xmas week 2024 - chocolate caramel tart with a peanut crust

xmas week 2024 - chocolate caramel tart with a peanut crust

• 5 Dec 2024

Welcome to Xmas Week 2024. This year I have a mix of goodies to share with you - cake, cookies, tarts and a showstopper or two. Today we're starting with this chocolate caramel tart with a peanut crust, topped with peanut brittle that was inspired by this recipe I found in a copy of Delicious magazine. There are a few steps involved but the dulce de leche, the pastry and the peanut brittle can all be made ahead of time.

I've made 2 versions of this tart. For the first version I used the peanut crust recipe from the magazine and homemade dulce de leche using this David Lebovitz recipe. The filling is an oldie and a goodie from the late Valli Little. I found the peanut crust very crumbly and hard to work with but the end result was delicious. I returned to the kitchen to rework the recipe and for tart number 2, I adapted my regular shortcrust pastry recipe using salted peanuts instead of almond meal. It was a dream to work with but the peanut flavour was very subtle. In the future, I'll just use my regular almond shortcrust pastry recipe. 

I was time poor when I made the second tart, so instead of making my own dulce de leche I used shop bought. It didn't really set so there is ever a tart number 3, I will definitely find time to make my own dulce de leche.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm tart. Note you will only use half the pastry but it freezes well. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Chocolate caramel tart with a peanut crust - makes a 17cm tart. 
Peanut butter shortcrust pastry

¼ cup icing sugar
25g salted roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped or almond meal
200g plain flour
pinch of sea salt flakes
110 g cold unsalted butter, diced
1 egg, lightly beaten
Cold water

Filling
250g dulce de leche, homemade or shop bought
150g good-quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1 egg and 1 yolk (reserve the white)
120ml thickened cream
150ml milk

optional - 50g salted roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped 

Peanut praline
1/3 cup (50g) salted peanuts, roughly chopped
2 tbs caster sugar

To serve
200ml thickened cream, whipped
Sea salt flakes

Pastry
Combine all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor, and whiz for a few seconds until well combined and the peanuts have broken down. Add the cold butter and whiz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg and sufficient cold water and whiz until a soft dough just starts to form around the blade. Remove the dough from the food processor and gather the pastry into a ball; flatten slightly before wrapping in plastic and placing in the fridge. Refrigerate the pastry for 30 minutes. 

Roll out the pastry to a 5mm thickness on a lightly floured bench top or a silicon sheet. Lightly grease a 17 cm tart ring and place on a baking sheet. Line the tin with the pastry and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Remove the tart from the fridge and trim the edges then line the pastry shell with baking paper and pastry weights or uncooked rice. Blind-bake for 40 minutes, then carefully remove paper and weights and bake for 5 minutes or until pastry is dry. Transfer pan to a wire rack, let the crust cool while making the filling.

Reduce oven to 160°C, conventional. Lightly brush the cooked tart shell with egg white and place in the oven for 5 minutes or until the egg white has dried out then place on a wire rack to cool. 

Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, not letting the bowl touch water. Allow to melt and then stir until smooth. Remove from heat and cool. In a separate bowl, gently whisk the eggs to just combine (don't allow to froth).

Heat cream and milk in a saucepan over medium heat until just below boiling point and then pour over eggs, stirring. Return to pan over low heat and stir for about 5 minutes until thick. Pour through a sieve over the bowl of chocolate, stirring gently until smooth.

Spread the 250g of dulce de leche over the pastry and top with a few sea salt flakes. If you like, you could top the caramel with some extra salted peanuts. Place the tart shell on a baking tray and pour about 2/3 of the mixture into the tart shell. Carefully place the tray onto the centre rack of the oven then pour the rest of the chocolate mixture into the tart until it just reaches the edge of the pastry. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until just set. Leave the tart in the switched-off oven for 1 hour with the door closed. Remove and cool completely before serving. I like to refrigerate the tart until serving time as it makes it a bit easier to slice.

Peanut brittle
Line a small baking tray with baking paper. Arrange salted peanuts in the centre in a single layer. Place the 2 tbs caster sugar and 1 tbs water in a medium fry pan over medium-low heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and cook, without stirring, for 4-5 minutes until a caramel colour. Pour over peanuts and set aside to cool and set. Roughly chop.

You can bake the tart the day before serving, stored in an airtight container. When ready to serve, dollop the whipped cream over the tart. Serve sprinkled with praline and a few sea salt flakes. 

The tart was a definite crowd pleaser and there were complaints from my workmates that the tart wasn't big enough. Don't worry, I shared the second tart with them as well.

See you all again tomorrow with another bake for Xmas Week 2024.

Bye for now,

Jillian