Chocolate Mint Pi(e)s!

Hey y'all, it's Pi(e) day! That's right, March 14, 3.14, the day when nerds and geeks mark the glory that is mathematics - and also pastry. Since the most digits of pi I have memorized are in fact... 3.14 - I can't quite claim geekdom. But pastry... pastry I can do!

Sometimes at the end of a heavy meal, you can barely find space for even the most delicious dessert. But there's something about mint that manages to make desserts always seem light and refreshing. And these certainly fit the bill. With a crisp cocoa tart shell, soft, minty filling and a drizzle of chocolate, you'll be gobbling these up one after the other.

There are a few steps involved, but everything can be prepared in advance and assembled day of. The dough can be kept in the fridge up to 36 hours, and the baked shells can be kept up to 24 hours before filling. If you're short on time you can even skip the chocolate drizzle, but I do love how it looks. 

Not enthralled? Pi(e) day 2015 was way cuter. And stick around these pages for some exciting Purim recipe(s)! 

Recipe: Makes one 10" tart and 12 mini tartlets 

Dough:
1 cup (200 g) butter or margarine
1⁄2 cup (100 g) sugar
1 large egg

2 1⁄4 cups (280g) flour
1/4 cup (25g) cocoa powder

Filling:

3 1/4 cups (400g) confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons (40g) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup (60 milliliters) heavy cream
2 teaspoons/10 milliliters peppermint extract, or to taste

Semisweet chocolate, for decorating

Instructions: For the dough, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat to combine, then add the flour and cocoa powder and mix until no streaks remain. Gather the dough together into one cohesive ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 36. It might seem quite crumbly, but the rest in the fridge will help things come together. 

For the filling, beat together all the ingredients until smooth. Add more cream or icing sugar if necessary to get the consistency you want. Set aside. 

Remove the dough from the fridge, and roll out on a well-floured surface (and continuously reflouring) until about 1⁄2 centimeter thick. Use to cover either a large tart pan or smaller ones. For a large one, roll the dough to 2" larger than the pan, gently drape over it, fit the dough in to the corners then trim the edges. For little ones, use a cutter that is big enough to cover the bottom and sides of your tart pans, cut as many circles as possible from the dough and fit in to the molds, rerolling as necessary.
Prick the bottoms of the shells with a fork several times and put them in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Bake the shells at 375 F for 10-15 minutes (or 15-20 for a large shell) until just set. Let cool completely.

When the shells are cool, press the mint filling evenly in to the tarts (or you can slightly melt the filling and pour in). Let set up in the fridge until firm to the touch. 

Melt the chocolate in a plastic bag, then snip the corner off, and drizzle over the tart (or tarts) in whatever pattern you desire. Let set (fridge helps). Enjoy!