Recipe Test: Peanut butter & chocolate tart by Pitt Cue co.

The other day, I was flicking through the Pitt Cue co. cookbook, looking for some inspiration. As well as being basically an A-Z of how to smoke and BBQ meat, it also has a surprisingly good dessert section. I quickly decided to make an adaptation of one of their sweet treats.

Despite there being several good options in the cookbook, I knew which one it would be as soon as I saw it. Peanut butter & chocolate tart. How could this fail to catch any self-respecting glutton’s eye? How decadent!

Recipe

You’ll need a 25cm diameter loose-bottomed tart tin for this recipe.

(Serves 10-12, preparation time 30 minutes + 120 minutes to set)

• Butter (I used unsalted) 100g
• Cobnuts or hazelnuts 40g
• Oreos (I used bourbons) 130g
• Smooth peanut butter 230g
• Caster sugar 40g
• Maldon (or any) sea salt 5g
• Dark chocolate (70% + cocoa solids) 250g
• Double cream 250ml
• Clotted cream 50ml
• Olive oil 15ml

Heat oven to 200C/gas mark 6.

1. Melt 40g of the butter in a pan. Put the nuts and biscuits into a blender and blitz to a powder. Then add the melted butter and combine. I didn’t use the nuts and instead substituted them for some extra biscuits. I also had to use Bourbon biscuits as I couldn’t find any Oreos on the day.
2. Press the crumb mix firmly and evenly into the bottom of the tart tin and bake for 4min. Remove from the oven and leave to set.
3. Put the peanut butter and sugar into a bowl. Melt the remaining 60g butter in a pan and mix with the peanut butter and sugar until it’s properly combined (ribboning).
4. Stir in the salt, then pour the mixture into the tin over the biscuit base. Put into the fridge to set. The layers need to be cool and set before you pour on the chocolate ganache. Unfortunately, mine hadn’t had time to do so, resulting in an uneven layer of peanut butter which moved around as I poured over the chocolate ganache.
5. Make the ganache by melting the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the bowl.
6. Remove from heat and add the cream and clotted cream, then stir until smooth and glossy. I used a combination of double cream and extra thick double cream as I couldn’t get clotted cream.
7. Add the olive oil and combine until until shiny. Pour the ganache over the set peanut butter layer and leave to cool.
8. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until set. If chilled for longer, take out of the fridge 30min before serving or it will be too solid!

My attempt was pretty rushed because it was a ‘school’ night and it showed. Luckily it tasted great. At first it didn’t look very pretty because of the strange pattern on top of the ganache, which I down to the lack of cooling time.

I suppose it would’ve benefited from a dusting of cocoa powder on top to cover up the disclouration, but in the end, once it reached room temperature, it looked absolutely fine. In the original recipe, they advise you to go over it with a blowtorch to restore the sheen on top of the ganache, so it’s possible that my problems weren’t so out of the ordinary.

This tart was delicious and extremely rich. If you love peanut butter and chocolate, it’s a definite winner. It’s also amazingly simple to make as there is virtually no baking required at all (bar the base for a few minutes).