Pistachio, Raspberry, and Chocolate Tartlets

Tartlets Recipe (Makes 18-20):

Chocolate Shortcrust Pastry:

• Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
• In a separate bowl, break up the butter and add the granulated sugar, oil, vanilla bean paste, and eggs.
• Mix well by hand or in a mixer with a dough hook.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and continue mixing until a smooth dough forms.
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Pistachio Frangipane Filling with Ricotta:

• Gently melt the butter.
• Remove from heat and combine the melted butter with the pistachio paste in a bowl. Add the sugar and rum and mix well until smooth.
• Add the ricotta and egg yolk and mix well. Set aside.

Italian Meringue:

• In a saucepan, bring the water and powdered sugar to a boil. The temperature should reach 110°C (230°F). If you don’t have a thermometer, the temperature will be reached when the liquid boils down and the bubbles become smaller.
• While the syrup is boiling, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
• Add the vanilla bean paste and the syrup to the egg whites in a thin stream while beating with an electric mixer. Continue beating until the mixture is stable and slightly cooled. Then, place in the refrigerator.

Dark Chocolate Ganache:

• Break up the chocolate. Bring the cream to a boil, remove from heat, and add the dark chocolate. Stir quickly to obtain a smooth ganache. Set aside.

Assembly:

• Preheat the oven to 170°C (338°F). Lightly flour a surface and roll out the shortcrust pastry. Cut out tartlet bases using cookie cutters and prick them with a fork. Fill generously with the frangipane filling. Bake in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
• Remove the tartlets from the molds and spread a generous spoonful of chocolate ganache in the center.
• Add a teaspoon of raspberry jam in the center of each tartlet.
• Use a piping bag to decorate the edges with Italian meringue.
• Sprinkle the tartlets with chopped pistachios.