A delicious, mouthwatering tart that you can make even on the hottest day - No cooking required.

Chocolate Espresso Tart

This week has been sweltering here in the UP... OK, maybe for some of you that live in places like Florida or Phoenix but for up here it is HOT with a capital H. We also have been having high humidity which makes it even worse (in my books anyways).

I have been wanting to make this dessert for a long time.. and have bought the ingredients many times not to use them or use them for something different.  Well.... this week I finally made it and I am so glad, even though I made it on the hottest day in the history.  The good thing was that I didn't use my stove or oven!  Yeah for me.

My plans were to use Strawberries as the original recipe No-Bake Strawberry Chocolate Tart, but when I took my strawberries out of the fridge they weren't so fresh.  My next thought was raspberries, but those too had seen better days.  Still didn't stop me - I decided to go for caramel and so glad that I did.. YUM!

Ingredients:
32 Oreo Cookies
1/2 cup melted butter
7 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
3.5 ounces Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt
7 ounces heavy cream
1 tsp espresso powder
chopped macadamia nuts
Caramel Sauce (optional) - store bought or homemade

Directions:
Crush Oreo Cookies - (I put them in a plastic bag and crushed them with a rolling pin.) Place in food processor and  blend until crumbs.  Add melted butter and mix.

Press cookie mixture into 15 X 4 inch rectangle tart  pan* with fingers or spoon.  Press up the sides also.  Place in refrigerator while making filling.

Pour heavy cream into a microwave save dish.  Microwave until heavy cream is hot but doesn't need to come a boil - I heated mine for approximately 1 1/2 minutes.  Pour hot cream over chocolate and let sit for 1-2 minutes.  Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is well mixed.

Pour chocolate mixture over crust.  Sprinkle macadamia nuts over chocolate mixture.
 
Place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Optional:  When ready to serve, drizzle with caramel sauce ( recipe below).  Let sit for a couple of minutes and release tart from pan.  Cut in pie shape pieces.

Cook's Note: * If you don't have a rectangle tart pan, try a springform pan.


Caramel Sauce (microwave)
I used this 5- minute Microwave Caramel Sauce from Gal on a Mission.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
Sea Salt

Directions:
Melt butter in a microwave safe dish*.

Once butter is melted, add brown sugar and heavy cream, whisk together.  Microwave for 2 minutes.

Take out of microwave and whisk again and microwave another 2 -3 minutes.

Let sit on cupboard until slightly cool and pour into container and refrigerate.

For this recipe I microwaved for 20-30 seconds to soften it slightly so I could pour it over the tart.

Cook's Note:  Make sure you use a large enough microwave dish, as I used a 2 cup glass measuring cup and once I put the brown sugar and cream, it boiled over.

Sorry about my pictures.. I had to take them quickly yesterday morning before I took these awesome chocolate filled treats to my co-workers.  The lighting wasn't very good and I was in a hurry so not the best.  But it gives me a good excuse to make them again -- that makes me happy!