I will start by admitting that I had no idea that the decorations of this tart would become Halloween themed. All I know is that I was inspired by the Salted Caramel Moravian Cookies recently sent to me by Dewey’s Bakery as a official taste-tester. My take looked like Halloween had exploded as I was getting ready to decorate the house. Don’t you always wonder what inspires creations like my Salted Caramel Mocha Tart?
Jump to RecipeIt All Began with Cookie
I love creating pies and tarts using Dewey’s Bakery’s thin and crispy Moravian cookies. It started way before I became an official taste-tester with my Fresh Fruit Pizza dessert.
A crust can be there merely to hold a yummy filling or it can enhance your dessert. The salted caramel cookies used in my Salted Caramel Mocha Tart definitely add a little something extra.
Salted Caramel Cookie Crust
Start the tart by making the cookie crust with three simple ingredients: cookie crumbs, butter and a little sugar. You’ll bake it 10-15 minutes and let it cool for 15 minutes before filling. Always make sure to place your tart crust in a cookie sheet with a lip in case there is butter seepage during cooking, otherwise you’ll be cleaning your oven before you even get to the filling.
Salted Caramel Mocha Filling
While your tart cools, make the filling. To create the unique flavor, I blended half Trader Joe’s Caramel Sea Salt Baking Chips and half Nestle’s Espresso Chocolate Chips. To really add a punch of coffee flavor, I measured out 6 teaspoons of Javy Coffee Concentrate into my measuring cup before filling it up to my one cup mark. This helped me make sure that I wasn’t changing the total amount of liquid to the salted caramel mocha tart, merely substituting a bit of cream with coffee.
Once I heated my cream and coffee mixture, simply pour that over the chips and let it stand 5 minutes before blending until smooth.
To this you will add your pre-mixed eggs, sugar and vanilla. Now pour into your tart shell, tap the tart a few times to get the air bubbles out and bake!
Once the salted caramel mocha tart is done baking, let it cool 20-30 minutes before adding a thin layer of salted caramel sauce. You can make it from scratch using my recipe or pick up some locally.
The Finishing Touches
For the final part of the tart, I found letting it cool completely in the refrigerator really helped. Using semi-sweet chocolate chips, make a chocolate ganache. I found it spread much easier if I piped it on top of the caramel sauce BEFORE using my spatula to spread it. There was less caramel bleed through. I wasn’t worried about the little bit that did show through because I knew I was going to decorate with a spider web of white chocolate ganache. Remember, you don’t need to worry about making the white chocolate ganache unless you are using it to decorate.
To crest the spiderweb, make your white chocolate ganache and place it in a piping bag with a narrow tip. If you don’t have one, simply place in a ziploc bag and snip off a bit of the end. Start in the middle and create a spiral pattern all the way to the edge, each spiral being about 1” wide. Then using a toothpick and starting from the middle, draw lines out to give you the web look. I piped more ganache over these lines to make them stand out more once I created the pattern.
Adding a row of dark chocolate dipped espresso beans gave a nice finish to the Salted Caramel Mocha Tart. Refrigerate until serving. Remove about 30 minutes before as I found that the tart is better a little soft than fresh from the fridge.
Either way, it is definitely a new hit with my friends and family! Enjoy!
Salted Caramel Mocha Tart
Ingredients
Salted Caramel Tart Crust
- 2 cups Dewey's Bakery Salted Caramel Morovian Cookies crushed
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar optional
- 6 tbsp butter melted
Salted Caramel Mocha Tart Filling
- 1 ⅛ cup heavy cream
- 6 tsp Javy Coffee Concentrate or espresso
- 4½ oz. Trader Joe's Salted Caramel Chips
- 4½ oz. Nestle Espresso Chips
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
Salted Caramel Sauce (see link above if making from scratch)
Chocolate Ganache
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- 3 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips a little more than ½ cup
White Chocolate Ganache (Optional)
- 1 tbsp heavy whipping cream
- 2 oz. white chocolate chipa a little more than ¼ cup
Instructions
Salted Caramel Tart Crust
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the cookie crumbs, sugar, and butter.
- Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 10-15 minutes, just until set and your cookies are not over-toasted. Remove the crust from the oven, cool on a rack while you make the filling.
- Press the mixture into the bottom and partway up the sides of a 9″ deep-dish pie pan or 9″ baking pan of your choice.
Salted Caramel Mocha Tart Filling
- In a small saucepan, add heavy cream and Javy coffee concentrate and heat until just before boiling, then pour over salted caramel and espresso chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Let stand 5 minutes and then stir until smooth. Let cool until no longer warm to the touch.
- Whisk together eggs, vanilla and salt in a separate bowl and then stir into the chocolate mixture until smooth.
- Pour filling into the cooled crust. Bake until filling is set around the edges, but still just a bit wobbly in the middle, 20-30 minutes. Cool completely on a rack.
- Once cool, drizzle with salted caramel sauce. and let chill about an hour.
Chocolate Ganache
- Add heavy whipping cream and chocolate chips (semi sweet or white) to a microwave safe dish. Heat 30 seconds at half power. Remove and stir. Add additional 10 second bursts of heat until you can get a nice smooth ganache upon mixing.
- Add melted chocolate ganache into a piping bag and pipe evenly over your cooled tart. Spread smooth with a spatula.
- If decorating with the white chocolate ganache, repeat step 1 and pipe using a narrow tip as directed in recipe description above.
Decorating
- How you decorate your finished tart is up to you. I added a row of dark chocolate espresso beans around the rim of the tart filling to give it a more finished look. You can use the white chocolate ganache to add additional decorations as you wish.
A special thank you to Dewey’s Bakery and Javy Coffee Concentrate for sending me the ingredient inspirations for me to try!
