How To Make A Crisp Chocolate Pastry Tart Shell (Pâte Sucrée)
Learn How To Make a rich Chocolate Short Crust Pastry Shell that you can use for so many different desserts!
Ingredients
Chocolate Short Crust Pastry Shell
- 200 g all-purpose flour plain flour
- 40 g Dutch processed cocoa powder
- 50 g powdered sugar icing sugar
- 1/4 tsp fine salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 110 g unsalted butter cold and cubed
- 1 large egg 55g, whisked
Instructions
Preparing the tart tin
- Line the bottom of your 10-inch tart tin with baking paper by removing the bottom, tracing around it on some baking paper and then placing on top of the bottom. This will stop the tart shell from sticking to the bottom of the tart tin. An issue I found I had in my testing. If you have a non-stick tart tin, sticking shouldn’t be an issue.
Crust (food processor)
- Combine dry ingredients - Add the flour, cocoa powder, powdered sugar and salt to the bowl of a food processor and blitz for 20 seconds to combine.
- Add butter and egg - Add the vanilla extract and butter and pulse until you reach lentil sized pieces. Add the whisked egg and blitz until small clumps of dough form.
Crust (by hand)
- Combine dry ingredients - Add the flour, powdered sugar and salt to a large mixing bowl and use a whisk to combine.
- Add butter and egg - Add the butter and use your fingertips to rub into the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs that look like they’ve been flattened. Add the whisked egg and vanilla extract and use a spatula to mix in until the dough begins to clump together and becomes too hard to mix with the spatula.
- Form dough ball and chill - Turn the mixture out your workbench and bunch it together (without kneading). Form a rough disc shape and then wrap in plastic. Chill for a minimum of 1 hour.
- Roll out dough - Lightly dust your workbench and rolling pin with flour. Place the chilled dough disc on the workbench and lightly dust the top with flour. Use a rolling pin to slowly roll dough disc out to 14 inches wide. Turn your dough as you roll and pinch together any cracks that might form around the edges as you roll.
- Transfer dough over tin - Carefully roll over the rolling pin and then transfer and unroll over a 10-inch tart tin with removable bottom.
- Form the tart - Carefully lift the dough over the tart to allow it to naturally fall into the corners of the tart. You don’t want to stretch it or it will shrink as it bakes and become uneven. Roll the rolling pin over the excess dough to cut clean. Discard excess dough.
- Dock the tart - Place the tart tin on a baking tray. Use a fork to prick holes into the bottom of the tart shell. This is called ‘docking’ and will prevent your tart from puffing up too much as it bakes the second time.
- Chill your tart - place the formed tart in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat a fan forced oven to 150C / 300F (170C / 340F for no fan).
- Blind baking your tart shell - Scrunch up a large piece of baking paper and then un-scrunch it. Place on the inside of the tart tin. Fill with baking beads, dried chickpeas or dry rice. Bake for 20 minutes. Take it out of the oven, carefully and slowly lift out the beads using the corners of the baking paper. Place them into a bowl or container to cool down for re-use.
- If using for baked fillings - bake for a final 15 minutes. Once baked, allow to cool on the baking tray at room temperature until ready to use. Letting it cool before adding the filling is important as adding the filling in while the tart shell is warm can cause it to go soggy.
- If using for no-bake filling - bake for a final 20 minutes instead of final 15. Allow to cool before adding the fillings.
Notes
Dutch processed cocoa powder - is an unsweetened cocoa powder which has been treated with alkaline and potassium carbonate to neutralize the acidity that is naturaly found in cocoa powder. It’s darker in color and strong in chocolate flavor.
What exact size tart tin did you use?
My tart tin is 22.5cm 10-inches in width and 3.5cm / 1 1/4-inches in height. You can use this tart crust recipe for any size tart shell you like up to a 22.5cm / 10-inch wide and 5.5cm / 2-inches in height tart tin.
Don’t stretch the dough!
When you unroll the dough back into the tart tin, you must lift the dough to let it fall to the bottom of the tart tin instead of stretching. If you stretch the dough it will shrink as it bakes and become uneven around the top.
Transferring the dough.
To easily transfer the dough from your workbench to the tart tin, simply roll it over the rolling pin then unroll back over the tart tin.
How to easily cut off excess dough!
Here’s a really fun tip! It’s my favorite part of making this recipe because it takes second and is so satisfying. Simply use your rolling pin and roll it over the top of your tart. It will perfectly cut it off!
Baking Beads
You can use dried chickpeas or rice instead of actual ceramic baking beads which can be expensive. Simply fill them as you would baking beads then once you’re finished with them, let them cool completely in a bowl before placing back in a container or zip lock bag.
Storage - This tart crust can be made ahead of time and stored in an airtight container for up to three days.
Nutrition - is an approximate and is based the entire tart shell. Obviously, you’re not going to eat the entire thing. Just divide the nutrition information by about 8-10 which is how many people this tart shell would serve.
A note on measurements - this recipe is offered in weight measurements. This is in an effort to offer the most accurate way to get the best results. Cup measurements simply aren’t accurate enough for a recipe that needs precision and cup sizes differ depending on where you are in the world. Here is where you can learn more about how to measure ingredients using digital kitchen scales!
Nutrition
Calories:1.957kcal | Carbohydrates:247g | Protein:42g | Fat:106g | Saturated Fat:64g | Polyunsaturated Fat:5g | Monounsaturated Fat:28g | Trans Fat:4g | Cholesterol:400mg | Sodium:677mg | Potassium:1.448mg | Fiber:33g | Sugar:51g | Vitamin A:2.987IU | Calcium:178mg | Iron:21mg
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