Milk-Chocolate Tart with Pretzel Crust

The minute I saw the Milk-Chocolate Tart with Pretzel Crust in Food & Wine, I knew I needed to make this recipe! Although, I enjoy dark chocolate, I have always loved milk chocolate, and this tart has a salty and sweet combination I also love.

Unfortunately, I had limited success with this tart. I followed the recipe as written, but the filling did not set correctly. When I cut into the tart, the filling oozed out the sides. Who tests recipes in magazines, anyway? I think if someone tested this recipe, they would have discovered the filling was much too loose. This can be easily resolved by adding more chocolate to the cream.

Don’t get me wrong, this recipe still tasted delicious. I took the tart to work, and there was only one small piece left at the end of the day. The pretzel crust worked really well with the milk chocolate. I have never creamed butter and sugar for a crust before, but it worked well. Now I've adapted this recipe to make the filling firmer, this tart is definitely worth a try!

Milk-Chocolate Tart with Pretzel Crust
Adapted from Food & Wine (2/09)

Crust
1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups coarsely crushed thin pretzels
¾ cup confectioners sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted

Filling
1 ½ cups heavy cream
1 pound milk chocolate, chopped
Sea Salt
Crushed Pretzels

Beat the butter and ¾ cup of pretzels and the sugar in a stand mixer on low speed until creamy, and add the flour and egg. Add the remaining ½ cup of pretzels. Flatten the dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Once the dough is chilled, roll the dough out between two sheets of plastic wrap into a 12 inch round. Press the dough into a 10-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Trim the overhanging dough and chill for 30 minutes or until firm.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Once the dough is chilled, line it with parchment paper, and fill it with pie weights and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the pie weights and the parchment paper and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes. If the crust darkens too much, cover it with foil. Let the tart shell cool completely, and then brush the melted bittersweet chocolate over the bottom of the tart shell. Refrigerate until set, about 10 minutes.

To make the filling, bring the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Take the cream off the heat, add the milk chocolate and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes is up, whisk until smooth. Transfer the filling to a bowl, and let cool for one hour. Pour the filling into the tart shell, and refrigerate until set. Sprinkle with sea salt, crushed pretzels and serve.