Peanut Butter Tarts
Date Completed: 2/27/2021
Today’s recipe comes from the Valentine Specials chapter of Small-Batch Baking by Debby Maugans Nakos. I missed Valentine’s Day by a few weeks, but I’m so glad I made these Peanut Butter Tarts!
The peanut brittle topping sold me on this recipe. I have tons of childhood memories of my Papaw making peanut brittle. I remember that his method used the microwave and he would show me how to do it myself. When I saw this recipe, I loved that I could cook up a tribute to him within this project.
I also continued to work on my process photos!
You start by combining Oreos and butter in the food processor to form the crust. I debated how best to avoid ending up with a nearly-full package of leftover Oreos, and luckily Garrett found this snack-size cup of mini Oreos at the store. It gave me just enough for the recipe!
While I combined everything in the food processor, Garrett lined two mini tart pans with foil. I pressed the crumbs into the pans and then baked for about 10 minutes.
While the crusts baked and cooled, I made the peanut butter filling. I remembered to take a photo documenting just how small the ingredient amounts are in these Small-Batch Baking recipes!
The tarts themselves puffed up a lot while baking! They did sink back down once they had cooled.
When it came time to make the peanut brittle, I didn’t have a chance to blink let alone take a process photo. It does not take long for 1/4 cup of sugar and a tablespoon of water to come to a boil! I even could have mixed in the peanuts and gotten it spread out on the pan a little faster. I did enjoy the end result though. There were definitely a few taste tests at this point!
The final step involved heating up cream enough to melt the chocolate for the topping. Once ready I spooned the chocolate on top of the cooled tarts and attempted to arrange the peanut brittle artfully.
If you’re a rule follower, these cool for two hours in the refrigerator before you eat them. If you’re me, 50 minutes is sufficient!
Taste Report:
Honestly… not quite my favorite. The crust needed a little more butter mixed in with the Oreos. I think a hint of salt would have benefitted this as well, maybe in the peanut brittle? I love peanut butter and chocolate anything so I definitely still enjoyed these very much! I also love that this recipe only yielded two tarts - so great!
Mess Report:
Just like with the cookie recipe I previously made from this book, I realized the small yield doesn’t equate to a small pile of dirty dishes. I will say this recipe allowed plenty of down-time that let us keep up with wash the dishes as we used them. I will also say that Garrett is a very nice Valentine because he always helps wash the dishes!
Overall I had a wonderful time making these tarts! The peanut brittle in honor of my Papaw was certainly the highlight of the experience.