Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Tart

This dark chocolate salted caramel tart screams Happy Valentine’s Day, at least for me. While my husband doesn’t eat chocolate, I haven’t had trouble sharing this tasty treat with the other Valentines in my life..

Seriously… this is a crunchy chocolate crust, filled with an ooey gooey sweet caramel, topped with a slightly bitter chocolate ganache and dusted with salt. Amazing. There are several steps to this recipe, which each require cool time, but it is definitely worth the effort! Read through the entire recipe to make certain you have plenty of time prior to serving. While the cool times may be several hours, each step only takes a few minutes to complete.

Try this… your loved ones will thank you!

Confession of a *wannabe* foodie… I had every intention of making a special treat for my lovely non-chocolate eating, Allen. Unfortunately, I couldn’t seem to make it happen this week, so not only am I a *wannabe* foodie tonight, I am also a *wannabe* sweet wife. There is always next year, right? (shame)

Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Tart
Adapted from Saveur

Crust
10 Tbsp unsalted butter
½ cup powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup dark cocoa powder
1 ½ cup of flour
½ tsp kosher flake salt

Caramel
1 ½ cups sugar
⅓ cup water
3 Tbsp corn syrup
¼ tsp salt
½ cup cream
6 Tbsp unsalted butter

Chocolate Ganache
½ cup heavy whipping cream
4 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped

Bake the Crust
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium mixing bowl, cream the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the egg yolks and vanilla and beat until fully incorporated.

Add the cocoa powder, flour and flake salt and beat on low speed until combined.

Press the crust evenly in the bottom and up the side of a 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Chill the unbaked dough in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, depending on your patience. Use a fork and poke the bottom of the crust.

Bake the chilled crust for 15 minutes and let cool.

Make the Caramel
In a medium saucepan, over medium high heat, stir together sugar, water, corn syrup and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and continue heat, without stirring, until the mixture turns golden brown and a candy thermometer reads 350 degrees. Make sure the candy thermometer does not sit on the bottom or side of the pan. Quickly stir in the cream and salted butter.

Pour the caramel into the chocolate crust and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2-3 hours.

Make the Chocolate Ganache
In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. As soon as the cream begins to simmer, remove from the heat, and pour over the chopped chocolate in a small bowl. Allow the cream to melt the chocolate and stir the mixture until smooth and creamy. Pour the chocolate ganache over the chilled caramel.

Let the tart cool until the chocolate sets.

Dust the tart with kosher flake salt and serve slightly chilled.

Roasted Lemon Garlic Cauliflower

I am a firm believer that pretty much any vegetable is delicious tossed with a bit of olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese and roasted. Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, and even cauliflower. The theme for our Supper Club was “Courtesy of the Character C,” and I could not pass up the opportunity to serve Crispy Cruciferous Cauliflower with Citrus, Cheese & Chopped Chives!

This roasted cauliflower really is delicious and keeps everyone in our house happy, even our 2 year old daughter.

Confession of a *wannabe* foodie… It is tough for me to willfully choose to roast any vegetable other than Brussels sprouts. I would eat roasted brussels sprouts everyday, if my family would let me. I am happy to be expanding beyond my Brussels sprouts obsession to include other cruciferous vegetables!

ROASTED LEMON GARLIC CAULIFLOWER

INGREDIENTS:
1 head of cauliflower, cut into 1½ inch florets
3 Tbsp of olive oil
4 cloves of sliced garlic
juice from 1 lemon (approximately 2 Tbsp)
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
chopped chives or parsley, for garnish

Preheat Oven to 450 degrees F.

Toss the cauliflower with olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a baking dish.

Place the baking dish in the oven and roast for approximately 25 minutes, stirring once halfway through.

Remove the roasted cauliflower from the oven and toss with the grated Parmesan cheese and chopped chives or parsley.

Cranberry Apple Cornbread Stuffing

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a dining room table!  We also have an amazing cornbread, cranberry and apple stuffing that was definitely worthy of the inaugural meal at our new table.

One of the most exciting things about moving into a house with more space was the prospect of comfortably hosting dinner parties with friends and family.  I am not going to say that we ever let a small house stop us from cramming our previous home in the name of a good party, but I anxiously awaited the day to seat friends and family around a large dinner table for a comfy and tasty meal.

As we unpacked our boxes and started to get the lay of our new land, Allen decided that he wanted to build our dining room table.  I instantly agreed and immediately began to romanticize how this table would hold and cherish our family history.  Our friends and family would gather around this table to share amazing food, beautiful stories, and endless laughter for holidays, birthdays, dinner parties, sleepovers, and more for years and years to come.   This table that would proudly be passed down from generation to generation.

I could not wait to get started…. I should clarify…. I could not wait for Allen to get started!

While Allen’s dad has some experience woodworking, this would be Allen’s first project.  We eagerly designed a table for our new dining room, to seat as many people as possible within our space.  Our final design was 8 feet by 4 feet.  I think it is safe to say that both Allen and I *may* have underestimated the scale of this project!

I can take no credit for the actual construction of the table, but I am happy to report that after 5 months, countless hours, and many lessons learned, the table is complete!  Not only is the table complete, but it is fabulous!

The inaugural dinner at our new table was also amazing!  We hosted our Supper Club and each course was impressively delicious.  We prepared the main course, and I instantly fell in love with this cranberry, apple and cornbread stuffing.  Both savory and sweet this stuffing would pair fantastically with poultry or pork.  It is perfect for the holidays or as part of a warm and hearty winter meal!

CRANBERRY, APPLE & CORNBREAD STUFFING
Serves 12-15

INGREDIENTS:
16 cups cubed cornbread
1 lb pork sausage
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 cups diced celery (5 ribs)
2 cups diced onion (2 medium onions)
1 ½ cups diced carrots (2 large carrots)
2 Tbsp finely chopped sage
1 Tbsp finely chopped thyme
1 Tbsp finely chopped rosemary
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
5  cups diced Granny Smith apples, peel on (5 medium apples)
2-3 cups chicken broth

PREP:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Cube cornbread and set aside.

In a large pan, over medium high heat, brown the sausage.  Remove the cooked sausage with a slotted spoon and place on a plate with a paper towel to drain some of the excess grease.

Once the sausage is removed, add the butter to the remaining drippings in the pan.  Once the butter is melted, add the onions, celery, carrots, herbs, salt and pepper.  Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 10-15 minutes.  Then add the chopped apples and cranberries and cook until the apples begin to soften slightly, about 5-10 minutes.

In a large bowl (I had to use my roasting pan), combine the cubed bread crumbs, sausage, and vegetable/apple mixture.

Slowly drizzle the chicken stock over the stuffing to moisten.  Continue to stir and drizzle until the entire mixture is moist, but not soggy.

Spoon the stuffing into a baking dish.  Bake covered for 30 minutes; uncover and bake for an additional 20-30 minutes.

Confession of a *wannabe* foodie… I had every intention of baking the cornbread to use in this stuffing.  As I passed the bakery section of my local grocery store and caught 2 packages of pre-made cornbread staring at me longingly from the shelf, I decided the shortcut would probably be worth it and tossed them in the cart.  Totally worth it.