Chocolate Caramel Tart

This chocolate caramel tart has a salty addition to it… a pretzel graham cracker crust! And it is sooooo good!

It is delicious as a full-size tart, or as mini tarts like the ones I made this Thanksgiving! I love the bite-size tarts. It’s the perfect amount of caramel and chocolate and crust.

This post is a little long because this recipe requires a few extra steps, but I promise you that they are worth the effort!!

Ingredients:

• Graham cracker cookies
• Pretzels
• Butter
• Heavy Whipping Cream
• Chocolate (I used dark)
• Sugar

To Make the Crust

Begin by blending your graham cracker cookies and pretzels in the food processor.

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Once the cookies and pretzels have formed a course crumb texture remove them from your food processor and add your melted butter.

Stir the butter in well, taking care to dampen and coat all of your crumb mixture .

Next press your crumb mixture into a tart pan (or pie pan) or into a cupcake mold if you would like to make mini tarts.

Bake at 325°F for approximately 15 minutes.

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While your crust is baking make your caramel and ganache.

To Make the Caramel

You will need:

• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 5 Tablespoons of butter (no substitutes)

Measure your ingredients out ahead of time and set them aside. You want them to be ready as soon as you need them, because caramel needs to be stirred at all times!

Once you have measured all of your ingredients, then pour your 1 cup of sugar into a pot. Turn the heat on medium-low. Stir constantly! The sugar will begin to clump and harden and stick to the pan and the spoon and to itself. Don’t worry- just keep stirring! Make sure you stir constantly, because if the sugar sits on the direct flame for too long it will burn and it ruins the flavor of the caramel.

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Keep stirring. As you stir the clumps will begin to melt into a golden brown liquid. Make sure that it does NOT look dark brown- that means you are burning it! If it burns, you will have to start over. If you notice that the coloring is getting dark and you are certain that you are stirring constantly, then try turning the heat of your burner down.

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When the sugar has turned liquid and the clumps are gone, then add your 5 tablespoons of butter. The caramel will bubble up a little, so be careful. Keep stirring. The butter will melt. Once it has melted the butter and sugar will initially remain separated. Continue to stir the mixture until the butter and liquid sugar amalgamate (become one liquid mixture- no separation!). Once the liquid is completely amalgamated, then add your heavy cream. The cool cream will make the caramel spit a little. Keep stirring until the ingredients are well blended, then remove the caramel from the heat.

To Begin Putting the Tart Together

Pour the caramel into your graham cracker-pretzel crust. You can add your caramel until it is approximately 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick.

Place your tart in the freezer or in the refrigerator until it is chilled (30 minutes for the fridge/15 for the freezer).

While you are waiting for the first to layers to chill, you can begin on the ganache.

To Make the Ganache

You will need:

• 200 grams of chocolate
• 200 grams of heavy whipping cream

YOU WILL NEED A SCALE FOR THIS RECIPE. Ganache requires precision. You need to measure your ingredients in grams and not by cups.

Based on the type of chocolate you use, you will need to change your ratios: For dark chocolate you will need a 1:1 ratio. So for 8 ounces of dark chocolate, you will need 8 ounces of heavy cream (for 200 grams of chocolate you will need 200 grams of cream). For milk chocolate you will need a 2:1 ratio. So for 8 ounces of milk chocolate, you will need 4 ounces of heavy cream.

Begin by chopping up your chocolate of choice (big pieces are fine, it will work just as well) and weighing them on your scale. Next weight your heavy cream. I made dark chocolate ganache, so my chocolate weighed 200 grams, as did the cream.

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Pour your heavy cream into a sauce pan and bring it to a boil on medium high heat. When it begins to boil add your chocolate in the pan, turn off the heat and cover the pan with a lid. Let is sit for approximately 5-10 minutes.

After 5-10 minutes take the lid off of the pan and stir with a whisk until the ganache is smooth. The chocolate will be softened from the heat, making stirring super easy and your ganache super smooth and creamy.

To Complete the Tart

To finish your tart just pour your ganache over the top of your caramel, approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch in thickness. Spread it out evenly and set your tart to chill completely before you try and remove it from your pan.

That’s it! This tart is all kinds of delicious! A seriously amazing treat! I hope you won’t be disappointed.

Let me know if you try it out! It’s worth the effort! Happy baking!