Chocolate Peanut Tarts Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the chocolate crust: Combine cookie crumbs, granulated sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Stir in butter. Press mixture into bottom and 2 1/2 inches up sides of 9-inch springform pan. Bake until dry and firm, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool.
• Make the caramel sauce: Heat granulated sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, washing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming, until medium amber, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and carefully add heavy cream (mixture will bubble and steam). Return to heat, and bring to a boil, making sure caramel that seized up when cream was added melts. Transfer to a bowl, and stir in creme fraiche. Refrigerate until cool but still pourable, about 45 minutes. Fold in peanuts.
• Meanwhile, make the peanut butter mousse: Beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add peanut butter and vanilla, and beat until combined. Whisk heavy cream in a separate bowl until medium-stiff peaks form. Fold one-third of the whipped cream into peanut butter mixture. Fold in remaining whipped cream in 2 additions.
• Assemble the tart: Pour caramel sauce into cooled chocolate crust. Gently spread peanut butter mousse over caramel in an even layer, making sure they don't blend together. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Make the chocolate ganache: Place chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Bring cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour cream over chocolate, and let stand for 1 minute. Whisk to combine. (Use immediately.)
• Remove tart from refrigerator, and pour in ganache to cover surface. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine butter and peanut butter. In a food processor, combine the flour, brown sugar, salt and baking powder; cover and process until blended. Add butter mixture; cover and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs., While processing, gradually add water and vanilla just until moist crumbs form. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of six ungreased 4-in. fluted tart pans with removable bottoms. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack., In a microwave, melt chocolate chips and shortening; stir until smooth. Spread over the bottoms of crusts. Refrigerate., In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Spread into crusts., For topping, in a microwave, melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips; stir until smooth. Drizzle over tarts. Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips and peanuts over tops. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Steps:

• Make the crust: Whisk flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, and beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl. Reduce speed to low, and gradually beat in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with cream and beginning and ending with flour mixture. Shape dough into a rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour and up to 2 days. Let stand at room temperature 5 minutes before rolling.
• Roll out dough into a 7-by-16-inch rectangle on a floured surface. Fit into a 4 1/2-by-14-inch rectangular tart ring on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Push dough into corners of ring to create sharp edges; trim so that dough is flush with top of ring. Prick dough all over with a fork. Freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line crust with parchment, pressing so that it is flush with dough, especially in corners. Fill with pie weights or dried beans; bake until edges are set, about 20 minutes. Remove weights and parchment; bake until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Let cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• Make the brittle: Bring sugar, butter, corn syrup, and water to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture begins to brown. Reduce heat to medium, and cook until golden brown. Stir in baking soda, salt, and peanuts until well combined (mixture should be the color of peanut butter). Immediately pour onto a nonstick baking mat, spreading out as thinly as possible with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon. Let cool completely, about 30 minutes. Finely chop half the brittle with a heavy knife to yield 1/2 cup. Reserve remainder for another use.
• Make the filling: Heat peanut butter in a microwave until fluid, about 30 seconds. Pour 1/2 cup into crust, and top with chopped brittle, pressing it into peanut butter. Freeze tart until peanut butter is firm, about 10 minutes. For ganache, bring cream to a boil; pour over chocolate in a small bowl. Add salt; let sit 8 minutes.
• Meanwhile, fill a disposable pastry bag with remaining fluid peanut butter (if peanut butter has thickened, microwave it 10 seconds), and snip off end. Whisk ganache until smooth, and immediately pour into tart, smoothing with a mini offset spatula if necessary. Pipe peanut butter in continuous diagonal zigzag lines down length of tart. Draw a wooden skewer perpendicularly through peanut butter lines in a zigzag motion down length of tart. Then draw skewer in a continuous sideways loop pattern down length of tart to create swirls.
• Refrigerate tart until set, at least 1 hour and up to 8 hours. Cut into wedges, and serve.

Steps:

• To make the Pastry, blend flour, salt, sugar and butter in a food processor, using the metal blade, until the butter is in pieces the size of peas.
• Add the eggs and the extra yolks and process briefly until the mixture is uniform but does not form a ball.
• Place the crumbly dough on a board and knead, using he heel of your hand, until the ingredients are incorporated. A second kneading may be necessaary to make sure the dough forms into a ball easily.
• Divide the dough into two balls, using a metal scraper to push and scrape. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for about an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Using butter or vegetable shortening, grease 20 shallow 3-inch tart pans. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness and cut circles with a 3-1/2 inch round cutter. Place the circles of dough in the tart pans and press the dough down with your fingers, creating a tiny ridge all the way around the edge of the pan. Prick the bottoms with a fork and place the shells on a heavy duty baking sheet. Refrigerate for half an hour.
• (If you don't have 20 tart pans, bake a few at a time -- you can roll out the dough, cut the circles and chill them, and then pop the into the pans after the previous batch is baked.).
• Bake the shells in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, until the edges are brown. Remove from the pans and cool on a rack.
• When the shells are completely cooled, spread a tablespoon of peanut butter in the bottom of each one.
• To make the chocolate glaze, scald the cream in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Stir very gently with a rubber scraper. When the mixture is combined, strain it through a fine sieve to get rid of any lumps. Pour the glaze over the shells up to the very edge. Let them sit in a cool pace until the glaze becomes firm.