Chocolate Shortcrust Pastry
How to make Chocolate Shortcrust Pastry, perfect for making tarts, pies, cookies and more! This recipe is so easy and incredibly delicious with an intense chocolate flavour and perfect crumb!
Servings: 10 servings
Ingredients
- 2 cups* 00 flour or all-purpose flour (250g) *spooned and levelled
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder (30g)
- ½ cup caster sugar golden or white (80g)
- 8.5 tbsp cold butter cubed (120g)
- 1 large egg
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
Instructions
- Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a large bowl then add the rest of the dry ingredients, stir to combine.
- Add the egg and butter and cut it into the flour mixture with a spatula or pastry scraper to form rough crumbs.
- Start to bring the mixture together with your hands to form a dough. Knead the pastry until all the flour is fully absorbed and it becomes a smooth ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 1 hour.
- After the dough is chilled, remove from the fridge and roll out using a rolling pin until ¼ inch (½ cm) thick.
- You can cut out cookies at this point or make it into a tart or pie.
- To make a tart, lay the pastry over a tart or pie pan tucking in the sides until it fits evenly. Roll the rolling pin over the tart case to cut the edges (you can also trim the edge with a knife).
- Prick the base with a fork then place back in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Fill with filling of chocice or blind bake according to the recipe.
How to blind bake
- To blind bake the pastry, grease a tart/pie pan with butter then add the pastry to the pan as directed above.
- Line with baking parchment. Top with baking beads or uncooked rice and bake in a preheated oven at 350F/180C for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, remove the baking parchment and baking beads and allow to cool completely.
Video
Notes
- Consistency of the dough - shortcrust pastry is very crumbly and it's meant to be. The dough will seem very dry and crumbly at first but will soon come together into a ball, don't add more liquid or butter.
- Let it chill - it's important to let the pastry chill for at least 1 hour prior to rolling out or it'll be too soft.
- Rolling out - you'll need to lightly dust your work surface with flour for rolling. You can use regular flour or mix it with a little cocoa like we do for colour.
- Tarts and pies - you can either bake the tart/pie together with the filling or blind bake it first to add an unbaked filling such as custard or jam (see instructions for blind baking).
- Cookies - to make cookies simply roll out to your desired thickness and cut out with cookie cutters. Place on a lined baking tray and bake at 350F/180C for 10-12 minutes.
- Storage and freezing - chocolate shortcrust pastry will keep well in the fridge (covered) for 3-4 days or can be frozen. Defrost in the fridge before using.
Nutrition
Calories: 221kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 220mg | Potassium: 82mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 324IU | Calcium: 19mg | Iron: 2mg
