to be a bit thinner or I need to pile the raspberries up higher, never mind the elegance.  The pastry was a good texture, holding well but not giving much resistance when chewed.