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Chocolate Tartlets

Chocolate tartlets with a chocolate custard base 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 custard

  1. Rub the chocolate smooth in the milk.

  2. Heat over low heat and add the corn starch dissolved in more milk.

  3. Stir until thickened, then pour out and let cool.

  4. Once cool, beat in the egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla.

Fill and bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a prepared pie crust.

  2. Cover with a meringue made from the egg whites and a little powdered sugar.

  3. Bake until the meringue is slightly browned.

Serve

  1. Serve 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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

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
Yolks thicken and enrich the custard, while whites whip into the meringue topping.
Baker's chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavour and body of the custard filling.
Corn starch
Thickens the custard as it heats, giving it a set, sliceable texture.
White sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps the meringue hold and brown.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard until thickened. Cornstarch only thickens fully when the mixture heats enough to gelatinize it, and stirring prevents scorching on the base. Underheated custard stays runny and won't set properly once cooled.

“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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