This tart is inspired by a Cadbury Starbar, but has a little bit of a more grown up/adult flavour by using the pretzel crust and salted caramel. It is super decadent and rich.
You can easily control the sweetness with the choice of crust, how far you take the caramel layer, and your choice of chocolate, so it is easily adaptable for all palates. It is also easy to omit the peanuts so do not fear if you have a peanut allergy or intolerance, you can still enjoy this delicious tart.
It also freezes really well so you can pre-cut your slices and freeze them and only remove the desired number of slices when you have a craving for something rich.
Peanut & Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart with Pretzel Crust
This tart is inspired by a Cadbury Starbar, but has a little bit of a more grown up/adult flavour by using the pretzel crust and salted caramel. It is super decadent and rich. You can easily control the sweetness with the choice of crust, how far you take the caramel layer, and your choice of chocolate, so it is easily adaptable for all palates. It is also easy to omit the peanuts so do not fear if you have a peanut allergy or intolerance, you can still enjoy this delicious tart.
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Ingredients
Crust
- 3 Cups Small Pretzels, crushed Measure before crushing
- ½ Cup Roasted Peanuts, crushed* Measure before crushing
- 120 Grams Unsalted Butter, Melted
- ¼ Cup Castor Sugar
Caramel and peanut layer
- ½ Cup Roasted Peanuts* If using salted peanuts do not include the salt in the caramel
- 1¾ Cup Castor or granulated sugar
- ⅓ Cup Water
- 1 Cup Fresh Cream
- 1½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- 120 Grams Unsalted Butter Cut into cubes
- 1 tsp Sea Salt Do not include if using salted peanuts
Chocolate Ganache
- 300 Grams Good quality chocolate (3 slabs) I used two slabs milk (200g) and one slab dark chocolate (100g) as my caramel was not very sweet
- 1 Cup Fresh Cream (250ml)
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat the oven to 180°C
- Place the pretzels and peanuts in a food processor or blender and blitz until a coarse crumb forms. Pour into a mixing bowl add the sugar and set aside
- Melt the butter then pour over the crumbs and mix through thoroughly. The crumbs should all be coated to stick together and form a crust so if the mixture is too dry after mixing, add another tablespoon or two of melted butter
- Pour the crumb mixture into your pie dish. I used a 20cm non stick pie tin with a removable bottom, which does not need greasing as the crust contains a lot of butter. But you can use any pie dish for this, and even serve the tart in the dish. Using the back of a spoon, press the crumbs up the sides of the pie dish, compacting to form a crust, then do the same to the bottom until the dish/tin is evenly coated. Ensure that the crust is not too thick, but not so thin that it collapses. And finally, ensure that there are no cracks
- Bake for 10 minutes then remove and set aside (You can turn the oven off at this point as there is no more baking)
Caramel and peanut layer
- Sprinkle the peanuts over the bottom of the baked crust and set aside
- Place sugar and water into a medium pot and bring the sugar to a boil, letting it simmer until it turns a dark amber/honey colour. Do not stir the sugar syrup, but swirl the pot on occasion. Do not place it on high heat, rather medium to high. It will take some time to start turning colour, but once it starts everything happens quite quickly so do not walk away. If it goes too far it will be bitter so keep an eye. If you see little crystals forming around the sides, just brush above them with a little water and a pastry brush. This will help them dissolve and be incorporated into the mixture. Once your desired color is reached, immediately take it off the heat. (Lighter colored sugar offers a lighter caramel taste, whereas dark syrup creates a bold deep caramel flavor
- While the sugar is boiling, heat the cream a little in a pot or the microwave oven. Add the vanilla and set aside until the caramel is ready. Once the caramel syrup is taken off the heat, quickly whisk the cream mixture into the caramelized syrup, until very smooth. Whisk while pouring but be careful as it will suddenly bubble up. Do not stop stirring
- Once the cream is incorporated, start stirring in the butter a couple of pieces at a time. If the mixture starts cooling too quickly, place the pot back on the stove but do not turn it on. Just use the residual heat
- When all the butter is fully incorporated, pour the caramel evenly over the peanuts in the pie crust
- Let cool for around 10 – 15 minutes then place in the refrigerator for at least another 30 minutes to an hour to set and cool before adding the final layer
Chocolate Ganache
- Chop the chocolate very fine and place into a medium sized heat proof bowl or batter jug
- Heat the cream until very hot but do not boil (I do this on the stovetop as I find it easier to control the temperature, but you can use the microwave if you wish)
- Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and immediately cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a tight fitting lid or plate. Set aside for around 5 minutes
- Remove the lid and whisk or stir until the chocolate and cream are mixed through and you have a super smooth and velvety chocolate
- Pour over the caramel layer and spread evenly
- Place the tart back in the fridge for at least a few hours or preferably over night for the chocolate layer to set
- Sprinkle with a little coarse salt to decorate/garnish if you wish
- This tart cuts best when it is super cold. It will also freeze well but pre-cut before freezing, then just remove the desired amount of slices and let thaw a little before serving
Notes
*The peanuts in the crust and the filling can be omitted if you have a peanut allergy or intolerance. For the crust, just substitute with the same quantity of pretzels. For the filling, no substitute is required, just leave it out.
If using salted peanuts in the filling/caramel layer, do not add the salt to the caramel or decrease to just a pinch to ensure that the filling is not too salty
You may substitute the pretzels with tennis biscuits/graham crackers if you wish to use something sweet instead. Please just note that the caramel and chocolate is very sweet and rich so the pretzel crust helps to balance out the sweetness a bit.
You are welcome to use milk or dark chocolate for the ganache layer. As my caramel was taken quite far, I felt that my tart needed a bit more sweetness so I used two slabs milk chocolate and one slab 70% dark. If the caramel was sweeter I would’ve used two dark and one milk.
This tart cuts best when it is super cold. It will also freeze well but pre-cut before freezing, then just remove the desired amount of slices and let thaw a little before serving.
Tried this recipe?Post your pics and tag us at @my_homemade_kitchen_za or #myhomemadekitchen!
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