Bliss in a Bite

Heaven and hell meet in this delectable treat of rich ganache, crumbly crust and pure melt in your mouth goodness. What are calories when the pleasure of spooning melted chocolate overrides any other desire or feeling of guilt?

Perhaps this isn't the best recipe for one's waistline, but in all seriousness, what does it matter when sitting in a lecture hall for 8+ hours a day isn't particularly flattering either? o.O Exactly. So just sit, take a spoon into your hand, watch the light slowly die from the shuttered blinds and immerse yourself in a little you time. ;)

Ganache Tart

Walnut Crust
2 - 6 oz. bags (approx. 3 cups) of walnuts, or any other nut you like
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 stick (8 tbs) unsalted butter

Chocolate Ganache
1 cup whipping cream
16 oz (2 2/3 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 tbs unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla (or almond extract, whiskey, irish cream, something to give it a little extra flavor)
Preparation

Walnut Crust
Using a food processor (or blender, like I did), pulse the walnuts into a fine grind. This is the basis of the crust and yields a nutty, crumbly crust without much trouble. Placing the ground walnuts into a bowl, add the sugar, mixing a bit. Melt the butter in the microwave and pour into the walnut mixture, mixing until all of the nuts are coated in butter. Taking a tart shell (or aluminum dish - anything oven safe), pat the mixture into an even layer, going up the sides to create a crust for the ganache filling. (I had enough to make one large tart and 4 individual muffin tin sized tarts)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and bake for 10 minutes or until the tart shell is slightly brown on the edges. Remove and let cool.

Ganache
Heat the cream and butter together in a small pot until the butter is melted and cream is warmed through. Turn off the stove, take the cream mixture off the heat and pour in the chocolate. Let sit for 5-10 minutes as the heat of the cream softens and melts the chocolate. Stir until completely incorporated and smooth. Add in the vanilla at the end.

*You may use other combinations of chocolate, such as dark, white. milk chocolate. However, the ratio of cream to chocolate will change slightly due to the water and fat content in the different types of chocolate. This is where I stop paying attention to measurements and add cream/chocolate depending upon the texture of the ganache mixture.

Assembly
Pour the ganache mixture into the tart shell. Tap on the counter lightly to even out the chocolate. Decorate with slivered almonds or extra chocolate chips placed at evenly spaced intervals along the circumference of the tart.Cool in the fridge for 1-2 hours or until the ganache has set up. Slice with a knife dipped into warm water to prevent the ganache from sticking. If the ganache begins to get too soft, cool in the fridge for a few minutes before resuming slicing.

Black and White and everything inbetween

Like little yin-yang chocolate treats, these peanut butter crackers are made even more special when coated in two types of chocolate. Feel free to change it up any way you like, instead of peanut butter, use Nutella, or even both. Don't like white chocolate? Melt up some dark chocolate and sprinkle with a dash of sea salt for a sweet and salty treat.Ritz Cracker Sandwiches

1 sleeve of Ritz crackers (I used whole wheat Ritz because that's what I had on hand)
Creamy Peanut Butter
White and Semi-Sweet Chocolate to coat

Taking about a 1/2 tablespoon of peanut butter, spread it on a cracker and top with another. Continue until the entire sleeve of Ritz crackers is gone (minus the ones being munched on in the process of creating peanut butter cracker sandwiches).

Line a pan with foil or parchment paper. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in a heatproof bowl on top of a pan with about an inch of simmering water. Dip one half of the sandwich in the white chocolate, set on the pan to set in the fridge for about 10 minutes. When the chocolate is set again, take them out and repeat with semi-sweet chocolate for the other uncoated half of the cracker sandwich. Place in the fridge again to finish setting (or if you're impatient like me, 5 minutes in the freezer should do the trick. ^_^)It should make about 16 sandwiches.... depending on how many Ritz you eat before they get peanut butter sandwiched between them... or if they've survived this ordeal... how many you eat before they get smothered in chocolate...