Peanut Butter and Chocolate Truffle Tart

Peanut butter and chocolate are one of nature’s great flavor combinations.  But part of the great parental anomalies of my childhood.  My Dad doesn’t like it. That was, and still is, difficult for me to understand.  It was as much a mystery to me as all those great questions that were answered with “because I said so”.  After all, how could a man who eats tiny, oily, smelly fish from a can not like a peanut butter cup?  I used to require warning so I could go outside and play before he opened a can of sardines.  He eats everything – veal sweetbreads are his favorite dish.  We have always joked that he orders the one thing on any menu that no one else ever does.  But no chocolate and peanut butter.  Inconceivable!

The filling for this tart is long been a go-to dessert for me because it so easy and quick and decadently rich.  I’ve poured it into all sorts of different crusts, but when this idea came to me, I knew it would be a winner.  Peanut buttery cookies on the bottom and a sprinkling of crushed peanut brittle on top.  This combines kitsch and elegance in one fabulously rich dessert.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Truffle Tart

Splurge on some high-quality chocolate for this three-ingredient filling.  I buy peanut brittle with the hanging bags of candy at a grocery or drugstore.  If you can’t find it, crush the remaining cookies for the top.

For the Crust:

24 Nutter Butter cookies

6 Tablespoons butter, melted

For the Filling:

15 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ¾ cup heavy cream

3 ounces peanut brittle, for topping

For the Crust:

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Crush the Nutter Butter cookies to fine crumbs.  I prefer to do this in the food processor, but you can also bash them up in a heavy-duty ziptop bag with a rolling pin.  Add the melted butter and process or stir until you have a mixture like damp sand.  Press the crumbs on the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch tart tin with a removable bottom.  Make sure there are no holes in your crust.  Bake the crust for 8 minutes, then remove from the oven and cool completely.

For the Filling:

Place the chocolate in the carafe of a blender and add the vanilla extract.  Pour the heavy cream into a saucepan and bring just to a boil.  Immediately pour it over the chocolate in the blender and blend until smooth.  Pour the filling into the prepared crust and smooth the top.  Chill the pie, uncovered, in the refrigerator for three hours.  At this point, you can loosely cover the tart with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge overnight.

Before serving, crush the peanut brittle into small pieces in a heavy-duty ziptop bag.  Remove the outer ring from the tart pan and leave to soften slightly, about 30 minutes, before sprinkling the peanut brittle dust over the top and slicing.

Serves 8