Healthy Holidays: Chocolate Raspberry Tart

Oh, the things we can do, the wonders we will weave, with just a bar of chocolate and a basket full of berries! Melt, pour, toss and set, to make a rich, elegant, ruby tart to light up the holiday's deliciousness — all in just ten minutes of culinary mindfulness.

By now everyone knows the health boons: berries and their antioxidants wipe the rust from our inner piping, and chocolate has so many anti-aging benefits that some are even beginning to ask if chocolate is the new kale. When listing chocolate as one of the six anti-aging foods you should try, Consumer Reports pointed to a study of nearly 21,000 adults finding that “those who ate the most chocolate (½ to 3½ ounces daily) had a 25 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease and were 23 percent less likely to have a stroke over an 11-year follow-up period.”

Raspberries are gorgeous for their bright color, and the tart taste contrast with the bitter-sweet chocolate, but you can use any berry you have on hand. For the chocolate, I used a Scharffenberger 70% bittersweet dark chocolate baking bar. You can use any brand as long as it is dark—for the beauty, the taste, and for all those anti-aging benefits.

Chocolate Raspberry Tart
Serves 8

6 ounces dark chocolate

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 basket fresh raspberries, rinsed and pat dry

1/2 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

Dustings of cinnamon, cardamom

Break up the chocolate and very gently melt it in a small saucepan set in a larger saucepan of boiling water. Stir frequently until it is consistently runny.

Warm a tart or pie pan and coat it with the coconut oil. Pour in your melted chocolate and spread evenly across the pan. Gently toss the raspberries with lemon juice, then lightly set your raspberries on the chocolate with their open ends facing down, pointed ends facing up. Completely cover the chocolate “crust” with berries. Place an inverted pie pan over the tart to cover, careful not to crush the berries, and refrigerate to set.

Remove the tart from the refrigerator at least ten minutes before serving so the chocolate softens enough to be able to cut and serve without breaking. Once plated, dust with cardamom and cinnamon.

For Vata: Serve with a dollop of yogurt for the play of contrasts, light-dark, sweet-sour.

For Pitta: Skip the cinnamon and dust simply with cardamom.

For Kapha: Skip the cardamom and dust generously with cinnamon.