Mascarpone Fruit Curd Tarts With Chocolate
Individual pastry tart cases filled with a creamy fruit curd mix. But that’s not all. Hidden beneath the fruity goodness is a layer of decadent chocolate, adding an extra layer of indulgence to these already irresistible tarts. Once you’ve made the pastry, this recipe for mascarpone fruit curd tarts is really easy. Whether you’re hosting a dinner party or fancy afternoon tea, these tarts are a good choice.
Not being especially thrilled by my chocolate and cheddar biscuits (cheecolates), I thought I’d have another attempt at a chocolate and cheese combination for this month’s We Should Cocoa. This time, I took a slightly safer route by going for a tart with a mascarpone and fruit curd filling.
Mascarpone Fruit Curd Tarts
You can use any type of fruit curd you like. The curd I used was some apple and lemon curd I’d recently made to which I’ve become rather addicted. It’s just so delicious.
The bit that was slightly risky was making pastry with an egg white. I’ve never done this before and nor had anyone else according to google. But I had an egg white lurking in the fridge from making the biscuits and I didn’t want it lurking there anymore.
The chocolate addition, I took from my cheesecake surprise and made these three layered tarts. It works really well. If you want to go down a more fuss-free route, however, you can leave the chocolate bit out. The tarts are still delicious.
The pastry, I was pleased to find, worked well – apart from the shrinkage. It was easy to roll, which always gets lots of brownie points in my book and being rather plain, offset the richness of the filling nicely. I now have another use for left over egg whites.
CT pronounced the mascarpone fruit curd tarts delicious. I really liked them too, but thought the chocolate shortbread I used for the lime curd mascarpone tarts worked better. The chocolate layer gives a pleasant surprise snap to the experience as your teeth sink in.
Top Tips
You can use whatever type or flavour of fruit curd you like. Homemade or shop bought are both fine, but the colour of the curd will affect the colour of your tarts.
When making the pastry, you may or may not need a splash or even two splashes of water. It will depend on the size of your egg white.
Other Mascarpone Recipes You Might Like
- Courgette cake with lime & mascarpone frosting
- Fig tarts with mascarpone & white chocolate
- Roasted beetroot puff pastry galette
- Summer fruit tiramisu
- Wild blueberry cupcakes with mascarpone icing
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these mascarpone fruit curd tarts, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or advice for making pastry?
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Choclette x
Mascarpone Fruit Curd Tarts. PIN IT.
Mascarpone Fruit Curd Tarts With Chocolate
Ingredients
Pastry
- 50 g unsalted butter
- 125 g flour (half wholemeal, half white)
- 25 g golden caster sugar (I used cardamom sugar)
- 1 egg white
Filling
- 50 g milk chocolate (I used Green&Blacks 37%)
- 125 g mascarpone cheese
- 3 tbsp fruit curd (I used homemade lemon and apple curd)
- 20 g dark chocolate (I used Green&Blacks 70%) – grated
Instructions
Pastry
- Preheat the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4).
- Rub the butter into the flours and sugar until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.50 g unsalted butter, 125 g flour, 25 g golden caster sugar
- Add the egg white and a splash of water and mix together with a flat-bladed knife.1 egg white
- Bring the mixture together with your hands to form a dough. If it’s still too crumble to form a dough, add another splash of water. But be careful not to make the dough wet.
- Shape into a flattish disc and cover in wax wrap or plastic bag and place in the fridge to rest for half an hour.
- Roll the dough out thinly to about 3 mm (⅛ inch) and cut circles just big enough to fill a210 cm (4 inch) loose bottomed fluted tart tin.
- Press the pastry circles into 6 buttered tart tins and trim the tops with a knife. Gather any offcuts and roll again as necessary.
- Place the tarts on a baking tray and prick the bottoms in several places with a fork.
- Bake for 10 minutes in the middle of the oven or until lightly golden, then leave to cool on a wire rack.
Filling
- Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a glass or ceramic bowl suspended over a pan of not quite simmering water.50 g milk chocolate
- Stir until smooth, then leave to cool a little.
- Carefully remove the pastry cases from the tins. Spread a couple of teaspoons or so of chocolate around the base of each tart case and leave to set.
- In a bowl, mix the mascarpone cheese with the fruit curd until smooth.125 g mascarpone cheese, 3 tbsp fruit curd
- Divide the mixture between the six tart cases. Sprinkle the tops with grated dark chocolate and serve.20 g dark chocolate
Yummy! Looks really tempting & lovely! Gosh! I guess I’m a bit to late for this event! Always thought the dateline was the on the 28th but not the 25th. 🙁
I even have a recipe just for this challenge! I’ll catch up next month but I so wanted to join this month’s awesome challenge!
JW – thanks. There’s more chocolate than you;d think hiding in there 😉
Mascarpone is always an excellent choice (for so MANY sweet and savory foods), so I’m a fan. Although, knowing your blog, I am the tiniest bit surprised that there wasn’t more chocolate involved 😉 These are lovely though and I’d happily help eat them!
looks delicious! cant believe I missed this months we should cocoa challenge! Il be nice and refreshed for next month’s when the big 3-0 celebrations are over!
Hey congratulations – hope you celebrate well and happily. And of course look forward to your WSC entry next month 😉
ooh these look delicious! Well done for persevering with your we should cocoa challenge – I am truly impressed. Also good to know there’s something else I can do with egg whites. Love the sound of apple and lemon curd… yum!
Ros, I had a 3rd one up my sleeve which would have been completely different, but I ran out of time :-S
Dom, what rot you do talk – I bet yours will be even more divine. Mind you, it’s hard to go wrong with such a lovely substance as mascarpone 😉
now we talking!… mascarpone is the way i’m going this month for WSC… love the stuff although i’ll doubt mine will be as divine as yours!
Mascarpone and curd makes a great combination and that addition of apple must be really interesting in the tarts. I’ve been playing around with lower-fat recipes lately using egg whites (including the chilled packs of egg white as an experiment). It’s interesting to see what works and what’s better left with whole eggs.
Well I’ve not heard of egg white packs until now Phil – can’t quite figure out how they would work. Egg white makes a really good binder for roast nuts with spices or herbs rather than using butter or oil.
Definitely must try some of your curds. I love the simple idea of the mixing them with some mascarpone and chocolate then for a quick pud!
You’re right you need nothing more than a good fruit curd and some mascarpone for a delicious & quick dessert – maybe a grating of chocolate on top! Would be good on scones too.
Your tarts look beautiful! And much more up my street than the chocolate cheese biscuits you made before…gorgeous post 🙂
Ha ha, you have to do something a little different from time to time and weirdly, they did appeal to some. Thank you for lovely comment.
They look so pretty! Love the idea of suprise chocolate on the base of the tart too – perfect!
Thanks Hannah. The chocolate is the fun bit and adds to the overall yumminess, but they’d taste good without it too.
A fabulous idea, thank you for sharing. I do sometimes find I can get away with not chilling the pastry before blind baking if I use copious quantities of baking beans to weight it down. I must try the curd – my mother has Pam’s book of preserves and swears by it. Will have to see if she is willing to part with it for a few days…
Thanks Charlotte, this was shrinkage on a grand scale! Pam’s book is fabulous as is her one on Cakes. See if you can wrest it from your mother for a while 😉
I do love the way you like to experiment with flavours but you also know what works well together like the choc & lemon truffles. The idea of mixing in a lovely curd with mascarpone is really clever as well as the hidden layer of chocolate, just remember to wait for your pastry and it will re-pay you!!
Ha ha, thanks Laura – patience is not my strong point.
Very pretty and no doubt delicious!
Thanks MCB, they were good, but would have been really good if the pastry hadn’t shrunk and I could have filled them more :-S
These look pretty as a picture – and I love the idea of apple curd
Ah thank you CC 🙂
They look lovely. I like the sound of the lemon and apple curd – is it one you’ve made up or did you follow a recipe? I think I’ve seen a HFW recipe for it somewhere. Must investigate…
Yes, I sort of followed Pam’s recipe in Preserves – River Cottage Handbook. The curd is delicious.
Very pretty tarts – I am curious to see what the cross section looked like – I would prefer lots of the chocolate filling but it doesn’t sound like there was a lot!
Thanks Johanna. I was going to take a picture of the cross section, but the filling was quite soft and I couldn’t get a clean cut. It just looked too messy, hence no photo.
mmm they sound yummy. I love tarts with chocolate spread in the base, it’s such a lovely surprise.
Thanks Janice – the chocolate layer usually causes quite a sensation for those not expecting it.
These look amazingly tasty and I can imagine that apple and lemon curd tastes pretty good too! A very pretty tart! 🙂
Thanks Laura – I’ve become rather a fan of fruit curd mixed with mascarpone adding chocolate makes for a perfect dessert.