Mini Chocolate Peanut Butter Tarts

TGIF!  You know how excited Fridays make me.  I've just 8 hours of work to get through and then the weekend is mine to conquer!

And you didn't think I'd leave you empty-handed for Valentine's Day did you?  Andy received these a week early, so he's been slowly munching on them.  They've made him a very happy camper, let me tell you.  He even almost threatened me, as I was taking a few of them to work!  But I had to explain to him that I am the boss, especially since I made them.  So I can choose who receives them!  Hehe.  He straightened up after that. =)

So browsing the internet last weekend, I came across Mary's, over at One Perfect Bite, recipe for a Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte.  My mouth was drooling and I was faced with the decision of whether to make a large torte, like Mary's, or make miniature versions to share (and of course portion control!).  It was obvious, I needed to miniaturize this beauty, and that's exactly what I did!

So whether you make these for your Valentine, yourself, or just the random guy/gal walking his/her dog down the street.  I urge you.  Make them.  They will instantly brighten your mood, and are definitely not Valentine's Day specific.  Chocolate and Peanut Butter are a combination deemed fitting for any day of the year!

Oh, and don't forget this week's poll at the bottom!

Ingredients:
Adapted from One Perfect Bite's Recipe

For Crust:

1-2 packages chocolate graham crackers (about 10-15)

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
pinch of salt

For Filling:

1 & 1/4 cups unsalted peanuts, divided

1/4 cup peanut butter chips, chopped

1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips, chopped
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
2 cups heavy cream
1 & 1/4 cups powdered sugar
12 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 & 1/2 cups peanut butter
2 tablespoons milk


For Topping:

1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Start by making your crust.  Preheat oven to 350 F and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Add chocolate graham crackers to bowl of food processor and pulse until finely ground.  In a small bowl, combine graham crackers, melted butter, and salt.  Mix until the crumbs stick together nicely.

Press mixture into a thin layer covering bottom and sides of cupcake liners.  Freeze crust for 10 minutes.

Bake for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before filling.

For the filling,  place 1/2 cup of peanuts, peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, sugar, espresso powder, cinnamon and nutmeg in the bowl of your food processor.  Pulse until peanuts and chips are in little pieces.  Transfer mixture to a bowl and set aside.

In a separate medium-sized bowl, whip 2 cups of heavy cream until it holds medium peaks. Slowly add 1/4 cup of powdered sugar and whip until cream holds medium-firm peaks.  Transfer whipped cream to fridge until needed.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with remaining 1 cup of powdered sugar until cream cheese is smooth.  Add in peanut butter, whole milk, and 1/4 cup of chopped peanuts and mix until well combined.

Gently fold in about 1/4 of whipped cream to lighten the mixture.  Stir in chocolate chip & peanut mixture.  Then slowly fold in remaining whipped cream.

Fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 full of filling.  Refrigerate for about 3 hours, or until filling is set.

For chocolate ganache topping, carefully melt remaining chocolate chips in microwave-safe bowl in 30 second intervals.  When chocolate is melted, pour in heavy cream, and mix until combined with chocolate.

Pour chocolate over each mini tart and smoothing with a spoon, if desired.  Chop remaining 1/2 cup of peanuts and scatter over top of tarts. Chill for at least 20 minutes, or until chocolate is set.

Then try to resist these.  It's damn nearly impossible.  Well... in our household anyway.  Hope you guys have a great weekend, with whatever you do!

So what should I make Andy for Valentine's Day this weekend?

Project Food Blog: Challenge #2

First and foremost... thanks to all of you that voted for me in Challenge #1.  Obviously, you believed in me enough to give me a crack at Challenge #2:

"How well can you tackle a classic dish from another culture? We're bypassing the French and Italian standards in favor of more challenging cuisines."

Being given practically the whole world to choose from is a tough decision.  Of course, I'm quite familiar with various Asian cuisines, so I tried to stay away from the obvious.  I thought about doing an African country, possibly Ethiopia, but wasn't quite sold.  Then I went to Europe, and with already ruling out France and Italy, I wasn't left with anything that tickled my fancy.  So then comes the Caribbean and North & South America... "there's potential there," I thought.

So desperately searching for inspiration to hit me, I turned to the Travel Channel website.  More specifically, the No Reservations section.  Who knows world food and culture better than the great Anthony Bourdain?  Not many, that's for sure.  So perusing around, I saw a little blip-it for an upcoming episode on the Azores.  Okay... so raise your hand if you've heard of that part of the world. :::looking around:::  Okay, not so many.  Well, I'm in the same boat.  I don't think I've ever heard of the Azores before, and what better reason to go out of my comfort zone and choose them?!  And so a decision was made... well sort of.  I had a culture, but now what to make?

 photo from http://xinfo4u.blogspot.com/2009/12/azores-news-and-newspaper.html

Well what and where are the Azores? 

Just a little bit of background: The Azores are a former territory of Portugal, so the cuisine and culture is highly influenced by Portuguese customs.  They are made up of 9 different islands, pictured above.  The Azores are also in very close proximity to North America (only a 4 hour flight from Boston!) so it has recently gained more popularity due it's amazing natural beauty (some believe that the Azores are the last remnant of the lost continent of Atlantis).

photo from http://toptraveldestinations.co.uk/

I could look at pictures of the Azorean islands all day, but we're here to talk about the food, right?  And from what I gather, the food is just as amazing as the natural beauty of the islands.  Described as more of a peasant-type food, the Azores use their natural bounty of fruits and vegetables, meat and dairy from local cattle, and vast amounts of fish from the Sargasso Sea.  Early settlers brought a huge bounty of produce to the islands such as fava beans, kale, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, yams, citrus, pineapples, etc.

One big tradition in the Azores and many other Portuguese-influenced countries, is the Portuguese Festa, or Portuguese Holy Spirit Festival.  The festival is based on the popular belief that a visit from the Holy Spirit is what enabled Queen Isabel of Portugal to relieve her people's suffering and is the subject of several miraculous legends; according to one, the queen, smuggling food to the poor in midwinter, produced live roses from her robes when her husband, King Diniz, demanded to see what she was concealing.  

A popular dish that is served for free (in honor of Queen Isabel's charitable spirit) during the Festa is sopas e carne (or beef soup).  It's a humble dish that combines flavors of cinnamon, paprika, bay leaf, onions, and red wine to produce an amazing meal.  Understanding the meaning of the sopas to the Azores and Portuguese culture is what made this the perfect choice for me and this challenge!

Ingredients:

Adapted from this recipe

1 tablespoon pickling spice

1 cinnamon stick

10 cups water

3 lb. chuck roast

3/4 cup red wine (I used a Shiraz)

1 onion, roughly chopped

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1 hot pepper, chopped

salt and pepper, to taste

1 loaf of French bread, sliced

fresh mint sprigs

Bring the 10 cups of water to a boil in a large stockpot.  

Place pickling spice and cinnamon stick in a cheesecloth and tie up. (I didn't have any cheesecloth available, and I was short on time to go running all over town to find some, so I improvised and used a coffee filter, and it worked out just fine!)  Drop into boiling water and add chuck roast, wine, onion, hot pepper, and tomato sauce.  

Bring mixture back to a boil and then lower heat to a steady simmer.  Cover and let simmer for about 3 hours, or until meat is nice and tender.  Season mixture with salt and pepper, to taste. 

Remove spices in cheesecloth (or coffee filter!) from mixture.  Remove chuck roast and place on cutting board, tenting the meat with aluminum foil.  Let meat rest for about 5-10 minutes.

In a large serving bowl, place the french bread slices in an even layer.  Place a couple sprigs of mint on top of bread and ladle in broth from soup over bread. 

Thickly slice the meat and serve along with soup.

This meal is meant to be enjoyed family-style, experiencing the joy of sharing a meal with the ones you love!

As an added bonus, there is also a traditional custard tart that is usually served after many Azorean dinners.  I just couldn't resist including it!  You can find the recipe here.  I pretty much followed it right on and the tarts turned out great!

I hope you enjoyed my rendition of a small culinary tour of the Azores!  And if you liked it, I would be delighted if you would vote for me to advance in Foodbuzz's Project Food Blog!  (link on the right also!) Thanks for reading and again, thanks for your support!