These Cherry Chocolate Coconut Tartlets are little chocolatey canapes are perfect for New Year’s Eve or any other party or celebration – and despite looking really fancy, they’re incredible easy to make! They were inspired by a friend with a love for the combination of cherry, chocolate and coconut, though you could easily leave out the strands of coconut if you prefer.
These decadent bites start with a chocolate shortcrust pastry, filled with a cherry flavoured chocolate ganache and strands of coconut and topped with a chocolate covered cherry.
I often ‘think up’ recipe ideas, such as my chocolate chip cookies with cookie dough filling, or Nutella Calzones (coming soon!) only to google them and realise that yes, other people have already made them. Duh! Of course they have, they’re super awesome. Well, I think this recipe is the first one ever that I really did invent! Huzzah!
- 225g plain flour
- 45g cocoa powder
- 125g unsalted butter
- 85g golden caster sugar
- 1 large egg
- 250g dark chocolate
- 250ml double cream
- 2 tbsp morello cherry preserve
- 75g shredded coconut
- 200g plain chocolate
- 400g cherries (you may need to buy a couple of packs as some will be stalk-less!)
- Prepare two cupcake tins with a little sunflower oil smeared into the bottom of each hole. You'll need a circular cookie cutter, around two inches in diameter.
- Dice your butter into a large bowl containing the sieved flour, cocoa powder and sugar. Use a mixer or your fingertips with rub the mixture together until it resembles breadcrumbs.
- Add the egg, and mix, before bringing the dough together with your hands. Tip it out onto a sheet of clingfilm, wrap it up and pat it into a ball, and then pop into the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes.
- Once rested, roll the dough out between two sheets of parchment paper (I cut the dough in two so that I wasn't rolling out a massive amount at once) and cut out circles. Pop them into your greased cupcake tins - they should fit snugly in the bottom and around the bottom of the sides, forming a small cup. Prick each one with a fork and pop it into the oven at 160C/gas mark 3/325F for around 8 minutes, then remove from the oven and let them cool completely.
- Once cool, use a palette knife to gently coax them out and pop onto a large piece of parchment paper.
- In a medium heatproof bowl, break your chocolate into small chunks and set aside. In a small saucepan, heat the double cream over a medium heat until it just begins to simmer. Immediately remove it from the heat and pour over the waiting chocolate.
- The chocolate will begin to melt immediately - give it a few stirs to help it along, and then start to whisk it until it's smooth and glossy. It will look grainy and strange at first, but it will get there!
- Once its smooth, stir in the cherry preserve and coconut, (plus some rum if you'd like to make these boozy!) and set aside. The mixture will gradually get firmer, so leave it until it's the consistency of a thick great yoghurt, and then use a teaspoon to dollop some chocolate mixture on top of each pastry disc. Leave to firm up.
- To make your cherries, melt the plain chocolate in a tall mug or jug and dip your cherries in by the stalk before setting aside to set on parchment paper. Don't worry if any cherries fall off their stalks into the chocolate, just fish them out with a fork.
- To assemble, pop your set cherries atop the tarts, and leave to firm up. Enjoy!
These would be really yummy with a chocolate covered strawberry on top too!
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Ohhh my dad loves chocolate covered cherries so he would probably love this recipe!
Yay! And its so simple too π