Chocolate Pâte Sablée tart crust (VIDEO)

4.96 from 24 votes

Chocolate Pâte Sablée tart crust (VIDEO)

This Chocolate Pâte Sablée tart crust is a delicious, buttery shortcrust, melt-in-the-mouth pastry shell that turns desserts into fancy French patisserie-like tartlets. This chocolate tart case is the perfect base for a great variety of fillings! You might refer to this kind of pastry as shortcrust, sweet short pastry, sweet-tart crust, or simply a tart shell.

Cook Time1

Waiting Time2 30

Total Time3 30

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Servings:

Calories: 266kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

90 g Icing sugar
200 g Pastry flour
30 g Almond flour
30 g Unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
110 g Unsalted butter very cold
50 g Egg approx. 1 egg

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Measure and cut butter into chunks and place it into the freezer for a few minutes
Sift together dry ingredients; flour, cocoa powder, icing sugar, almond, salt
Add very cold butter chunks into the dry ingredients, and rub the mixture between your hands until it becomes a sand-like consistency
Add egg into the mixture and mix with your hands just until the dough comes together
Knead the dough with the palm of your hand for a minute or two, just until the dough becomes smooth. Do not over-knead the dough and do not use mixer, neither a food processor
If the dough is too warm and sticky, place it into the fridge for 10-15 minutes first. Otherwise, continue with rolling the dough out into 2mm thickness between two Silicone baking mat.
Place the dough into the freezer for 15 min in between the two Silicone baking mat. Do not remove the mat at this point
Prepare your oven rack with the Perforated "air" baking mat and Perforated tart rings on top
Take the dough out from the freezer, remove the top of the silicone mat and using one of the Perforated tart rings, cut out 8 circles - this will be the bottom of your tart. Carefully move the dough circles with the help of an Offset spatula and place them into the rings one by one
If at any point the dough gets too warm to work with, pop it back into the freezer for 5 minutes. You might need to take the dough in and out of the freezer many times depending on the temperature of your kitchen. It is extremely important to work with a dough that is cold enough to be able to handle (so not sticky) but not too cold which would result in breaking it
Cut 8 long strips out of the dough, this will be the side of the tart
Carefully place the strips into the ring one by one. Press each strip onto the ring so it sticks to it
Place the Perforated tart ring with the pastry dough in them into the freezer for 1 hour
Pre-heat oven to 160C / 320F
After 1 hour, trim the top of the pastry with a sharp knife
Bake for 20 min, then carefully remove the rings and bake for another 5 -10 min until golden brown. At the 20 min mark, the pastry should be already somewhat baked and therefore will contract within the ring. If the pastry feels stuck into the ring, bake it for further 1-2 minutes
Once tart rings are removed, you will need to place the tart cases back to the oven. Bake them for another approx. 10 minutes
Let the pastry cases cool on the Perforated "air" baking mat before filling

Video

Notes

INGREDIENT NOTES:

Measure your ingredients with a Digital scale for accuracy
Use high-quality 82% fat content European style very cold unsalted butter
In case of nut allergy, almond can be replaced with an equal amount of flour
Do not skip the salt

TECHNIQUE NOTES:

Make sure you read my Expert tips section above to maximize your success. A short recipe alone is not able to cover all the necessary details, and science behind baking. Consider this recipe like an in-depth tutorial, literally the only recipe you will ever need to make chocolate tart cases
While assembling and kneading the dough, work as quickly as possible without 1. overworking the dough 2. making the dough too warm. Kneading literally should not take more than a minute or two
The temperature, while working with this dough, is super important. Too warm? The pastry dough will tear. Too cold? The pastry dough will break. Aim for the in-between, a cold enough dough that is comfortable to work with. Use your fridge or freezer to chill the dough if it gets too warm
The recipe can be made with the traditional blind baking method using a tart pan, however, consider using perforated equipment for the best result
I strongly advise using a Digital oven thermometer to be able to measure your exact oven temperature
Check my filling suggestions

Nutrition