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Monday 23 June 2008

Ideas with Quark


I guess it's time to see what I do with all the quark I've been making recently... The following isn't so much a recipe but rather an idea that might lead you to think up your own instant dessert. During one of the previous weekends, the urge to have a little sweet bite after dinner was positively unbearable, and I remembered having some chocolate shortbread dough and raspberries in the freezer plus newly made quark in the fridge. Dessert was only a matter of minutes.

I lined my muffin pan with small sheets of baking paper and the dough and (after a brief stint in the fridge) baked it at 175 degrees Celsius in a preheated oven (not fan-forced). Baking time varies according to size. However, once the pastry looses its shine, it's partially cooked so I then gave it another 5 minutes. Of course, these little tartelettes benefit from blind-baking but I simply poked them with a fork to deflate. Almost as pretty..;-)

Whilst the tartelette cases cooled down, I selected a few nice big raspberries to thaw on a paper towel. The others went onto the stove and got cooked with sugar and a splash of white wine to release their juices. One teaspoon of cornstarch, dissolved in some white wine for thickening. And one tablespoon of cointreau to accentuate the fruity taste.

The raspberries filling went into the tartelette cases first, then the quark filling on top. It's not quite stiff enough to allow for proper piping so you might want to add some gelatin. I ended up with the Leaning Tower of Pisa but who cares anyway.
This filling actually benefits from sitting in the fridge for a day to allow the flavours to mellow. When filled the tartelettes will hold up nicely for a couple of hours but we were too greedy to wait very long..;-)

Maybe you want to give these little tartelettes a try during the next weekend? I imagine the quark filling will pair well with any kind of berry or poached fruit combined with plain, chocolate, or a nutty shortbread base.

PS: Due to a lucky coincidence in topic, I just realized that I'm able to participate with my tartelettes in this month's "Waiter, there's something in my... Berried Treasure!" hosted by Cooksister. Well, quark in my case..;-) If you happen to make something berry-related, there's still time to take part in this event!

Chocolate Shortbread Tartelettes with Quark and Raspberry Filling

The ingredients

100g quark
100g fat-reduced cream cheese
1 tbsp fat-reduced cream
1 tbsp cointreau
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
More sugar according to taste

Mix everything together and sweeten to taste. It will be thick but not stiff.

(You see I tried to make a slightly healthy-version that luckily tasted just as delicious as its fatty cousin. However, if you're not trying to shed a few grams, don't hold yourself back!)

200g frozen raspberries
splash of white wine
sugar to taste
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp cointreau

The yield

This filling is enough for four muffin-pan-sized tartelettes.

The source

My own invention

8 comments:

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

They look marvelous! Delicious little tarts! perfect for the summer! I really love quark...

Cheers,

Rosa

Eva said...

Wow, that was quick, Rosa! Thanks for visiting! And guess what I'll be making for a dinner party later this week - cake with pears, quark filling, and a meringue glaze..;-)

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Beautiful Eva! So impressed with the quark and then you pair it with gorgeous raspberries, that's got to be wonderful. Dinner party idea should be beautiful too.

Y said...

I especially love that second photo. The combination of the raspberries and the soft and indulgent cream filling looks so tempting.

Does your husband like quark? I hope he does, or else he's going to be soooo sick of seeing all your quark-inspired desserts by the end of it.. hehe..

Eva said...

Thank you, Tanna! In my opinion, any dessert containing raspberries must be good - and when there's quark as well..;-)

Thanks, Y, indeed I couldn't decide which photo to post, will publish one more!
My husband luckily likes quark a lot - preferably in the shape of cheesecake which we had last night..;-)

Nora B. said...

This is my kind of dessert, Eva! The deep, dark choc tart shells, creamy quark/cream cheese filling and the luscious berries... perfect!

Eva said...

Thank you Nora! I still have two of the tart shells (not sure how long they keep in an airtight container though) - let's see what to do with them...

Sara said...

Mmmm, these look really terrific! Yum!