By Perre Coleman Magness, The Runaway Spoon
Serves 8
Splurge on some high-quality chocolate for this three-ingredient filling. I buy peanut brittle with the hanging bags of candy at a grocery or drugstore. If you can’t find it, crush the remaining cookies for the top.
For the crust
24 Nutter Butter cookies
6 tablespoons butter, melted
For the filling
15 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup heavy cream
3 ounces peanut brittle, for topping
For the crust
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Crush the Nutter Butter cookies to fine crumbs. I prefer to do this in the food processor, but you can also bash them up in a heavy-duty zip-top bag with a rolling pin. Add the melted butter and process or stir until you have a mixture like damp sand. Press the crumbs on the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch tart tin with a removable bottom. Make sure there are no holes in your crust. Bake the crust for eight minutes, then remove from the oven and cool completely.
For the filling
1. Place the chocolate in the carafe of a blender and add the vanilla extract. Pour the heavy cream into a saucepan and bring just to a boil. Immediately pour it over the chocolate in the blender and blend until smooth. Pour the filling into the prepared crust and smooth the top. Chill the pie, uncovered, in the refrigerator for three hours. At this point, you can loosely cover the tart with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge overnight.
2. Before serving, crush the peanut brittle into small pieces in a heavy-duty zip-top bag. Remove the outer ring from the tart pan and leave to soften slightly, about 30 minutes, before sprinkling the peanut brittle dust over the top and slicing.
