Shortcrust mini-glasses with cream, ricotta and chocolate. I saw these shortcrust mini-glasses in a new pastry shop near my house. They call them Piruli and they are filled in different ways: tiramisu, pistachio and chocolate, rum and chocolate, cream and ricotta, cremino (gianduja and hazelnut) and some more I don’t remember.
As it often happens I got curious and decided to replicate them. But it hasn’t been easy.
At first I thought I had to bake the shortcrust “shells” and then fill them. After all, I thought, there is a tiramisu flavor and classic tiramisu is not baked.
But I failed each and every time. I tried both normal and blind baking. Each time the mini-glasses would collapse.
Following some disastrous yet extremely amusing Instagram stories I received many tips and suggestions. Someone suggested to bake them with the filling. And so I tried.
As a first flavor I tried to put caramelized apples in the bottom of the mini-glasses. The problem was that the apples released water and the shortcrust shells fell apart.
Finally I opted for the classic cream and ricotta with a dark chocolate core. I am very happy both with the result and the fact that I solved the puzzle (almost) on my own.
I will be trying some other flavors in the future and the tiramisu is one that I’d love to try first. But I’ll have to do a baked tiramisu or solve the issue of the mini-glasses baked without filling.
I don’t know why I love figuring these things out. I feel a bit pastry chef, a bit photographer and a bit adventurer. What a life.
Shortcrust mini-glasses
Ingredients
For the ricotta cream:
- 300 g milk 10.6 oz
- 110 g sugar 3.9 oz
- 32 g cornstarch
- 70 g egg yolks
- 200 g ricotta cheese
- grated lemon zest ½ lemon
For the chocolate core:
- 50 g dark cioccolate
- cocoa powder unsweetened
- butter and flour for the molds
700g shortcrust pastry (see here)
Instructions
- Grease and flour the molds. Set aside.
For the shortcrust mini-glasses:
- Roll out the dough on the working surface slightly dusted with flour. The dough should be approx 4 mm (0.15 in) thick.
- Using a 12 cm (4.7 in) pastry ring cut a disc out of the dough.
- Using a knife cut out a slice out of the disc, to create a sort of Pac-Man (this is Haute patisserie..).
- Close it to create a cone.
- Carefully place the cone inside the mold.
- Shape the pastry inside the cone. If necessary remove the excess pastry.
- Repeat for the other molds.
- Place the molds in the fridge for 30 minutes while the cream is being prepared.
For the ricotta cream:
- Put the milk and the grated lemon zest in a pot on low heat.
- Meanwhile combine the sugar with cornstarch in a large bowl. Add the egg yolk and whisk to combine.
- As it reaches its boiling point pour the milk in the bowl by filtering through a strainer. Stir vigorously with a whisk.
- Pour everything back in the pot and cook while stirring constantly for about 2 minutes. The cream should not thicken, it will do so when baked in the oven.
- Remove from heat and let it cool off, stirring occasionally to avoid the formation of the skin on top.
- Soften the ricotta cheese with a fork.
- Combine the ricotta with the custard cream.
- Preheat the oven at 180° C (355° F).
- Take the shortcrust mini-glasses from the fridge. Put a small piece (approx 4g / 0.14 oz) of dark chocolate in each one.
- Fill each mini-glass with the ricotta cream.
- Bake in the oven at 180° C (355° F) for 25-28 minutes.
- Let the shortcrust mini-glasses cool off completely.
- I sprinkled some cocoa powder in one half, covering the other half with a piece of paper.