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For Christmas my brother gave me a Sur La Table gift card. I can spend hours in Sur La Table or Williams Sonoma, wandering the aisles like a child in a candy store.
My husband insists I don’t need anything because I already have everything. He doesn’t understand.
The gift card was a perfect choice. My brother is sweet — he even bought me clothes from the kids’ section once, convinced I was tiny. It’s the thought that counts.
On one of my Sur La Table shopping sprees I picked up a set of mini tart shells.
Since my husband and I have a tendency to overindulge, I figured mini desserts would help keep portions reasonable. Plus, they’re delightful and feel indulgent without going overboard.
Someone in this house (not me) seems to always be snacking. We’re not complaining.
For my first mini dessert I decided on s’mores tarts. How perfect do those sound?
I started with a graham cracker crust.
Lots of graham crackers, lots of butter, a touch of sugar — and a little exercise afterward.
Have you tried Ghirardelli chocolate chips? They’re my favorite — little morsels of heaven.
I polished off most of them in less than a day.
I adapted a chocolate tart filling recipe from Tyler Florence and halved it for the mini tarts.
It still made more filling than the shells needed, which was perfectly fine — extra filling meant more tasting.
After baking the chocolate filling I added marshmallows on top and put the tarts under the broiler.
I nearly set off a fire alarm. Roasted marshmallows smell wonderful at a campfire, but not so much when they’re burning in your kitchen.
The first few tops got a little too toasty, but I adjusted quickly and finished the rest perfectly. These little tarts were exactly the right size for dessert.
If you broil marshmallows at home, watch them closely — they usually need only about six seconds under a high broiler to get golden. Leave them longer and you risk a smoky kitchen.
Mini S’mores Tarts
Serves 4
4 mini tart shells
3/4 cup mini marshmallows
Graham cracker crust:
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 tablespoon sugar
Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C). Combine the graham crumbs, melted butter and sugar in a bowl and mix until evenly moistened. Press into the mini tart shells and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
Chocolate filling (adapted from Tyler Florence):
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup milk
5 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, at room temperature
Heat the cream and milk over medium-low heat until it begins to simmer around the edges. Remove from heat, add the chopped chocolate and stir until smooth. Stir in the sugar and salt. Beat the egg in a small bowl until blended, then whisk it into the chocolate mixture until fully incorporated. Pour the filling into the prepared tart shells and bake at 325°F for 15–20 minutes, until the filling is set and the surface is glossy. Remove immediately if bubbles or cracks begin to form.
Preheat the broiler. Top each tart with a few mini marshmallows and broil for 10–30 seconds, depending on how toasted you want them. Watch closely to avoid burning.
When my husband came home and declared, “I don’t like s’mores,” I was stunned. Who doesn’t love s’mores? More for me, I thought — and I still told him he smelled worse than the scorched marshmallows. He did.