Peanut Butter Tart w/ Shortbread Crust & Chocolate Ganache Glaze

Last week was one of those weeks. Do you ever have them? You know, weeks where it just seems like you can't do anything right?...........

...... it was a one of those weeks for me in a culinary sense. There were at least three or four things that I made that were total, no good, rotten, horrible disasters. I mean like throw them in the trash disasters! I told my dear husband that I thought I had just "lost the touch". He just smiled and assured me it was just "one of those weeks".............

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, but recalling the previous week's repeated failures, I was a bit skiddish to try anything new. I decided on an old, tried and true, never fail recipe that I've been making for many years; Peanut Butter Tart w/ Shortbread Crust & Chocolate Ganache Glaze. 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 with my crazy sense of humor, 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.

Oh, by the way...... the birthday dinner for my friend last week went well. The tarts turned out perfect and everyone enjoyed them. Yes, and my culinary confidence was restored! Thank you old faithful Peanut Butter Tart!

P.S. Aren't you glad you're not my neighbor? Who knows what kind of shenanigans I might pull on YOU! :)

Peanut Butter Tart w/ Shortbread Crust & Chocolate Ganache Glaze

Ingredients for 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

Ingedients for 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

Ingredients for the glaze:
½ cup whipping cream
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions for crust:
1. 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.

Directions for filling:
1. 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. Spoon into crust. Refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours.

Directions for glaze:
1. 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.

8 servings

Adapted from Bon Appetit 1990

PRINTABLE RECIPE