A soft, tender, flaky pie crust with a chocolaty-rich brownie topped with hot fudge and toasted chopped walnuts!
I. LOVE. BROWNIES. But you know what my newest love is?
A brownie in a pie crust! How about the most buttery pie crust?! I don’t really know how else to describe this little treat other than simply amazing because it truly is. Take a bite into one of these tarts and you’ll find it hard to say no to another.
The first time I made this, it was earlier this month when I attended Pie Party Potluck LIVE here in midtown New York hosted by Jackie and Ken. There was just one rule to the party and that was to show up with pie. Originally, I wanted to make these exact mini brownie tarts but the thought of baking and packing 24 of them to-go just sounded like a lot of work when I only have 4 tart shells (I know! I need more). And if I instead made 12, then it seemed too little so I decided to go with a giant brownie slab pie.
It came out ehh… alright. Nothing spectacular. There’s just something about the look of a slab pies that just doesn’t cut it for me. Maybe it’s the lack of the pretty pie crust edges but you know what? It certainly did the job of feeding plenty of guests and that’s all that mattered.
There is however, one company I must thank and that’s Kerrygold.
Kerrygold generously supplied several Pie Party attendees with butter. I’ve been told it’s really (REALLY) good and because I’ve never had it, this was my chance. My, oh my… these golden bricks of butter was AWESOME! From the color, to the scent, to the taste and to its texture, this butter lived up to its expectation in every way. It’s rich, creamy and full of buttery flavor which is exactly what I wanted for my little brownie tarts.
Ok, I do have to be honest and say, when I made the double batch pie crust the day of the pie party, I did eat some of the dough. Don’t judge, okay. 🙂 I couldn’t help it. It smelled so good that it drew me in closer and closer… and when my face fell in, I ate some. Just kidding!! But I did taste test maybe a little more than I should have. I’m sure you would’ve done the same. Now that I think about it, this is probably why my slab pie didn’t have the “pretty” edges. Nonetheless, it still tasted great!
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Mini Fudge Brownie Tarts
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 16 4-inch tarts 1x
Description
A soft, tender, flaky pie crust with a chocolaty-rich brownie topped with hot fudge and toasted chopped walnuts!
Ingredients
BUTTER PIE CRUST
- 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup cold butter
- 5–7 tablespoons cold buttermilk
BROWNIE
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup toasted walnuts, chopped (optional)
TOPPING
- 1 cup homemade fudge sauce
- 1/2 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
Instructions
- In medium bowl, whisk flour, sugar and salt. Using a pastry blender or long-tined fork cut in butter until the mixture becomes crumbly about the size of small peas.
- Add buttermilk 1 tablespoon at a time and combine dough until the mixture leaves the sides of the bowl.
- Form dough into a ball and flatten into a disk shape on a floured surface. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat oven to 375 degrees. In large bowl, melt butter in microwave on HIGH at 30 second intervals, stir and repeat if necessary until about 75% of the butter is melted.
- Whisk in sugar and cocoa. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold in flour and walnuts until completely blended in the cocoa mixture.
- Using a rolling pin, on a clean floured surface, roll chilled dough about 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick.
- Lift one side of the rolled dough, slip under the tart pan and allow dough to droop into the shell. Lightly press to flatten dough onto the bottom and sides of pan. Reroll extra pastry scraps if necessary to fill the remaining tart pans.
- Spoon and spread 1 tablespoon of brownie mixture into each unbaked tart.
- Position each tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for 1 minute in tart pan then gently remove to finish cooling on a wired rack.
- Once cooled, drizzle or spoon hot fudge onto each brownie tart and sprinkle toasted chopped walnuts, if desired. ENJOY!
Notes
Original recipe calls for approximately 16 tablespoons of brownie batter however, I would not recommend cutting the brownie ingredients by half. Options to use extra brownie batter: make more tarts or use to make regular brownies.
Do not pre-bake crust. Pre-baking will cause the crust to brown too quickly and may burn when baking the brownie inside.
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: brownie tarts, fudge brownie, brownie pie
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links however all opinions are 100 % my own.