Strawberry Chocolate Truffle Tuxedo Tarts

Instructions

For the pastry

1. Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa and salt.
2. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives, leaving small peas sized pieces of butter throughout the mixture.
3. Add egg and vanilla and mix together only enough to make a dough form.
4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for a half hour before rolling out.
5. You can make your dough the previous day but make sure you take it out of the fridge for 10 minutes to warm slightly before rolling out.
6. Roll the dough about 1/8 inch thick and cut out rounds to fit into 12 four inch individual tart pans.
7. You will need to blind bake this crust for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F before adding the filling. Blind baking is essential so that the bottom crust will not get soggy. Let the dough hang a half inch past the rim of the pans to allow for shrinkage as the pastry shells bake. Any excess can be trimmed off when the shells is still hot out of the oven.
8. To blind bake a crust, simply place a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil over the dough and cover the bottom of the pie plate with baking weights. (Marbles, dry beans, peas, rice or barley work just as well as anything else.)

For the chocolate filling

1. Bring the cream and milk just to boiling and pour the hot liquid over the chopped chocolate. Let stand for 5 minutes and whisk together until smooth.
2. Cool for about 10 minutes before whisking in the beaten egg and vanilla.
3. Spoon evenly into the blind baked shells and bake at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. The center should be set at this point.
4. Let the tarts cool completely to room temperature.

For the White Chocolate Whipped Cream

1. Scald the 1/4 cup whipping cream to almost boiling in the microwave.
2. Pour immediately over the white chocolate chips.
3. Let stand for five minutes to allow the chocolate to melt, then stir until smooth. Cool to almost room temperature.
4. Meanwhile, beat the 1 1/2 cups whipping cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract to firm peaks.
5. Remove about 1/3 of the whipped cream and fold it through the melted white chocolate mixture.
6. Now gently fold in the remainder of the whipped cream.
7. Chill for an hour or so if it is too soft to pipe.
8. Wash and stem the strawberries and dry them well with paper towels. Place one strawberry at the center of each tart. before piping the cream on top of the tarts to surround the strawberry. Store in the refrigerator.
9. The white chocolate whipped cream akes a very nice garnish for many other desserts as well.