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Chocolate Tartlets

Chocolate Tartlets are small chocolate cakes baked in pastry shells, topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Chocolate Tartlets

Why it works: Vanilla and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,287 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Chocolate Tartlets

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chocolate base

  1. Melt the chocolate in the milk and bring to a boil.

  2. Stir in the corn-flour and mix until thickened.

  3. Set aside to cool.

Make the filling

  1. Beat the yolks and whites of the eggs with the sugar.

  2. Combine the egg mixture with the cooled chocolate, adding vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and butter. Mix until light.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in pastry shells until done.

  2. Whip 2 egg whites with 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon lemon juice.

  3. Top the tartlets with the meringue.

  4. Serve when cold.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Vanilla + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Provide structure and richness when set, and the whites can be whipped into a meringue topping.
Chocolate
Supplies the main flavour and body of the filling.
Corn-flour
Thickens the chocolate mixture as it heats, giving it a set, smooth texture.
Milk
Melts the chocolate and adds moisture and softness to the filling.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps stabilise the whipped egg whites.

The step that matters

Set aside to cool. The chocolate mixture must be cool before it is combined with the eggs; adding eggs to a hot mixture can scramble them and cause a grainy texture.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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