Today we are going to make a delicious and rich chocolate and peanut butter tart with cacao.
The tart consists of the shortbread (pate sablee) tart shell, tender mascarpone – peanut butter filling, and soft chocolate truffles on the top.
Here is the recipe:
Chocolate shortbread tart shell recipe
Ingredients for the chocolate short dough (pate sablee) :
- 90 g sugar powder (confectioners sugar)
- 35 g almond flour (powdered almonds)
- 115 g all purpose flour
- 100 g cake flour
- 120 g unsalted butter (cold)
- 1 whole egg, cold, slightly beaten
- 25 g pure dark cacao
- a pinch of salt
Directions for the shortbread tart crust (pate sablee):
- Sift the all-purpose flour, cake flour, almond flour, and cacao into a mixing or blender bowl, add the sugar powder, the salt, and the butter (cold, chopped into cubes).
- Rub or cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles cornmeal or sand. You can do this using an electric blender or manual pastry blender.
- Add the egg, mix well until completely blended in. Keep mixing until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms an irregular ball.
- Place the dough on a sheet of parchment paper and work it briefly with the hands to make it pliable. Make a ball and cover it with another sheet of parchment paper. Roll the dough in between the sheets of baking paper to about 3-5 mm thick.
- Let the dough cool in a fridge for 20-30 minutes.
Shaping and baking the tart shell
- Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F).
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator.
- Line a perforated baking pan with a perforated silicone mat and place the mold on it.
- Using a knife and a tart mold (I’ve used round tart mold with perforated 3 cm sides, 16 cm diameter) cut a circle as a base and a band for the sides. Place the cut pieces in the mold and align with a knife if needed.
- Bake in the middle position for about 14 minutes, until baked.
- Remove from the oven and let the tart shell cool and then demold.
Directions for the mascarpone – peanut butter tart filling
Ingredients:
- 250 g mascarpone cream cheese
- 85 g peanut butter
- 85 g superfine sugar
- 130 ml fresh heavy cream (min 35%)
- 4 g gelatin (2 sheets)
Procedure for the peanut butter filling:
- Place the gelatin sheets in cold water.
- Combine the peanut butter, mascarpone, heavy cream, and sugar in a bowl and mix over a water bath until the mixture is homogeneous and smooth.
- Take about one-quarter of the mixture and heat it up in a microwave (with caution!) with the squeezed gelatin in a separate bowl.
- Return the warmed peanut butter – gelatin mixture to the original mixture and with a whisk stir well until homogeneous and smooth.
- Pour into the cooled tart shell (fill it to 3/4).
- Send to a refrigerator for 1 hour to set.
Chocolate ganache for the truffles – directions:
In this case we are going to make soft truffles, so the ganache should be a bit firmer. You can prepare using dark chocolate only if you don’t mind its bitterness.
Ingredients:
- 75 g dark chocolate
- 75 g milk chocolate
- 2 tbsp pure dark cacao
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 sheet of gelatin
- 100 ml heavy cream (min 35%)
- 220 ml heavy cream cold
Procedure for making chocolate ganache
- Place the gelatin sheet in cold water.
- Combine the milk chocolate and dark chocolate in a bowl. Heat the chocolate to 45°C (113°F) to melt it (in a double boiler or in a microwave but with caution).
- Add the cacao and cinnamon and stir well.
- Bring the 100 ml of cream to a boil, then remove from heat.
- Add the squeezed gelatin to the cream. Mix well.
- Pour the cream into the chocolate, in 2-3 steps, mix well until completely blended.
- Add the 220 ml of cream, in 2-3 steps, stir until the mixture is homogeneous and smooth.
- Cover with a plastic film and send to a fridge for 5-6 hours minimum.
- When completely cold, whip the ganache until creamy, but be careful not to overwhip it.
Assembling the tart
Place the whipped ganache in a pastry bag with large round tip.
Pipe one pull-out dots on the top of the tart (it has to be already filled with mascarpone and peanut butter filling and cooled to set).
Using a fine sift, sprinkle some cacao powder on the top.
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