If this tart was a candy bar, it would be a Snickers

There is this commercial on TV now. I think it might be for Dairy Queen, advertising Snickers Blizzards. I see it about a billion times a day, and while the Blizzard itself doesn't interest me (I won't order shake-type things when I know there is a good chance of cross contamination, like with delicious Oreo shakes), I have Snickers ON THE BRAIN. So, now that we've finished our Passover sponge cake, I had to fill the dessert void. No meal is complete without some dessert (which is why I am not losing weight no matter how many vegetables I eat) and this is one dessert that came out just like I dreamed. Chocolate, peanuts, caramel! Hooray! This is a bit labor-intensive, and takes a while (there is a lot of chilling between layers), but so worth it. 

Snickers tart

Step 1: the crust

The crust for this tart is a chocolate-peanut version of my almond tart crust. It's like a dark, delicious cookie. 

3/4 c ground peanuts*

1/2 c rice flour mix

1/4 c cocoa powder

1/4 c sugar

1 stick butter, cold, cut in cubes

1 egg, beaten

Combine the peanuts, flour mix, cocoa powder and sugar in your food processor. Add a pinch of salt if you're using unsalted peanuts. Pulse once or twice to combine everything, then drop in the butter and pulse until crumbly. While the processor is running, add in the egg, then keep going with the processor until the dough starts to form a ball and pull away from the sides. Lightly grease a 10" tart pan, pat the dough into the pan (I usually wet my hands with cold water so everything doesn't stick) and stick it in the freezer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes (or more!) preheat the oven to 350, and once it's hot, take the crust out of the freezer. Prick it all over with a fork, then cover it with foil, pressing down to form the foil the to crust. Pop the crust in the oven for 20 minutes or so, until it looks done and feels firm. Cool before filling (you can speed this up in the fridge or freezer). 

*I used honey roasted, with salt, which I ground up in the coffee grinder. BE CAREFUL grinding your peanuts, because if you grind them too much they will turn into peanut butter, and while that is delicious, that is not what we are going for here.  

Step 2: the caramel

This step's recipe comes from Saveur, and can be found here. 

1 1/2 c sugar

3 T corn syrup

a pinch of salt

6 T water

6 T butter

7 T cream

Stir together the sugar, corn syrup, salt and water in a saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat about 10 minutes, swirling occasionally, until a deep amber color (sugar mixture will be at about 365 degrees). As the sugar darkens, swirl the pot more so it doesn't burn. Remove from heat, whisk in the butter and cream and stir until smooth. Pour caramel into the chocolate-peanut tart shell, and cool. Feel free to speed up the process in the fridge. Or if you're crazy, let it set in the freezer and then move to the fridge. That is what I did and it took about an hour or so to be firm enough to hold the ganache (step 3). 

Step 3: peanuts and ganache

1/2 c slightly crushed peanuts (honey roasted is a good choice)

1/2 c bittersweet chocolate chips 

1 T corn syrup

2 T peanut butter

1 T cream

Sprinkle the peanuts over the top of the caramel in the tart (see the second picture in this post). In a small bowl, combine the chocolate chips, corn syrup, peanut butter and cream. Microwave until melted, stopping and stirring often. I heated mine 25 seconds, then stirred, then 25 more and we were melted. I don't know how strong your microwave is. Anyway, once everything is melted, pour or spread over the peanuts. Be careful not to mix everything up! Once the whole tart is covered, stick it in the fridge to set. My chocolate took about 45 minutes to set. 

Store in the fridge, but take it out a while before serving so it will be easier to cut.