No-Bake Chocolate Ganache Tart with Strawberries and Sea Salt Flakes

No-Bake Chocolate Ganache Tart with Strawberries and Sea Salt Flakes

Are you ready for the Daytona 500??? No? Then why not have some easy no-bake chocolate ganache instead. With strawberries. And sea salt flakes. Did I mention no-bake? 😉

When my friend Jodi posted this recipe on her blog, it went straight to the printer in prep for making this chocolate delight for my family.

Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows I’m not much of a baker of breads and sweet treats. But give me chocolate and sea salt? I’m game! Ooh, and the chocolatey pie crust is made from Oreo cookies. YES. Oreos. Cream filling and all. Shut up, right?

I halved the recipe since I don’t own an 11-inch tart pan that it called for. One that has a bottom that conveniently pops off the bottom no less. I missed this fact in my excitement to make the recipe, and PM’d Jodi asking her how on earth she got the tart out of the pan without destroying it. My tart was served from the dish, to the anxiously waiting mouths of my family and friends. My daughter and her friend dived into it with extra strawberries on top. It may be pretty with the strawberries arranged, but plan on serving extra strawberries with this, yum!

Without further ado, here is the recipe which is way shorter than my preceding ramblings:

No-Bake Chocolate Ganache Tart with Strawberries and Sea Salt Flakes
Adapted from Jodi at The Creative Life in Between

16 Oreo cookies
2 tablespoons butter, melted
6 ounces dark sweet chocolate (I used Baker’s German Sweet)
3/4 cup heavy cream
Sea salt flakes, for garnish
Fresh strawberries, halved-lengthwise
Additional melted chocolate, for garnish

Add the Oreo cookies to a food processor (I used my 2-cup Ninja) and process until they are fine crumbs. Pour in the melted butter, and pulse until the butter is combined.

Pour the crumb and butter mixture into a 9-inch (7 ½ at base) tart dish. Using your hands, pat the crust onto the bottom and up sides of dish. Refrigerate until for at least one hour before preparing and adding filling.

Pressing the Pie Crust

To make filling, break up chocolate and place in a heat-proof bowl. Add the heavy cream to a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Immediately pour over chocolate. Allow the hot cream to melt the chocolate for a minute or two, then slowly whisk the mixture until smooth and fully incorporated. Pour into the chilled, firm crust. Refrigerate for four to six hours or overnight.

Lightly sprinkle sea salt flakes over the chocolate, then arrange the strawberry halves over top. Drizzle additional melted chocolate over all, if desired. This serves about six.

No-Bake Chocolate Ganache Tart

 

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

Crêpes Caroline

Crêpes Caroline

Last weekend I asked our foreign exchange student if she had a French recipe she would like to cook for the family, and if so, what would she like to make? Luckily the French word for crepes is the same as the English word, so I understood immediately what she was planning to make. I told her she could make them for us for breakfast the next morning. Around 9:30 am the next day, I asked her if she was ready to make the crepes for breakfast. She shook her head yes, then brought up the recipe on her cell phone — in French and metric! Thank goodness for Google  Translator and my handy dandy weight scale that converts to metric! (I discovered that 250 grams is 2 cups!)

Weighing the Flour

When I finally got the gist of the recipe translated, I found out we had to let the batter sit for two hours. Looking at the time, I said, “I guess we are having crepes for lunch instead!” So we ate small bowls of cereal to tide us over.

Caroline told me the French eat their crepes filled with jam. I said we like to put fresh fruit in ours. I let her assemble the first one, and she filled hers with jam and folded it over like a washcloth. I then made mine (using both jam and fruit) and showed her how to roll one up enchilada style. We sprinkled them with powdered sugar. A wonderful, light lunch!

Crêpes Caroline

2 cups flour (250 g farine)
3 eggs (3 oeufs)
2 cups milk (1/2 litre de lait)
1 tablespoon sugar (1 cuillère a soupe de sucre)
1 pinch salt (1 pincée de sel)
A little oil (Un peu d’ huile)
Let stand for 2 hours (Laisser reposer pendant 2 heures) 

Cracking in the Eggs

Add the flour to a bowl, then crack in the three eggs. Mix the eggs into the flour with a whisk until well combined. Slowly add the milk, whisking to combine. After watching her struggle with some lumps, I decided to pull out the electric mixer for her, as she was having trouble getting it to combine well. Mix in the rest of the ingredients, mixing on high until well combined. Let stand, uncovered, for two hours.

Whisking the Batter

When ready to make, heat up a medium-sized skillet to medium-high and spray with olive or vegetable oil. Pour in about 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup of batter, tilting the pan around so a thin layer coats the bottom. Cook each crepe for several minutes until the bottom stars to brown and the crepe is cooked through to the top. Using a spatula, flip the crepe over and heat about 30 seconds more.

Beautiful Crepe

Slide out of skillet and keep warm on a plate under a kitchen towel. Repeat until batter is gone. This makes about 10 crepes. Serve with jam, fresh fruit, and powdered sugar, folded or rolled any way you want!

Strawberries and Jams

Caroline is leaving back to France tomorrow, and we are all sad to see her go. She has been a wonderful addition to the family this past three weeks, and our entire family has really enjoyed the experience of hosting a foreign exchange student. If you are interested in hosting a student, please check out the Andeo organization. They are very well organized and I can’t be happier with the student we were paired with! Bon Voyage Caroline!

Crêpes Caroline

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Lemon Poppy Seed Angel Food Cake with Strawberries

Lemon Poppy Seed Angel Food Cake with Strawberries

I have mentioned many times now that I am not the baker in the house. That title belongs to my daughter, who revels in the messy process of sifting, mixing, rolling, baking, and decorating. We had some 3-2-1 cake mix in left in our house which is made much more to my speed of cooking. Mix a box of angel food cake dry mix along with the dry mix from any other flavor cake or muffin. You put 3 tablespoons of the cake mix in a mug or bowl, add 2 tablespoons of water, and microwave for 1 minute. Hence, the 3-2-1! You can put a surprise chocolate or something in the middle before microwaving, and top with whipped cream or anything else after it has cooled enough to eat.

Mini-cakes Cooling

This 3-2-1 cake mix makes enough for an army, and my daughter really wanted to make some angel food cake to go with some fresh strawberries we had just bought. I told her the only angel food cake we had was mixed with lemon poppy seed. So then she wanted to make angel food cake from scratch. Well we only had six eggs in the house, and it would have used them all up and I needed an egg for dinner or something and nixed that idea. So we found a solution. We took the rest of the 3-2-1 cake mix and decided to bake it in the oven. I completely guessed on the ingredients and amounts, but the result came out fabulous! I also think my daughter did a great job of decorating the little cake for my presentation picture. Great Job!

Lemon Poppy Seed Angel Food Cake with Strawberries

1/2 box dry angel food cake mix
1/2 box dry lemon poppy seed muffin mix
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
Powdered sugar
Fresh strawberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, mix 1/2 box angel food cake mix and 1/2 box of lemon poppy seed muffin mix. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well with an electric beater.  Pour even amounts into four ramekins and bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool. Top with powdered sugar and fresh strawberries, and whipped cream if you have some.