Chocolate Tarts

These mini Chocolate Tarts feature homemade chocolate pastry shells filled with fluffy chocolate mousse. Serve them as a special occasion dessert, for entertaining, tea parties or holiday gatherings.

What You’ll Love About These Mini Chocolate Tarts

• They Can Be Made in Advance – The chocolate pie shells can be made in advance and frozen until you’re ready to fill and serve them. When doing so, place them into an airtight freezer container to protect them and store them frozen.
• Fill Them Your Way – These chocolate tartlets are fully customizable, you can fill them with a plethora of items making them just the way you like!
• Customize Garnishes – You can also decorate the tops exactly how you want them to look, it’s a terrific way to get creative and personalize. I’m showing you how they look with candy cutouts, chocolate truffles and chocolate swirls to inspire!

Ingredients to Make Chocolate Tarts Recipe

Individual serving desserts are on of my favorite things to make. This may stem from the fact, that when it comes to dessert, it can be hard to choose only one sweet treat to try. The chocolate pastry shells demonstrated in this recipe remind me of the sort of dessert you may find at a tea party, bridal shower or dessert bar at a fancy hotel or bakery. Decorate them as desired and enjoy! Ingredients to make Mini Chocolate Tarts: (Scroll down for the full printable recipe card.)

• Tart Shells Pastry: All purpose flour and almond flour forms the base of the crust.
• Cocoa: Unsweetened cocoa powder gives the crust its chocolate flavor.
• Sugar: Powdered sugar for sweetness.
• Butter: Cold unsalted butter for richness.
• Salt: Salt balances the flavor of the pastry and amps up the flavor.
• Whole Egg: One large egg binds the pastry.
• Chocolate Mousse: Heavy cream to whip and make the chocolate ganache.
• Sugar: Powdered sugar to sweeten the mousse.
• Chocolate: Semisweet chocolate melted for the mousse and the chocolate topping.
• Flavoring: Vanilla extract balances the chocolate and adds creamy floral notes.
• Optional Garnishes: Chocolate curls or white chocolate heart cutouts, fresh fruit, truffles, or pirouette cookies for garnishing.

How to Make the BEST Chocolate Tarts Recipe

• Sift the Dry Ingredients: Using a large sieve, sift the flour, powdered sugar, almond flour, cocoa powder and salt through the sieve into a large bowl.
• Blend with Butter: Add the cold butter to the sifted dry ingredients and blend the butter with the flour mixture.
• Knead: Add the egg. Knead the ingredients together by hand just until a dough is formed. It will still be a little sticky.
• Chill the Dough: Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill. This allows the pastry to rest and the butter to firm.
• Make the Tart Shells: Roll the dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper to 1/4-inch thickness.
• Cut Out the Base: Use 3.5-inch perforated tart rings to cut out the base of the tarts. Place the rings on parchment paper lined pan or silicone mat and lightly press the base of the tart into the bottom of the rings.
• Form the Sides: Cut strips of dough that are slightly wider than the edge of of the tart ring to allow for a slightly overhang. (If the dough gets sticky, pop it in the fridge for 5 minutes to chill before continuing.)
• Form the Sides of the Crust: Wrap the dough strips around the inside of the tart rings pressing to adhere the dough to the ring and the bottom crust. Trim the end of the strip to fit, but leave the excess over the top of the tart shell. Freeze to set. 
• Heat Oven: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Use a sharp knife to trim the (now frozen) top of the dough so that it is flush with the edge of the tart ring.  Use a fork to poke a few air holes in the base of the tart shell.
• Bake the Tart Shells: Bake per the recipe then cool completely.
• Make the Chocolate Mousse: Divide the chocolate mousse evenly between the tart shells, then spread or drizzle, the reserved 2/3 cup chocolate ganache on top. Garnish the tops.
• Refrigerate: Chill for 4 hours until serving.

Tips for Making Chocolate Tarts

• Kitchen Tools You’ll Need: Heat proof bowl, measuring cups and spoons, small saucepan, electric mixer, large mixing bowl, rolling pin, 3.5-inch perforated tart rings and sieve.
• Tart Pans: This recipe uses tart rings which are essentially oven safe stainless steel bottomless rings. This is why it’s necessary to assemble them using strips of dough to form the sides of the pie shell. If you have small 3-inch tart pans, you can skip this step and simply press rounds of the pastry dough into the pans after spraying them with cooking spray.
• Why Use Almond Flour? Almond flour adds protein and lends a crisp texture to the tart shells. You can use all purpose flour in its place.
• When to Serve Chocolate Tarts: There’s no wrong occasion or time of year to make individual serving desserts. Serve these for Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas, New Year’s Even, Thanksgiving, entertaining and potluck gatherings.

Recipe Variations

• Almond Flour: You can use all purpose flour for the crusts in place of almond flour.
• Size: The yield may vary depending on the size of the tart rings used. Smaller 2-inch rings can yield up to 12 tiny tarts.
• Alternate Pan: You can use a large round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter to cut the chocolate pastry dough into 3 or 4-inch rounds and press the dough into the wells of a standard size cupcake pan. Spray the muffin tin with cooking spray and bake the shells in one fell swoop. You may be able to yield more than 8 tarts.
• Chocolate: You can use milk chocolate chips or bittersweet chocolate chips for the mousse.
• Garnishes: You may choose to use all of the chocolate ganache in the mousse and skip the ganache topping, this will still work perfectly. You can also make more ganache for the topping using extra chocolate chips melted with heavy cream in the microwave.
• Chocolate Mousse Substitution: You can fill these chocolate tart shells with a lighter (in calories) filling such as chocolate pudding or simply fill them with whipped cream and fresh fruit or berries. See how to make homemade Chocolate Pudding here.

Storage and Leftovers

• Leftovers: You can store fully assembled leftover Chocolate Tarts in an airtight container chilled in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
• Leftover Mousse: If you have leftover mousse after filling the shells, store it in an airtight container chilled in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
• Freezer: You can bake, cool and freeze the chocolate tarts shells in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge and fill just before serving.

More Chocolate Dessert Recipes to Make

• If you like German Chocolate Cake you’ll flip for my German Chocolate Pie.
• Start your morning with a stack of Chocolate Chip Pancakes.
• Bakers of all skill levels can make this Chocolate Dump Cake.
• Baked Chocolate Doughnuts are fudgy and rich.
• Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake doesn’t require any eggs to make.
• Drizzle ice cream with this Dark Chocolate Fudge Sauce.
• Treat the family to a fresh batch of White Chocolate Cookies.
• Chocolate Popcorn from Celebrating Sweets.

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Helpful Kitchen Items:

• Stainless Steel Perforated Tart Rings
• Measuring Set
• Mixer
• Mixing Bowls
• Saucepan

Print

Chocolate Tarts

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Southern

Keyword chocolate-tarts-recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes minutes

Cooling Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 32 minutes minutes

Servings 8 servings (may vary)

Calories 623kcal

Ingredients

• Tart Shells:
• 1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup almond flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 large egg
• Chocolate Mousse:
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 12 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
• chocolate curls or white chocolate cutouts, fresh fruit, truffles, or pirouette cookies for garnishing

Instructions

• Crust: Using a large sieve or a whisk to sift the flour, powdered sugar, almond flour, cocoa powder and salt into a large bowl.
• Add the cold butter to the sifted dry ingredients. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour mixture.
• To the dry mixture add the beaten egg. Knead the ingredients together by hand for a few minutes or just until a soft dough is formed. It will still be a little sticky.
• Transfer the dough to a piece of plastic wrap and form it into a disc. Wrap tightly.  Place the dough in the fridge to chill for 10-15 mins. 
• Roll the Dough: Place the chilled dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper and use your rolling pin to roll the dough to 1/4-inch thickness.
• Use a 3-inch or 4-inch perforated tart ring to cut out the base of the tarts. Place the rings on a parchment paper lined sheet pan or silicone mat. Lightly press the base of the tart into the bottom of the rings.
• Re-roll any dough scraps. Cut strips of dough that are slightly wider than the edge of of the tart ring to allow for a slightly overhang. (If the dough gets sticky, pop it in the fridge for 5 minutes to chill before continuing.)
• Lightly spray the sides of the tart ring with nonstick cooking spray. Wrap the dough strips around the inside of the tart rings pressing to adhere the dough to the ring and the bottom crust. Use a knife to trim the end of the strip to fit, but leave the excess over the top of the tart shell.  Place into the freezer for 30 minutes. 
• Bake: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Use a sharp knife to trim the (now frozen) top of the dough so that it is flush with the edge of the tart ring.  Use a fork to dock the base of the tart shell.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes. The shell will be slightly lighter in color and will appear dry. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes. Remove the tart ring from the outside of the tart and carefully move to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Chocolate Mousse: Place chopped chocolate in a large heat proof bowl.
• In a small saucepan, heat 1 cup heavy cream until steaming and bubbles form around the edge of the pan, don't boil.
• Pour the cream over the chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes, then stir until it's completely melted. Remove about 2/3 cup of chocolate to a separate bowl for the tops.
• Use a hand mixer on medium-high speed to whip the remaining 2 cups heavy cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Add the melted chocolate beating on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.
• Divide the chocolate mousse evenly between the cooled tart shells, then spread or drizzle, the reserved 2/3 cup chocolate ganache on top, garnish as desired. (If you chill the tarts to set the mousse first, warm the reserved ganache in the microwave just enough to make it spreadable. You can also add additional heavy cream to thin.)
• Chill chocolate tarts for 4 hours until serving.

Notes

• • Almond Flour: You can use all purpose flour for the crusts in place of almond flour.
  • Size: The yield may vary depending on the size of the tart rings used. Smaller 2-inch rings can yield up to 12 tiny tarts.
  • Alternate Pan: You can use a large round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter to cut the chocolate pastry dough into 3 or 4-inch rounds and press the dough into the wells of a standard size cupcake pan. Spray the pan with cooking spray and bake the shells in one fell swoop. You may be able to yield more than 8 tarts.
  • Garnishes: You may choose to use all of the chocolate ganache in the mousse and skip the ganache topping, this will still work perfectly. You can also make more ganache for the topping using extra chocolate melted with heavy cream.
  • Chocolate Mousse Substitution: You can fill these chocolate tart shells with a lighter (in calories) filling such as chocolate pudding or simply fill them with whipped cream and fresh fruit or berries. See how to make homemade Chocolate Pudding here.
  • Customize the Garnishes: You can also decorate the tops exactly how you want them to look, it’s a terrific way to get creative and personalize. I’m showing you how they look with candy cutouts, chocolate truffles and chocolate swirls to inspire!

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Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 623kcal | Carbohydrates: 64g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 43g | Saturated Fat: 28g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 157mg | Sodium: 77mg | Potassium: 421mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 34g | Vitamin A: 1722IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 111mg | Iron: 5mg

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