On Planet Byn, NYE is just another night to relax and stay in or go to the movies, and of course, cook. This year I pulled some pork, mixed up some slaw, and had a couple of my girls over to hang out. Kristine leaves for the Philippines in a week, and she is super sad she’s going to miss the Golden Globes party (the best awards show of the season, in case you need a reminder), so I made this feast to replace that.

For dessert I made this Milk Chocolate Tart with Pretzel Crust, and I can’t for the life of me remember how I stumbled on to this link. I was skeptical of the structure, as the crust seemed really hard after coming out of the oven, plus a lot of the reviewers mentioned the filling didn’t really set. I kind of wrote it off before even tasting it.

Well guess what? In the words of Snooki, who we watched drop in her hamster ball, it was frickin’ awesome.  The crust is like a crunchy, slightly salty cookie, and the filling is rich and smooth. The crushed pretzels and flaky sea salt look great and cut the sweetness of the filling with another hit of saltiness.

My only recipe notes here are that there quite a few wait times built into the recipe – mix crust, chill for half an hour, roll out crust, chill for half an hour, make filling, let cool for 1 hour – not to mention a 4 hour chill time before serving. I recommend making this the day before serving, or even 2 days. It’s definitely worth it.

Milk Chocolate Pretzel Tart

Source: Food & Wine Magazine

Ingredients

Crust

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

1 1/4 cup coarsely crushed thin pretzels

3/4 cup icing sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 egg

4 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted

Filling

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

3/4 lb (12oz) milk chocolate, chopped

*flaky sea salt, and crushed pretzels for sprinkling on top*

Directions

1. In a large bowl, beat the butter with 3/4 cup of the pretzels, and the icing sugar at low speed until creamy. Beat in the flour and the egg, then the remaining 1/2 cup of pretzels. Flatten the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap and chill until firm, about 30 minutes – 1 hour.
2. Roll out the dough between the sheets of plastic wrap to a 12″ round. Flip the dough into a 10″ fluted tart pan with a removeable bottom. Gently press the dough into the bottom and sides of the pan and trim any overhang. Refridgerate the shell for 30 minutes or until firm.
3. Blind bake the tart by covering the dough with a piece of tin foil and filling it with pie weights or dried beans or rice (this lets the tart bake without browning) and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and weights and cook for 10-15 more until the shell is firm. Let cool completely.
4. Once cool, brush the melted chocolate over the bottom and up the sides of the tart shell. Chill in the fridge until set.
5. To make the filling, place the chopped milk chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Measure the whipping cream in a glass measuring cup with a spout and heat in the microwave until hot. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, and let stand for 5 minutes, before whisking until smooth. Let cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. Pour filling into tart. Chill for at least 4 hours, but I would recommend overnight.
6. Before serving, sprinkle with crushed pretzels and flaky sea salt. Filling will be a little soft, but you should still be able to get a clean cut.