Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Tart

We have guests coming to stay in our B&B.  They are friends, so they will be with us for meals, but we can still practice on them.  I wanted to make a special dessert to show how happy we are that they took the time on their trip to stop in and see us.

 

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Tart

1 pie crust
2 eggs
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
2 Tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons bourbon, divided use
1 4 oz. semi-sweet Ghirardelli Chocolate baking bar or 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped

 

Heat the oven to 350°.  Lightly spray a two piece tart pan with Pam.  Melt the butter and set aside to cool.

 

 

Gently place the pie crust ( I used store bought) in the tart pan and trim to fit. 

 

 

Combine the eggs, sugar, corn syrup, melted, but cooled butter, vanilla and one Tablespoon of the bourbon.  Whisk it all together.

 

Roughly chop the pecans.  I prefer this version to one in which you have to carefully lay the pecans on top of the tart.  It is too fussy for me and it is hard to cut the slices when serving. 

 

Whisk the chopped pecans in the egg mixture.

 

Chop the chocolate bar into pieces roughly the size of chocolate chips.  Or use chocolate chips.  I had the bar and used that. 
 
 

Spread them evenly in the bottom of the pie crust.  Pour the egg and nut mixture over the chocolate in the crust.  I placed the tart pan on a pizza pan because they are a little hard to handle. 

 

Bake for 55 minutes or until set.  Remove from the oven and pour the last Tablespoon of bourbon over the top. 



Let cool.

Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.  Or both.  Or bourbon whipped cream!



Bourbon whipped cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon bourbon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

This is easy.  Whip the cream and sugar in a stand mixer until soft peaks form.  Add the bourbon and the vanilla.  Whip some more. 

 

I made it ahead and kept it in the refrigerator until after dinner when we had the tart.  I had more than I needed for four servings and there was still enough for the next day.
 

No Churn Rocky Road Ice Cream

I recently made some peach ice cream using Martha Stewart's recipe for No Churn Vanilla Ice Cream.  I wondered if I could do the same thing for chocolate.  I started looking around the Internet, because I didn't know what to use to make it chocolate.  I could replace the Bourbon or Peach Schnapps with the Crème de Cacao that is languishing in my pantry.  I have cocoa powder, but I worried that it might not blend well.  I DO have some Ghirardelli chocolate bars I bought and never used.  Then I noticed a picture of chocolate ice cream with nuts sprinkled on top.  That sounds good.  OOH.  WAIT.  Rocky Road.

I recently went to the grocery store when very hungry.  Yes, mother, I know.  Don't DO that.  I saw some chocolate and vanilla swirl marshmallows.  Lee likes marshmallows and the thought process went, I will buy some, eat a few and then they will disappear before I go back into the pantry.  But paired with some walnuts, that would make a pretty good version of Rocky Road ice cream.

 

No Churn Chocolate Ice Cream

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons Crème de Cacao (optional)
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate bar, melted.  I used Ghirardelli.
2 cups heavy cream

 

If you choose to make the rocky road version

 

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
6 or so large chocolate vanilla swirl (or plain) marshmallows, chopped small.  Or use a handful of the miniature marshmallows.
Powdered sugar

Place the sweetened condensed milk in a large bowl.  Add the vanilla and the Crème de Cacao and give it a stir.  Break up the chocolate bar and use your favorite method for melting chocolate.  It will burn if you get it too hot.  I chose to use a pan over very low heat and as soon as it started to melt I turned off the heat and just kept stirring it until it was all smooth.

 

I set the hot, melted chocolate aside and started the cream whipping.  It takes at least 5 minutes and I wanted to let the chocolate cool a bit first.  I used the Kitchen Aid mixer and set it to whipping the heavy cream while I chopped some nuts. 

 

I used a pair of kitchen shears to cut up the marshmallows.  In order to keep them from sticking, I put a small amount of powdered sugar on my cutting board and dipped the cut ends into the sugar to prevent that. 

 

I cut them lengthwise in strips, dipped them and then cross cut them and dipped again.  Make sure the cream does not get over whipped, so check it often. You want it to make stiff peaks. 

I made a smaller amount of nuts and mallows and then decided it didn't look like enough and made a bit more.  These are the final measurements.

 

 

Stir the cooled, yet still liquid, chocolate into the milk mixture. 

 

Then fold in the whipped cream.  When the chocolate is all one color, you may add the nuts and mallows.  Or just nuts.  Hey, it's YOUR ice cream!

 

I used the Glad FreezerWare containers and it made about 2 1/2 containers.  It needs to freeze for 6 hours, but I lost control after about 2 hours and it was soft and delicious.  But you should have more willpower than I.

 


 


I have to say I liked it even better than the Peach Ice Cream. It was as silky as any high priced ice cream and the marshmallows were soft and the walnuts crunchy.  Just perfect.