I had a really stressful week. When I was talking about it to my friend K, she suggested two things. Go over to her place for dinner. Or make something decadent and post it on my blog. (Notice how both involve food?!). I went with option two. What can be more stress busting than cooking (and then making S clean up)? What can make a girl happier than a luscious raspberry mouse tart with dark chocolate ganache hidden inside?! And what can make me forget my worries that reading your comments 
Stress be gone!
You can whip up this dessert rather quickly because there is no baking involved. The only time consuming step is chilling the tartlets for atleast 3 hours so that the filling sets.
I used store bought graham cracker mini tarts. You can use whatever pie crust you like. An oreo crust will be great too.
The filling is raspberry jello powder or agar agar, mixed with a quick raspberry jam (recipe below), cream cheese and cream.
Whip everything together. Pour a little chocolate ganache at the bottom of the pie/tart. Then pour the raspberry mousse in and let it set.
You cant see the chocolate layer, but once you cut into the tartlet, there is a nice little chocolate surprise waiting for you.
Regular mousse involves eggs. But this recipe is eggless. You still get a wonderful, creamy yet light mousse from the addition of fruit pectin and jello powder or agar agar.
loosely adapted from this recipe on Recipe Bazaar
makes about 6 mini tarts
6 mini graham cracker pie crust or any pie/tart shell of your choice. If the crust you are using needs baking, pre-bake it according to package directions
for quick chocolate ganache
2 oz dark chocolate bar
1 1/2 tbsp heavy cream
for raspberry mousse
6 oz fresh raspberries
1 1/2 tbsp fruit pectin powder
3/4 cup sugar
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 tbsp raspberry jello powder or agar-agar
1 1/2 tbsp boiling water
3 tbsp cream cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
Start with the raspberry jam. In a medium pan, heat the raspberries, pectin, sugar and salt on medium heat. Cook till the mixture is bubbling and slightly thickened. About 4 minutes. Then press the raspberries through a strainer, discard the pulp and seeds and reserve the liquid jam. Let the jam cool.
Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric beater, place the boiling water and jello or agar agar and mix till dissolved. Then add the cooled jam and cream cheese. Mix with a fork till well incorporated. Pour in cream. Using the beater, whip/beat the mixture on high till thick.
For the chocolate ganache, place the dark chocolate and cream in a pan and cook on low heat just untill the chocolate melts. Be careful not to burn the chocolate
Divide the chocolate ganache evenly among the pie crusts. Let it cool about 5 minutes. Then pour the raspberry mousse mixture into the pie crusts, over the chocolate ganache. Refridgerate atleast 3 hours to allow the mousse to set. Serve chilled, garnished with fresh raspberries and chocolate shavings.
NOTE (added Oct 13 ’09): the raspberry filling was very slightly runny for me. (You can see that in the picture of the cut open tart above). You may want to use more jello or agar (3 tbsp jello/agar + 3 tbsp boiling water) to help the filling set better.
Oh!!! HEAVENLY!!!!
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These are delicious! Like the idea of the mini shells. I had done something similar during the summer, when our friends came over – but with cherry & strawberry & with the choc. too. became an immediate fav. with family & friends.
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This mini tartelets are mind blowing, the choco layer excellent pairing with berries! Definetly burst our stress too
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Absolutely beautiful!!!
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Such a lovely tartlets!!! Really refreshing.
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What pretty tartlets! I love that surprise…
Cheers,
Rosa
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These look delicious!! Especially with that chocolate suprise
Rose
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This does look very delectable and decadent! And I love those pretty forks. Hope the week ahead is less stressful for you
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it’d take a surprise as awesome as a layer of chocolate to get me to break into such a gorgeous creation. i LOVE that color. love it. great, great tart, sala!
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Sounds like a delicious and quick decadent dessert! The color is lovely too.
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Love the oh-so-pink color! and raspberry/chocolate is always a winning combination.
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OMG!! It looks so tempting…I am just drooling.
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Sala, They look so decadent ! M y Q to you .. did 1 and 1/2 teaspoon agar work for you . I had read somewhere that berries take the double amount of agar vs gelatin. So was just wondering . The pictures look awesome girlie !!!
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Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
October 13th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
@Dee, Its 1 1/2 tablespoons, not teaspoons. But youre right, i’ll probably use more next time..the filling was very slightly runny.
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This looks absolutely divine. I would definitely be a fan of the chocolate surprise. =)
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I can’t take my eyes from these. What a color! I can start to cry now, I want to have one (or two or more) of these right now. An adorable way to get rid of stress, tiredness, anything negative. Excellent work!
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Wow! Stunning color! Hot pink you want to dive in
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I love the colour of the mousse and the pics seem to jump out of the computer. Really beautiful in all!
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These are just darling! Whipping up something in the kitchen always relieves my stress… mostly because I get to eat it afterwards.
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so pretty! and the chocolate surprise is a great idea.
ps: i love the forks too
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wow, I can imagine myself biting into these beauties. What pleasure
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What an excellent dessert mini pie recipe!!! They look marvelous: fabulous even!! I love to use agar agar! Thanks!!!
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Beautiful dessert! I’ve been quite stressed myself as of late but am finding I don’t have the energy to do as much in the kitchen because of it. Maybe I should come over and share your tarts with you to help reduce my stress.
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I love raspberries and these little beauties look delightful.
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Heaven in the form of a raspberry tartlet! AMAZING!
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Wow what a beautiful color. Looks fantastic.
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they r little tarts from heaven..cant say anything more
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Hey Sala, how are you and S doing?
You are so right abt cooking being a stress buster – and when the results are this good am sure it was very relaxing and rewarding.
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These look amazing.
Quick question… if I wanted to cheat and use jam I made during raspberry season, how much would I add into the jello mixture?
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Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
October 13th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
@Dani, I’d say you could add upto 1/2 cup homemade or store bought jam (depending on sweetness). But start with 1/4 cup jam, whisk it into the jello mixture and add the cream cheese and cream, beat well. Taste the mixture and then add more jam as needed.
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oh my god………I cant think of a better stress buster!Love the color and the ganche hideen inside is the best part.Beautiful click!
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Hi, my first time here and I must compliment you on your beautiful recipes and lovely pictures! I make these tartelettes pretty often, esp as you can experiment with diff flavored puddings:)
btw, I’m back to blogging after my motherhood break, and hope you can find some time to make some goodies for my Sweet celebration event
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These look so pretty – love the colour, and I can just imagine the creamy, fruit filling would be wonderful in the crisp pastry of the tartlets! Wonderful… and beautiful photography, as always!
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So nice to see something like this without gelatin! I am always tempted by desserts of this sort but don’t know how to successfully replace the gelatin. Thanks for a great looking recipe and amazing photos!
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Absolutely stunning pics…!! Wud luv to come back for ur pics
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It gives us immense pleasure in nominating you for Sunshine Blog Award. Congratulations. We love your recipes and more so the appetizing photographs on your food blog. http://craftideasforall.blogspot.com
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I’ve been dying to make Cook’s Country Raspberry Chiffon Pie, which you linked to above!
I’m glad to know that you used agar-agar successfully in this mousse. I have some in my cupboard but haven’t use it yet.
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Oh Sala!
Your desserts look awesome good. This is nothing but Raspberry heaven indeed!
Deadly Gorgeous….I was lost in those pictures…
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These look absolutely amazing!
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