Historic Chocolate Tart Recipe 

This Valentine’s Day, try your hand at a historic Chocolate Tart recipe!  

The following recipe is a modern take on a historic recipe published in Hannah Glasse’s The Complete Confectioner (see photo), one of many reference cookbooks our staff use to source period-appropriate receipts for Prairietown.  

Enjoy this modern take on the Hannah Glasse receipt, courtesy of A Taste of History with Joyce White. 

Ingredients

• 5 oz. dark chocolate, (in the form of chocolate chips or a solid bar of chocolate, grated)
• Pinch of salt
• 4 egg yolks (large size eggs)
• 1 Tbsp. rice flour
• 1 Tbsp. milk
• 1 pint heavy cream
• ¼ cup white granulated sugar, or to taste, depending on the chocolate’s sugar content 
• 1 prepared pie shell, store-bought fresh or home-made (a frozen crust is not recommended as it gets too brown in the oven.)

Directions:

1. Measure the chocolate chips or grated chocolate and place into a bowl, and set aside.

2. Pour the cream into a sauce pan and set on low heat.  While it slowly comes to a boil, combine the salt, egg yolks, rice flour, and milk in a separate large bowl and set aside.

3. Once the cream starts to gently boil, add the grated chocolate, stirring constantly and making sure all of the chocolate is melted. Then, add the sugar and cook until the sugar is melted.

4. Temper the egg mixture and the chocolate mixture by taking a quarter of a cup of the hot mixture and slowly add to the egg yolk and rice flour mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk, to prevent scrambling.

5. Stir the warmed egg yolk mixture into the sauce pan and bring all the ingredients to a boil for about a minute. Set aside and allow it to cool 5-10 minutes. While the mixture is cooling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a pie plate with a bottom crust.

6. Pour the chocolate mixture into the prepared pie plate, set it upon a cookie sheet to prevent spillage, and bake for about 45-50 minutes until set (no jiggling just in the very center when gently shaken; it should all move together equally when done). Remove from oven and let it cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours, or overnight.