Easier-than-it-looks stunning treat for your loved ones on Valentine’s Day
When I first saw pictures of a cream tart, I knew I had to try making one. I just loved the stunning elegance of Elizabeth’s vanilla cream version over at SugarHero. I showed my husband the picture, and while he’s pretty much game for any sweet treat, he was a bit “meh, that looks nice for ladies night”. So I knew I had to create something a bit more masculine, something with his flavours – chocolate and peanut butter. I wanted to make him swoon on Valentine’s day.
Full disclosure, but this post doesn’t really fit with the vision for my blog as being environmentally and spiritually minded, and nourishing for the body. But from time to time you need to just go for it. Dive in, be decadent, moderation in all things including moderation and all that. Valentine’s day calls for decadence, and this recipe fits that bill! This is food for the soul.
Peanut Butter Marscapone Mousse
Let me introduce you to your new most favourite thing ever – peanut butter marscapone mousse. Soft, creamy, decadent without being overly sweet, and so so good.
This mousse is pretty easy to make. Start by whipping cream to stiff peaks. Then in a separate bowl, blend the peanut butter, icing sugar, marscapone and vanilla together until smooth. Gently fold in the whipped cream until blended. Spoon into a large piping bag with an oversized XL cupcake tip (I like Wilton XL round tip No. 2a) and chill until ready to use.
Chocolate Sable Biscuits
The chocolate cookie layer was a challenging one to figure out. After a few tries, I landed on a variation of Shirin’s pâte sablée tart dough. Given I was aiming for a Reese’s-inspired layered tart, I made the dough a bit lighter and a titch sweeter. If you’re like me, and have an unfortunate tendency towards over-working your dough and making it tough, this food processor method will make you feel like a superhero!
The dough isn’t hard, but it does take a bit of patience as it’s made in several steps. Start by pulsing the dry ingredients in the food processor until will mixed. Add the chilled butter and pulse 20 times until the butter is in pea-sized grains. Add the eggs and vanilla and pulse until the mixture looks like rich soil and feels like slightly damp sand and forms a clump when squeezed. (Trust a soil scientist to use all dirt-references when baking, ha!)
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form into two discs. Wrap in a beeswax wrap or pop it into a stasher and chill in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes. Once chilled, roll to 1/4″ thickness and use a sharp knife to cut the dough to the desired shape. Chill again for another 20 minutes and then bake. Once the tart layers have cooled it’s time for the best part – assembly and decorations!
Assembly and Decorating
Now for the fun part! Select your less-pretty cookie layer to use as the base. ***Move it to your final serving platter*** (don’t make my mistake and decorate on a cookie sheet, this dessert is SO HARD to move once decorated!). Pipe the mousse in desired pattern on the base layer. I count “one, two, three, lift” so each piped blob is consistently sized. Top with the second cookie layer. Decorate with your favourite toppings – berries, cookies, macaron, peanut butter cups, flowers etc. Serve and enjoy! This dessert will keep in the fridge for three or four days, and the cookie layer will soften to a dense cake-like texture.
I really hope you enjoy making and eating this chocolate peanut butter cream tart. Comments and feedback are always welcome.
It’s all made with love!
Kate
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Tart
Equipment
- Food Processor
Ingredients
Chocolate sable biscuit
- 380 g All purpose flour (2⅔ cups)
- 40 g Raw cacao powder (1/3 cup)
- 150 g Powdered sugar (1¼ cups)
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 300 g Unsalted butter (1⅓ cups), chilled, cut into small cubes
- 2 Eggs
- 1 tsp Pure vanilla
Peanut Butter Mousse
- 237 ml Whipping cream 237 ml container – approximately 1 cup
- 250 g Marscapone 250 g container – approximately 1 cup
- 300 g Natural, creamy peanut butter (1 cup)
- 1 tsp Pure vanilla
- 175 g Icing sugar (1½ cups)
Instructions
Chocolate sable biscuit
- Add dry ingredients to food processor and pulse to combine.
- Add chilled butter and pulse 20 times.
- Add eggs and vanilla and blend for 20 – 30 seconds until mixture resembles crumbly soil and feels like slightly damp sand.
- Tip out onto lightly floured surface and shape into two discs. Wrap well and chill for 20 to 30 minutes.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to ¼" thickness. Using a sharp knife, cut into desired shape. Use cookie cutters on any leftover dough. Place on parchment or silpat lined cookie sheet.
- Cover and chill rolled cookies for additional 10 to 20 minutes.
- Bake for 7 to 9 minutes at 375, until the surface of the dough looks dry.
- Once the biscuit layers have cooled, decorate and assemble as desired.
Peanut butter mousse
- Using mixer, whip whipping cream until stiff peaks form.
- In a separate bowl, add all remaining ingredients. Mix well (by hand or with mixer) until well blended.
- Gently, in two or three additions, fold in whipped cream until combined.
