Easy Chocolate Tart Crust

Add this Chocolate Tart Crust to your recipe box, it is simple to make and tastes amazing. This shortcrust is buttery rich, perfectly crispy with a deep chocolate flavor that makes a beautiful tart shell worthy of your best fillings for a dessert that will look like it came from a French bakery. And, feel free to call this a Chocolate Pâte Sablée

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Today we are making a Chocolate Pâte Sablée, which is the extra fancy name for a chocolate tart shell. And, just in case you are confused, this tart is also called a rich shortcrust pastry, shortbread crust, shortcrust, or just a crust. No matter what, this dough is easy to make.

Jump to:

• What is a Pâte Sablée?
• Ingredients
• Notes on the ingredients
• Let's make a tart
• Tart Tips
• The tart pans
• Pastry crust FAQs
• Recipe
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• Pin for later

Ingredients

Notes on the ingredients

Flour

For this crust, all-purpose flour is readily available and works well in this recipe.

Powdered Sugar

Also known as confectioner's sugar or icing sugar. Powdered sugar contains a small amount of cornstarch which helps create a lighter, tender crust over using granulated sugar. Using just granulated sugar creates a more crumbly crust.

Butter

This tart is all about great butter flavor and I prefer to use unsalted butter since I add salt in the recipe. Cube this butter and keep it cold.

Egg

Using the egg yolk adds richness to the dough and also is used to bind the dough. You can use the whole egg, but then reduce the amount of cream you add.

Cocoa Powder

Make sure to use a good unsweetened quality cocoa powder, after all, chocolate is what this dessert is about.

Heavy Cream

This adds just an extra bit of richness to the dough and in the end, helps bring the dough together. Half and half can be substituted.

Let's make a tart

Making the dough

Step 1. Add the flour, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt to a large mixing bowl and whisk together until blended and lumps are broken up.

Step 2. Cube the cold butter and add the flour mixture, then toss well to coat the butter.

Step 3. Pour in the beaten egg yolk.

Step 4. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture u

Step 5. Add the cream and mix that in with a fork.

Step 6. At this point, the dough will still be crumbly. With your hands start pressing the dough together to form a cohesive dough.

Step 7. Sprinkle cocoa powder on a rolling mat or a smooth surface. Turn the dough onto the mat and knead very gently to bring the dough together forming the dough into a large disk; round if using a round tart pan, or more oblong if using a rectangle pan. Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and chill for one hour.

Rolling the dough

Step 8. To roll the dough, set the chilled dough on the rolling make that has been sprinkled with cocoa powder, for flour. Let sit for about 10 minutes which will make it easier to roll.

Step 9. To roll, sprinkle the top of the dough with cocoa powder or flour. This dough is a bit soft and can be a bit sticky, so make sure to keep the rolling surface covered with the powder/flour. For a 14 x 4-inch rectangle pan, roll the dough to about 16 x 8 inches. For a 9-inch round tart pan, roll the dough to about a 13-inch circle.

Step 10. To move the dough to the pan, simply roll the dough loosely around the rolling pin, then unroll it into the pan.

Step 11. Once in the pan, you can gently pick up the sides and ease the dough into the edges.

Step 12. Take the rolling pin and roll it over the pan to remove the excess dough. I suggest you freeze or chill the tart dough again for 20 minutes before baking, this helps the dough to not shrink.

Baking the tart shell

You have several options for baking the tart shell Most tarts hold a precooked filling and that means you need to fully bake the tart shell. You can also partially bake the unbaked tart shell when you need to add a filling that also needs to be baked. To learn about blind baking this post on How To Blind Bake Pie Crusts explains this process in full.

Step 13. Remove the chilled pastry dough from the freezer and with a fork poke the dough with the fork, up and down the bottom of the pastry. This is called docking and it lets steam escape from the bottom of the dough, so the dough doesn't puff up.

See Tip #4 - Make sure to place the tart pan on a baking sheet.

Step 14. Line the bottom and sides of the tart pan with parchment paper so there is a little overhang all around.

Step 15. Fill the tart shell with sugar/dried beans, rice, or lentils nearly to the top. Make sure to get into the corners. You do this to keep the shape of the dough as it bakes.

Step 16. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. To partially bake the tart shell bake for 15 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and carefully scoop out the weights and gently remove the parchment paper, then return to the oven and bake for 5 more minutes. To fully bake the tart shell bake an additional 10 minutes.

Step 17. Once the tart shell is fully or partially baked add your favorite filling. At this point, the tart shell can be kept wrapped in plastic wrap or foil for several days before adding the filling.

Tart Tips

Recipe

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About Jere'              

From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending.  Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place, and I am glad to be here at One Hot Oven sharing both sweet and savory family-friendly recipes for your cooking and baking inspiration.