Raspberry-Chocolate Tart

Yield:8 slices

This is a good summer dessert as it requires little baking. A raspberry mousse is spread inside a prebaked chocolate crust and the pie is chilled. Just before serving, it's drizzled with chocolate sauce. Since raspberries are now available nearly all the year round in our stores, I like to sprinkle the fruit on top of the pie as well if I can find them. The recipe comes originally from The Baker's Catalogue and uses their packaged raspberry mousse mix, though you can easily make your ow

Crust: 1 1/4 cups flour 1/3 cup dutch-process cocoa powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup sugar 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips 2 tablespoons unsalted butter Filling: 1 pkg. Raspberry Mousse Mix* 2 cups heavy whipping cream 1/4 cup chocolate sauce fresh raspberries (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Whisk together flour, cocoa, salt and sugar then drizzle with the 1/2 cup of melted butter, mixing until crumbs form. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch pie pan. Prick the bottom with a fork. Bake the crust for 14 to 18 minutes until it puffs slightly and you can smell chocolate.

3. While the crust is baking, melt together the chocolate chips and 2 tbsp. butter. Remove the crust from the oven, and spread the melted chocolate over the bottom and up the sides of the crust. Set aside to cool completely.

4. Make the mousse according to the package instructions (or your recipe), and spoon it into the crust, smoothing out the top with a spatula. Refrigerate for an hour or longer until the filling has set up. Drizzle the top of the pie or each piece with chocolate or fudge sauce just before serving. Sprinkle with fresh raspberries if desired.

Jazzing it up: To make this tart fancier, you can save out a little of the mousse and pipe it onto the top of the pie to make it look prettier. Also, a little raspberry liqueur mixed in with the mousse would be a nice addition.

* If raspberry mousse mix is unavailable, you can make your own raspberry mousse. Mix 1 cup of seedless raspberry preserves with 1 tsp of gelatin that has been dissolved in 1 T of warm water. Whip 2 cups of heavy whipping cream until soft peaks form. Gently fold the raspberry preserve mixture into the whipped cream. You should end up with about 4 cups of filling.