Chocolate Ganache Tart with Pecan Crust

Sometimes it’s okay to spend an inordinate amount of time in the kitchen, slaving over an intricate and special dessert that wows a crowd. But what if you could spend next to no time in the kitchen, with the same outcome?

Sold.

The pros: this glitzy gluten-free ganache tart recipe needs hardly any baking time, requires no need for a stand mixer, calls for only 5 ingredients, and has a virtually idiot-proof set of steps to follow. And most important of all- everyone loves a chocolate tart with a rich, smooth filling. The ganache that fills this simple pecan crust will stab every chocolate lover in the heart and quite possibly kill them.

The cons: there aren’t any.
Except maybe for the fact that this dessert will go too quickly. Leftovers will be scarce. (Oh- one small complaint- you’ll need to use your food processor, which tends to annoy me to use because the 4 parts take up so much room in the dishwasher. You could always cheat and use graham crumbs instead of pecans, skipping the food processor altogether. But then you’d miss out on the pecanny goodness.)

CRUST:

2 1/2 cups pecans (toasted and slightly cooled)

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons salted butter, melted and cooled (plus extra if necessary)

CHOCOLATE GANACHE FILLING:

2 cups heavy cream

16 ounces premium bittersweet chocolate (or about 2 1/3 cups of chocolate chips)

OPTIONAL TOPPING:

Fresh whipped cream, berries
1. CRUST: Preheat oven to 350°. Add pecans and sugar to food processor and mix until coarse like sand. Add melted butter through feed tube in a slow stream with the processor running, until all ingredients are moistened. Add additional tablespoon of butter if ingredients fail to stick together when pressed into pan. (You must check out what happened when I made this crust for the first time. The world’s most Horrible pecan’t crust.)
2. Press mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom and up the sides of a deep dish 9-inch tart pan or pie plate. Chill in freezer for 15 minutes. Bake for 12 -15 minutes or until crust is lightly toasted. Allow crust to cool while you make the ganache.
3. GANACHE: Place chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until it just begins to boil; remove from heat immediately and pour over chocolate. Wait 5 minutes then whisk/stir ganache into a smooth mixture.
4. Pour ganache into cooled crust. Refrigerate at least 2 hours to set. Remove from fridge and carefully remove tart from pan, placing on a serving plate. Allow ganache to soften slightly (15 to 20 minutes) before serving.
Tips:
- Chocolate notes… please try to use a premium brand of your choice, since chocolate is the star of the show. (Ghiradelli is sold in most stores, and you can always order Callebaut or Guittard online… or Valrhona. Wow… Valrhona.) This recipe makes a lot of ganache, which WILL firm up as it chills after you pour it into the crust. You can pour less into the tart if you want a less rich dessert (really?) and freeze the remainder of the ganache in a ziploc bag.
- Pecans, huh? Yes, there is an extra layer of flavor intensity that goes along with the nut in the crust. Like I mentioned earlier, you can absolutely swap graham cracker crumbs instead (but use only a few tablespoons of sugar and up the graham cracker amount proportionately, since the cookies are already pretty sweet- and pre-bake for only 8 – 10 minutes). If you have a penchant for walnuts or any other nut, go to town and switch out the pecan. Chocolate is friendly with all nuts. It’s very agreeable that way.
- Toasting the nuts is just an extra step that kicks a recipe up a notch. I toast them in the preheating oven so I don’t waste any time… just put them on a baking sheet or in a pan and let them toast for 8 minutes or so if the oven is already hot, or up to 15 if it’s still preheating. You want a lightly toasted nut that JUST starts to smell toasty… not charred and past the point of no return.
- If caramel calls to you at night then you might want to pour some in the base of the cooled crust before you add the ganache. Now that I have put this thought in your head, you just might be compelled to do this- I understand. (Melt 25 – 30 squares of the little Kraft candy caramels with 2 tablespoons of water or milk in a small saucepan [or the microwave for 1 minute then in 30 second increments, stirring inbetween until melted]). Heavenly.
- Garnish ideas: serve with fresh whipped cream, fresh berries, a few toasted pecans… whatever tickles your fancy (sorry- I hate that expression).
- Store in the fridge and then enjoy by serving slightly closer to room temperature. Yes, this freezes well… which is great since you’ll want to steal a piece on a Monday night before bed when the Impossibly Healthy Banana Bread with Dark Chocolate Chunks you baked just won’t hit that sweet spot. (Not that there’s anything wrong with the healthy banana bread- it just doesn’t compare to chocolate and cream and pecans and sugar and butter, melded into one tart of glory.)
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September 12th, 2012 | More Sweets Please | 2 Comments | Tags: Chocolate, Tarts

2 Responses and Counting...

Celina Cantu 09.12.2012

Hi, please help me, I need a” PECAN CRUST/WITH WITE CHOCOLATE GANAGE”,, I really appreciate any suggestion, thanks in advanced,, Celina,, Kind Regards..
More Sweets Please

Hi there Celina- I want one of those! You can substitute in a good-quality white chocolate instead of the usual chocolate in this recipe. Just be careful not to buy white chocolate “confection” which might not set properly. (Shave curls of white chocolate on top as it sets- it will look amazing!)