Caramel & peanut butter tart

There are moments in life, when the only thing that is missing is a solid dose of chocolate. Make it chocolate & caramel and it's even better.
Few days ago I was in this kind of mood - but in the same time, I really didn't want to make anything too complicated or time consuming. That's how I came up with this little sweet to-die-for tart. It has everything those with a bit of sweet tooth will love - there is a thin crust, caramel sauce, chocolate and an extra something - peanut butter that adds just a little bit of saltiness to balance the overall sweet taste.

This tart is like a candy bar you can cut with a knife - and what is better than a cake-size candy bar?

INGREDIENTS:

• 200g flour
• 150g unsalted butter
• 50g sugar
• 4-5 tbs peanut butter

For the caramel layer:

• 200g sugar  
• 80g unsalted butter
• 80g cream 32-35%

For chocolate layer:

• 250g milk chocolate
• 100g dark chocolate 

Extra: 1/2 cup sugar and 2tbs water to make caramel decoration

Combine warm butter with sugar and flower to create dough for your tart. It's best to cut butter in small pieces and then mix everything together using hands or mixer, until it's smooth and there is no lumps of butter anymore. Form it into a ball, wrap in plastic foil and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 200°C (392°F).

You can start making the caramel filling for your tart - set heat to medium, melt butter in a pot with thick bottom, add sugar and let it melt completely - don't stir it! You can move the whole pot around a little bit to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom, but stirring with a spoon will destroy your caramel.

It takes few minutes to get it done and I recommend to watch it, as it's very easy to burn.

When you see caramel to get slightly golden color, take it off the heat and place pot in another one filled with cold water for few seconds to stop caramelization process. Add cream and mix with a spoon until you get everything combined. Set aside to cool down.

Get your dough from the fridge. You can spread a little bit of butter and then sprinkle some breadcrumbs on the baking pan to prevent if you like, but it's not necessary. Roll out the dough and place it on the pan or just use your fingers to do it. Make sure it's even and pinch it with the fork to prevent from cracking. You can also put some weight on it - dry beans or peas work great for that purpose.

Bake for about 20 minutes until golden-brown. Set it aside to cool down before adding the filling.

While your tart is cooling, make caramel decorations:

As before, set heat to medium, put water and sugar in a pot with thick bottom and let it work - I used a kitchen termometer to control the temperature - you take it off the heat when it reaches 130 - 140°C (226 - 284°F). Remember to not stir it! When caramel starts bubbling and you see it's melted completely, remove pot from the heat and place for few seconds in one filled with cold water.

Caramel tends to harden pretty fast, so you'll have to watch it and if it gets to thick, heaten it up a little bit again. When it has a consistency of honey, use a spoon and make some patterns on a parchment paper.

You can easily get them off the paper and use for decoration when it gets hard and cools down.

When the cake has cooled down, spread peanut butter as a first layer. Then pour your caramel sauce as a second layer of filling and put it in the fridge.

Make the last, chocolate layer - use a pot with small ammount of water and place a bowl with chocolate pieces on top of it. The bottom of the bowl shouldn't touch water level, so adjust it. Set it on low heat and slowly chocolate will melt, as you're mixing it with spatula.

When most of the chocolate is melted, take it off the heat and mix until it's completely smooth. Let it cool down for about 10 minutes, so it won't melt the caramel when poured. Then use it to create a final layer for your tart.

It needs to cool for about 2 hours before serving and when you see the chocolate hardens a little bit, stick your caramel decorations in it to give your tart a final touch.

You should keep it in fridge, as it contains butter, but take it out about 15 - 20 minutes before serving to make it easier to cut. It's delicious, sweet with slight nutty taste - if you love chocolate and caramel like me, you definitely are going to love this tart!


Enjoy!