chocolate peanut butter tart

Ohhh, look at that river of butter...isn't that lovely? Haha...so I've been putting this blog off for awhile now, and I've finally brought myself to come up with witty and clever things to say about this Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart that I made a few days ago. Except...I'm not feeling the slightest witty and clever. Eep...oh well. Mayhaps the wit will come...in time? :)

So as many of you know, I have a sickness for desserts, and I actually have a bunch of dessert recipes bookmarked on my browser. That collection is where this recipe came from. Not only was I enticed by the decadently divine pictures, but I mean, come on...it's made of...(drum roll, please)...chocolate AND peanut butter! So HECK YES it had to be baked, who am I kidding?!

The crust of this thing is basically cookie dough. Really buttery cookie dough. Really buttery dalmatian cookie dough. And by dalmatian, I mean that the crust of this tart is a mosaic of chocolate and sugar cookie dough: an edible piece of art. Ok, ok, I'm getting way too artsy for my own good now...

So when I started building the crust, I began by piecing together a random design. But then, I realized the possibilities of this situation...this two-tone cookie dough was just screaming to be made into a cutesy design. So what did I chose to create...?

A smiley face, of course!!! :) Look! He's so happy to see you! I was sad, though, that my smiley creation could not be seen or appreciated by its hungry consumers. Anyway, as Smiley baked in the oven, I set to work making the chocolate and peanut butter fillings...

I have to say that besides being one of my favorite words, ganache is one of my favorite delicacies in the baking world. Ganache, like sprinkles, is a miracle-worker, and it can transform an ugly cake into something beautiful. Ganache, however, does have a leg-up over sprinkles in the fact that it is chocolate. Yes, chocolate trumps sugar almost any day. And then peanut butter ganache? Oh man...that trump trumps sugar.

BEHOLD! Let it be known throughout the land that a WISK now resides in our humble kitchen! YES YES YES. In all seriousness, though, living wisk-less for 2 months really made me appreciate it on a whole new level. A wisk deflates those pesky lumps in cake batter so much easier than a wooden spoon. A wisk lets you whip at dangerous velocities. A wisk is just something that no kitchen should be without. Remember that. :)

So the peanut butter ganache of this tart tasted absolutely amazing. Like, I-want-to-eat-the-entire-bowl-of-this-peanut-butter-ganache amazing. Thankfully, that did not occur on this baking adventure. Making the peanut butter swirls in this tart was lots of fun. I always get a kick out of making swirls in baked goods, and it actually brings me back to when my mom would make chocolate swirled cheesecake when I was little. She would always make the cheesecake, and then I was the official "Swirler" and got to make pretty designs in the chocolate and vanilla batter with a butter knife.

Ohhh, look at that swirlage. Yummmmm. So a great thing about this tart is that the insides are 100% ganache. Which means that it doesn't need to be baked! Awesome, right?

Needless to say, this tart came out reallllly good. Basically, it tasted like you were eating a fancy smancy Resee's cup.

Please bear with my many alternate views of this. It was just so beautiful, I couldn't help myself. :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart
Adapted from Baking: My Home to Yours

For sugar cookie dough:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
5 tbsp. butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 egg yolk

Place all ingredients in medium bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon until dough forms. With fingers, form dough into ball and set aside.

For chocolate cookie dough:
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/8 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 cup powdered sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
5 tbsp. butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 egg yolk

Place all ingredients in medium bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon until dough forms. With fingers, form dough into ball and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a 9-inch fluted tart pan, press doughs evenly over bottom and up the sides of the pan in whatever pattern you choose. Freeze crust for at least 30 minutes before baking. Prick bottom and sides of crust with fork. Bake crust for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool.

For chocolate peanut butter ganache:
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp. heavy cream
2 tbsp. butter

1/3 cup white chocolate chips
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

Prepare chocolate ganache: place the chocolate chips and butter in a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to a boil, and then pour it over the chocolate and butter. Wisk together cream, chocolate, and butter until smooth. Pour chocolate ganache into cooled crust.

Prepare peanut butter ganache: place white chocolate chips and peanut butter in double boiler. Stir together until just melted and smooth.

Using a small spoon, gently drop small dollops of the peanut butter ganache in dots all over the chocolate layer. Using a butter knife, gently cut through the dollops to created a swirled effect. Refrigerate tart for at least 2 hours for the ganache to set.