what's cooking wednesday - chocolate ganache tarts

Not really sure what to get Papa for his birthday this past September I ended up promising him dessert, once per month for an entire year. I thought I could make his treats a mix of old standbys and maybe try a new recipe or two. This month was a new recipe month.

Chocolate Ganache Tarts

1/2 cup butter
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
2/3 cups heavy cream
whipped cream, fresh raspberries and icing sugar - optional

In a small bowl, beat butter and cream cheese until blended; beat in flour. Drop by scant teaspoonfuls into a greased miniature muffin pan; press onto bottoms and up the sides.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan to wire racks to cool completely.

In a small saucepan, melt chocolate chips with cream over low heat; stir until blended. Transfer to a small bowl and refrigerate until firm.

Beat chocolate mixture until soft peaks form. Pipe or spoon into tart shells. Garnish with whipped cream, raspberries and icing sugar if desired.

Recipe Notes: Okay I was all set to tell you guys how underwhelmed I was with this recipe. I had never made ganache before and was excited to give it a go. Well as I sit here typing this recipe out I realize that I never did get around to adding the milk chocolate chips, only the semi sweet. Which totally explains why my first attempt at ganache was so incredibly sucky. I am totally kicking myself now and despite it being 11:19pm I really want to get in the kitchen and make them all over again. Which I will do, not tonight, but very soon. Overall though, it was a quick and easy little recipe to put together and I'm hoping the next time around produces the wow factor I was looking for.




What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?

What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page. *All front page links will be deleted!* Don't make me be a jerk. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.

So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html

I'll let you in on a little secret, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday