Mascarpone is one of those dreamy ingredients that’s both delicious and versatile. I’ve put it into savory/sweet sandwiches and desserts alike. This time I’m flavoring it gently with some orange extract and white chocolate ganache and pouring it into brownie tart crusts. Yep.
I love white chocolate combined with orange, so this fits my bill. You could easily skip the orange entirely or replace it with the flavor of your choice. I’m thinking lemon zest, ground pistachios, or double up on the raspberry with raspberry juice?
You can also switch up the crust: use a boxed mix, make a large tart instead of small ones, layer the mascarpone ganache onto a sheet of regular brownies… it’s your world. Your happy trees. Okay, I just got pulled into a big zen-like spin with Bob Ross on YouTube. Happy sighs. Back to baking!
I ended up with some extra mascarpone ganache which I poured into a mini trifle dish and chilled. Yum. You’ll see that bonus at the end after the recipe.
Feel free to peruse my dessert archives for more dessert ideas for the upcoming holidays. I’ve got lots of fall recipes, too, if you’re looking for Thanksgiving ideas.
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Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose wheat flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 1 ½ cup granulated sugar (or sugar substitute)
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso granules
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 oz white chocolate
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 4 oz mascarpone cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 tsp orange extract
- Pinch salt
- 1 pint raspberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- Grease 8 small tart pans with butter or cooking spray.
- Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and salt and set aside.
- Cream together the butter, sugar/sugar substitute, and espresso granules.
- Add each egg and the vanilla extract to the the butter mixture one at a time.
- Slowly add your dry ingredients to the wet mixture until just incorporated.
- Pour the batter into your tart pans and fill each with pie weights or dried beans.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick or cake tester comes out mostly clean. Make sure the bottom is fairly thick to prevent the filling from leaking out.
- Allow to cool completely before filling. Chilling them in the refrigerator makes it even easier.
- In a medium saucepan, bring heavy cream to a boil.
- Remove from heat, add chopped white chocolate and butter, and let it melt for 5 minutes.
- Once the chocolate has started to melt, stir until mostly smooth.
- Add mascarpone cheese, salt, and orange extract and mix until combined.
- Pour filling into the cooled brownie crusts and chill until set, at least a few hours.
- Serve with raspberries on top.
Bonus mascarpone cream!
Catherine Clark is a Chicago native sharing noteworthy things she sees and attempts to make in the world. She's a geek, cat lady, designer and editor by day, and noob chef by night.
