Soft Chocolate and Raspberry Pie/Tart

Wowsers, this tart is absolutely to die for! The crust is delicious and tastes like soft shortbread, and the filling is soft and decadent with a lovely tang from the raspberries. I made the recipe twice with some slight variations. The first time, I made the pie for a barbecue at my house in Berkeley. Although the original recipe is for a tart, I baked this in a pie pan with no trouble (I still don't have a tart pan!). In the pie dish, or perhaps due to our really old oven, it took a lot longer to bake than the original recipe and never quite set in the center, but still turned out delicious! We gobbled it up in no time.

When I was home visiting my parents, I made the tart again with my mom. This time, we were able to use her tart pan, which did make the dessert really pretty! We didn't have any ground almonds, so we just made a regular sweet tart shell (replacing the almonds with the same amount of all-purpose flour), which worked out well. The best part of this tart was that we used half red raspberries and half black raspberries--yum! We also discovered that you really do need a food processor for the tart dough! We tried making it by hand and it just wouldn't come together...we ended up doing it in two batches in my mom's little mini-food processor, and that was a good solution. In the tart pan/my mom's oven, the tart baked in the listed time.

Finally, we liked the tart at all temperatures. The recipe says that the tart doesn't hold over and won't be as good cold, but there was no way that three of us (my mom, my dad, and myself) could eat an entire tart in one evening! So, we took our chances and tried refrigerating it...to our happy surprise, we really liked the tart cold! The crust didn't get soggy, and although I preferred the tart at room temperature or a little warm, it was still quite good cold.

Sweet Tart Shell with Nuts (from Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours)

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup finely ground almonds
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick plus 1 T very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

1. Put the flour, nuts, confectioners' sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times. Scatter in the pieces of butter and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in--some pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas. Stir the yolk to break it up, then add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses--about 10 seconds each--until the dough forms clumps and curds. (The sound of the food processor will change just before the dough is ready.) Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead very lightly, just to incorporate any stray dry ingredients.

2. Butter a 9-inch tart pan or pie plate and press the dough evenly over the bottom and sides. Use all but a little piece of dough, which you should store in the fridge to patch up any cracks later. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes or longer.

3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cover the crust with a piece of buttered aluminum foil (butter side down) and fit the foil tightly around the crust. Put the tart/pie pan on a baking sheet and bake 25 minutes. Remove the foil and flatten out the crust gently with the back of a spoon. Mine melted a little, so I just pushed it back up the sides and it wasn't a problem. Patch the crust if necessary with the dough from the fridge.

4. Return the crust to the oven and bake for another 8 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a rack and cool to room temperature.

Soft Chocolate and Raspberry Pie (from Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours)

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 T unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 1/2 T sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
6-9 ounces fresh raspberries
Sweet Tart Shell with Nuts, baked, from above

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 300 degrees. Put the pie plate (or tart pan) on a baking sheet.

2. In a double boiler, melt the chocolates together; remove from heat and set aside. In another pan, bring the cream and butter to a boil, making sure the butter is completely melted. Pour the cream-butter mixture over the chocolate and let stand for 30 seconds. Using a whisk, gently stir the liquid into the chocolate, starting in the center and working out to the edges of the bowl. When smooth, stir in the sugar, then the eggs, and finally the yolk. Rap the bowl against the counter to break any bubbles.

3. Scatter the berries over the bottom of the crust, then pour the chocolate over them. Make sure all the berries are covered with chocolate.

4. Bake the pie until the filling is set in the center and a knife inserted at the center comes out a little streaky.

5. Cool the pie to room temperature or slightly warmer before serving.