A glorified Snickers bar

What’s got two thumbs and loves peanut, caramel and chocolate? This gal. I’m a firm believer that if you’re going to waste your hard earned calories on a single chocolate bar, it might as well have more than one thing going for it. Enter the Snickers bar. Peanuts, caramel, nougat and chocolate – tick, tick, tick, tick. Stick it in the freezer and you’ll have a very enjoyable 20 minutes getting through it.

This tart is nothing more than a glorified Snickers. We start with a sweet, salty and nutty hazelnut pastry. Next up is a quick and easy nougat crammed with peanuts. That gets slathered with a gorgeous salty caramel, and then the whole thing is topped off with a layer of silky peanut butter and chocolate. It’s a bit of a showstopper. You will have numerous new best friends if you share it.

There’s nothing difficult about this tart and most of it can be made in advance. My local supermarket used to sell marshmallow fluff (for the nougat) but they don’t any longer so I made some . Feel free to use either store bought or homemade.

For the crust

Ingredients

¾c roasted hazelnuts, preferably with no skins
1c flour
2 tablespoons dark muscavado sugar
120g butter, cut into cubes, cold
a good pinch of salt
¼c ice water

 Method

Preheat your oven to 180°C. You will need a 9″ pie tin, there’s no need to grease it.
In the bowl of a food processor, add the hazelnuts, flour, sugar and salt. Blitz until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs.

Add the butter and blitz again until the butter is incorporated.

Pour the mixture into a large bowl and slowly drizzle in the water, bit by bit. You only need enough water so the dough starts to come together. I used just under ¼ cup.

 

Press the dough into the pie tin. It might seem like a lot, make sure it is evenly spread over the base and sides and packed in tightly.

To stop the pastry from puffing in the oven we need to add baking beans (pie weights.) You can also use rice. Line your crust with baking paper and add the beans. Bake for around 22 minutes, remove from the oven and cool completely.

For the nougat

Ingredients

40g butter
¾c sugar
3 tablespoons evaporated milk
1c marshmallow fluff (store bought or homemade)
¼c creamy peanut butter
1c salted peanuts

Method

In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add the sugar and evaporated milk, stirring constantly until the sugar is dissolved.
Bring the mixture to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the marshmallow fluff and peanut butter. Mix well then stir in the peanuts.
Pour into the pie crust and refrigerate until cool.

For the caramel

Ingredients

1c sugar
100g butter, cut into cubes, cold
125ml cream
1 teaspoon salt

Method

Add the sugar to a medium saucepan and heat it over a medium heat. You will need to stir constantly so it doesn’t burn. Nothing will happen for a couple of minutes, and then the sugar will start to clump and then melt. It will eventually turn into a amber/brown colour.
When the sugar is melted, add all of the butter at once. The caramel will bubble up.
Stir until melted and then very carefully drizzle the cream in. Mix until combined then allow the caramel to boil for one minute.
Remove from the heat and stir in the salt. Allow to cool a bit before pouring it on top of the nougat.
Refrigerate for another 30 minutes.

For the chocolate topping

Ingredients

125g milk chocolate, chopped
125g dark chocolate, chopped (I used 62%)
3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
½c salted peanuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

Method

Melt the chocolate and peanut butter together – you can either do this in a double boiler or in the microwave. You want it smooth and glossy.
Let it cool for 5 minutes then using an offset palette knife, spread it evenly over the tart. Sprinkle with chopped nuts, if using.
Refrigerate until set. I recommend serving this tart at room temperature, so remove the tart from the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving.

Notes

• Nougat recipe adapted from the Brown Eyed Baker.
• The pie crust can be made up to 3 days in advance.
• The caramel will keep for 2 weeks as long as it’s refrigerated. Warm it slightly before using.

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