Dessert Time

This is a delicious tart that looks fabulous and gets raves at the table. I've had the recipe for so many years I'm not sure where I originally found it. For my Mexican blogger friends, I'll tell you that I don't use cake flour for the crust....just plain old flour and even with my limited pastry ability, I've been able to make a decent container/crust for the tart. I can find white chocolate at Bonanza here in San Miguel or at Walmart or Costco in the larger cities. That is, I can usually find white chocolate but you never know. The leaves really dress up the tart but as you can see here, I didn't make them and still everyone at the dinner table like the tart.

RASPBERRY VELVET TART
INGREDIENTS
Crust
3/4 cup cake flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
½ cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon whipping cream
2 tablespoons (about) cold water

Filling
12 ounces white chocolate (preferable imported), chopped
½ cup hot whipping cream
1/4 cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup fresh raspberries or unsweetened frozen thawed and drained
White Chocolate leaves (see recipe)
Powdered sugar

HOW TO MAKE
For crust: Mix flours and sugar in large bowl. Add butter and cut in until mixture resembles coarse meal. Beat yolk with cream t blend. Pour over flour mixture and stir until dough comes together, adding water to bind dough if necessary. Gather dough into ball. Flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 30 minutes. (Can be prepared one day ahead. Let dough soften slightly before continuing. )Roll dough out on lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch-thick round. Roll dough up on rolling pin and transfer to 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Trim and finish edges. Refrigerate crust for 30 minutes.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line pastry with foil or parchment and fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake 15 minutes. Remove beans and foil and continue baking crust until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool crust completely on wire rack.

For filling: Melt white chocolate in top of double boiler over simmering water, tirring until smooth. Mix in cream and butter. Remove from over water. Distribute raspberries evenly over bottom of prepared crust, reserving a few for garnish. Pour chocolate mixture over, filling crust completely.. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hr. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.)Arrange leaves and reserved berries decoratively atop tart. Sift powdered sugar lightly over and serve.

White Chocolate Leaves
Makes about 16
3 ounces white chocolate (preferable imported), chopped
16 small thick leaves, such as lemon, camelia or gardenia with 1/8- stems.
Melt white chocolate in top of double boiler over simmering water, stirring until smooth.
Spread in thin layer over veined undersides of leaves, being careful not to drip on edges. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Gently peel off leaves, starting at Stem end.
(Leaves can be prepared 1 week ahead. Cover airtight and refrigerate.)