Triple Threat Chocolate Tart

I have become obsessed with The Great British Baking Show. You know you've watched too many episodes when you hear Mary and Paul's voice in your head while baking. Just yesterday I made a sourdough loaf that ended up being undercooked in the center. As I sliced into the bread all I could hear was Paul saying, "that's raw. I'm not going to eat that." I think I have to detox for a couple of days. On the bright side, I did get some dessert inspiration from their chocolate episode. One of the contestants made a chocolate tart that looked absolutely divine. I wanted it. And so, the following morning, I woke up and made myself a heavenly tart. I call this a triple threat chocolate tart, loaded with caramel, peanut butter mousse, and chocolate. Look out Paul, I'm coming for you!

Recipe

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Triple Threat Chocolate Tart

Total Time3 hours hrs

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: tarts

Servings: 10

Author: Christine Ma

Ingredients

Chocolate tart

• 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoon cocoa powder
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup cold butter cut into small chunks
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tablespoon heavy cream

Caramel

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 4 tablespoon butter
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ cup chopped roasted peanuts

Peanut butter mousse

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 8 ounces cream cheese softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ganache

• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate chunks
• ½ cup heavy cream

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Make the chocolate tart dough. Combine 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour with 3 tablespoon cocoa powder, ½ cup powdered sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, with ¾ butter in a food processor or in a large bowl. Mix until the butter is incorporated and the mixture resembles coarse sand. Add 1 egg yolk and 2 tablespoon heavy cream and mix until well combined. Shape the dough into a disc and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, make the caramel. Heat 1 cup granulated sugar in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat. Melt the sugar until it starts to become amber brown, making sure not to stir the sugar. Slowly drizzle ½ cup heavy cream into the pot and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in 4 tablespoon butter and ½ teaspoon sea salt, stirring until the butter has melted. Add ½ cup chopped peanuts and cool.
• Remove the dough from the fridge and roll ¼ inch thick. Place the dough into a tart pan, pressing down the dough onto the pan. Place a parchment paper on top with baking weights such as beans or rice. Bake the tart for 20 minutes. Remove the weights and paper and continue to bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
• Make the peanut butter mousse. Whip 1 cup heavy cream until you have whipped cream. Beat together 1 cup peanut butter with 1 cup powdered sugar, and 8 ounces cream cheese until smooth. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and beat until smooth. Add ⅓ of the whipped cream and mix until incorporated. Fold in the remaining whipped cream until smooth.
• Spread the cooled peanut caramel on the bottom of the chocolate tart. Spread the peanut butter mousse on top. Chill the tart in the fridge for 1 hour, uncovered.
• Melt 4 ounces semisweet chocolate with ½ cup heavy cream in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir to combine and continue to microwave at 20 second intervals until the chocolate has melted, stirring well each time.
• Once the peanut mousse has set in the tart, spread the chocolate ganache on top. Chill for another 30 minutes. Serve.

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

This triple threat chocolate tart is not for the weak. It's that one dessert that gets you weak in the knees because it's so rich and heavenly. It's a lot of work but it's worth every second.

Let's start by making the chocolate tart crust. The crust is the only part of the pie that needs to be baked. Mix together all-purpose flour with cocoa powder, powdered sugar, salt, and cold butter using a pastry cutter. Blend in the butter until it's well incorporated and the mixture looks like coarse sand. Add the egg yolk and heavy cream and knead the dough until it becomes one cohesive mass. Wrap up the dough and chill in the fridge; chilling the dough before baking it will help prevent it from shrinking while baking.

While the dough is chilling, make the caramel. I will admit, caramel is my biggest nemesis. Some days I will get it perfectly right the first time and other days it will take me 2 or 3 batches. This method uses the dry caramel method in which the sugar is melted alone. Adding water and cornstarch can help prevent it from crystallizing but this is my basic go-to recipe.

If the sugar starts to brown more quickly on one side of the pot, gently swirl the pot to evenly distribute the sugar. Do not stir the sugar until it has reached the amber color because this can cause crystallization.

Slowly add the heavy cream to the browned sugar and bring to a boil. Watch out because the sugar will bubble vigorously! Finish the caramel with butter and chopped peanuts and cool completely.

Now back to the chocolate tart. Roll out the dough until it's about ¼ inch thick and transfer it to your tart pan. To easily transfer the dough without tearing it, take the bottom insert of your tart pan and slide it under the dough. Carefully lift up the insert and place it into the tart shell. Make sense? Good.

Blind bake the tart shell (meaning bake it with weights) to prevent it from puffing up. Remove the weights for the last ten minutes and continue to bake. I would normally say bake until golden brown but because of the cocoa, it's already brown, haha!

Cool the tart shell completely and pour the caramel sauce on top.

Moving on to the third element, the peanut butter mousse. This mousse is everything I dream about. It's silky, creamy, and so rich. To make the mousse, whip together creamy peanut butter with powdered sugar, cream cheese, and vanilla. Stir in a small amount of the whipped cream to loosen the batter and fold in the remaining whipped cream until everything is well incorporated. Spread the mousse in the tart on top of the caramel and let it sit for 1 hour in the fridge.

Finish the triple threat chocolate tart with the chocolate ganache and chill for another 30 minutes or until the chocolate has set. Now you can finally dig in.

Okay, so this tart tastes different at different temperatures. If you enjoy the tart immediately after, the peanut butter mousse will be very creamy and the tart will be quite indulgent. If you let the tart chill overnight or even for a couple of hours, the mousse will harden just a bit and the dessert becomes more firm. I honestly enjoyed it at both stages but it was easier to eat an entire slice after it has chilled. It might have been a little too easy to eat the entire tart...