One of my friends had a birthday last week and I wanted to make a special dinner to celebrate. When it came to the dessert, I wanted something that would sparkle and decided on an old, tried and true, never fail recipe that I’ve been making for many years; Peanut Butter-Ganache Tart with Shortbread Crust. I made it in small individual tart pans this time instead of a larger pan. It’s always a big hit, and most everyone who tries it wants to lick the plate clean!
In fact, there’s a sweet, funny story that always makes me smile when I pull out this recipe. Many years, ago I had a dear friend/neighbor named Janet whose husband, Ken, went crazy over this dessert. I started making it every year for his birthday. One year, I had the pie all set to go, but decided to play a little trick on the unsuspecting birthday boy. I took a small sherbet cup and plopped in a scoop of peanut butter. I tossed a few chocolate chips on the top and asked my son, Nick to take it over to Ken. My son was instructed to tell him that I didn’t have the time to make a peanut butter pie, but that I hoped this would suffice. Nick completed his assignment and returned home with a “Thank you so much.” message from this dear man. My friend, Janet was in on the joke and after Nick left their house, she said to Ken, “I can’t believe what a cheapskate Chris is! This is disgusting!” She reported to me later that Ken just looked at her and said very calmly, “If this is all Chris had the time to make, it’s just fine with me”. Now that is a good, kind man! By the way, he did get his real pie that year and this story has given us many smiles and laughs over the years anytime I make this dessert.
Peanut Butter-Ganache Tart with Shortbread Crust
Most everyone who tries this wants to lick the plate clean. Some admit it, some don’t.
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
- Ingredients for the crust:
- 10 ounces of shortbread cookies, crushed, I used Nabisco Lorna Doones but any type of shortbread cookie will do, graham crackers or digestive biscuits also work well.
- 6 tablespoons melted butter
- Ingredients for the filling:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 cup chilled heavy cream, whipped
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- ½ cup whipping cream
- 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- For the crust, spray a 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom with cooking spray. Mix crushed cookies with butter and press mixture evenly into prepared pan. Bake at 350˚F for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.
- For the filling, using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and peanut butter until well blended. Add the 1 cup powdered sugar and butter and beat until fluffy. Fold in 1/2 of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture to lighten. Gently fold in remaining cream. Add vanilla and stir till combined. Spoon into crust. Refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours.
- Heat cream in microwave until very hot, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add chocolate and stir until smooth. Cool to lukewarm. Spread topping over pie. Refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours. Cut into wedges and serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream.
Notes
To make small individual tarts, use 8 small tart pans with removable bottoms – mine are 4 inches in diameter. Proceed with the directions as above, dividing the ingredients between the 8 pans.
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I wish i had that Tart now…is so good the tast of chocolate-peanut butter!
As always, this is absolutely beautiful! Plus…you can’t go wrong with the combination of chocolate and peanut butter!
We all have streaks of bad luck. You have more wins than loses so I wouldn’t worry about it. I hope you have a great day. Blessings…Mary
Aw, now that IS a good man! I would never turn down peanut butter and chocolate in any form, but it would be hard to accept your offering with a straight face-lol! These tarts, on the other hand, are world class beautiful and fabulous!
I just love, love, love!! peanut butter. Combine peanut butter with chocolate and it is a dream come true. This tart is beautiful.
Thank you for your visits and kind comments.
Blessings dear, Catherine
Oh no Chris I just happen to have all of those ingredients in the fridge left over from the baby shower. This just looks too good not to try.
I must admit I’ve been looking forward to the recipe since you posted a sneak peek the other day.
I wish I was your neighbour!
Thanks Jenn! Those little while and dark balls are chocolate – they have a little crunchy cookie interior, pretty for decorations but also very tasty! I get them at Trader Jo’s.
PLEASE come and live next door to me? I will never complain about your shenanigans, I promise.
This tart is absolutely perfect!
Oh how I wish I WAS your neighbor, even after the pranks I would get to eat such wonderful food!!!! Loved the tart, absolutely gorgeous!
Thank you, Glenda!
If you had been a mouse in the house last week when I had all the flubs, you wouldn’t have thought quite so highly of me! 🙂 But I do appreciate your kind words – I have a lot of fun with food!
What are those cute little sprinkles made out of? The tart looks delicious!
Your food always looks perfect and perfectly scrumptious!! You should do your own cooking show!
Wow, Chris! I asolutely have to make these for my younger brother who slathers peanut butter on everything!
My husband doesn’t understand why a ruined batch of brownies can bring me to tears & ruin my day – I guess we’re just perfectionists!
I’d love to be your neighbor!
Haha, I loved your story! Especially the mans reaction, that’s so sweet 😀
Your tarts look incredible! I love peanut butter and chocolate(who doesn’t? :D)
That man is a jewel!!!! I think if we lived close, you would really tickle me!! You would be a fun neighbor to have. But it would not be good, because I would always be wanting to be sick so you would bring me some of your scrumptious food!!!! This tart looks divine!
My husband loves making fancy desserts – especially anything with ganache. I think I will print this and leave it on his desk. 🙂
No, I would love to have you as a neighbor.
Fondly,
Glenda
My best friend from the Chicago area is named Janet and her husband is Ken. Hmmmmmmm.
I can’t imagine you ever losing your touch. Seriously. Especially if these tarts are anything to go by. They’re gorgeous and I’m sure were delicious (especially with a shortbread crust).
Looks amazing!!! I’m speechless! I know what you mean about having a distarious week. I was like that a few weeks ago and this weekend, I made a few flops, but I guess it’s a learning thing? Your little tarts look amazing!
OH. MY. GOODNESS. I’ll take a triple order please and, I would be quite thrilled to have you as my neighbour!! 🙂
OH. MY. GOODNESS. I’ll take a triple order please and, I would be quite thrilled to have you as my neighbour!! 🙂
You know what? With this kind of tart, I would be glad to be your neighboor! Plus, you don’t know what I can do to joke around:)
Oh my! That looks really delicious! Are there any houses vacant around you? I would like to move in… 🙂
You have no idea how much I wish you were my neighbor! This tart is amazing and so decadent I’d feel a tad guilty about eating it. Notice I said “a tad”!
What a beautiful tart! I would love to be your neighbor 🙂
They are beautiful:@)
You ?Lost your touch?Are you kidding?Noway!It is just amazing!
This sounds yummy. I’ve never made a peanut butter pie but remember a lot of them floating around last year as a tribute to someone who lost their husband. It sounds like the perfect combination to satisfy everyone.
As for your neighbor I know what you mean. Mine are my taste testers. Every time they see me coming they wonder what treat I’m bestowing upon them this time. After all it’s just two of us in the house and we can’t eat it all. They don’t mind in fact they love it as I’m sure your neighbors do as well.