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Caramel Turtle Tart

Photo Credit
Sam Jones/Quinn Brein
The Editors
Yield
10 to 12 servings
Category
Pies and Pastries
Course
Desserts
Occasions
Christmas
Sources
Yankee Magazine
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This easy tart, inspired by turtle candies, combines caramel, pecans, and chocolate for a rich filling. Unwrapping the caramels takes a few minutes, but the rest of the tart can be assembled in very little time, and the crust can be made ahead of time and frozen for up to 2 weeks. The tart can be chilled in the refrigerator for up to 3 days before serving.

Ingredients
Crust:
Basic Shortbread Dough (see below for recipe)
1/4 cup old-fashion oats
1/4 cup ground pecans
Filling:
1 cup Simple Chocolate Ganache (see below for recipe), divided
35 individually wrapped caramel candies, unwrapped
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup roughly chopped pecans
Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine shortbread dough with oats and ground pecans. Gather dough into a ball and press evenly into a 9-1/2-inch tart pan with removable bottom. The crust should be about 1/8 inch thick on the bottom and slightly thicker on the sides. Bake crust 12 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool.

Warm ganache over low heat or in microwave, until loose and liquid. Spread 3/4 cup ganache over bottom of tart. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Meanwhile, melt caramel with cream over medium-low heat, paying careful attention so that it does not burn. Stir in the pecans. Remove chilled tart from refrigerator and pour caramel mixture over the entire chocolate layer. The caramel should spread slowly and evenly over the ganache. If necessary, even out the caramel very gently with a spatula. Return tart to refrigerator for 10 minutes.

Pour remaining 1/4 cup ganache into a pastry bag (or a sandwich bag with a small cut at one corner). Squeeze out ganache in parallel stripes over the caramel layer. Run knife through chocolate in perpendicular or diagonal lines to create decorative pattern. Serve at room temperature.

Basic Shortbread Dough

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
Instructions

Blend butter and brown sugar. Add flour and mix briefly, until dough can hold ball shape. Set aside and chill.

Simple Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients
2 cups miniature chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
Instructions

Pour chocolate chips into mixing bowl. In a heavy saucepan, heat cream over medium-high heat until it just begins to simmer. Remove from heat immediately and pour hot cream over chocolate chips. Stir steadily until all chocolate is melted and blended.

About The Author

The Old Farmer's Almanac Editors

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Comments

DebS (not verified)

6 years 9 months ago

Instead of old-fashioned whole oats, I would prefer quick-cooking or steel-cut oats. This may affect the texture of the dough, however, so don't dump it all in at once. Add the flour, ground nuts and oats alternating a few spoons at a time until you have the consistency you want.
The same principle applies if you use a higher-fiber nut like ground almonds instead of pecans.

Don (not verified)

6 years 9 months ago

Do the oats not need to be cooked. They will be very hard and chewy.

Zo Storys (not verified)

13 years 9 months ago

Left click on the underlined words "Basic Shortbread Dough" in the above recipe.

dawncreates (not verified)

13 years 9 months ago

Basic Shortbread Dough Recipe?