No Bake Cherry Nutella Chocolate Tart

Cherry Nutella Chocolate Tart

The web’s inundated with such recipes. Recipes of luscious no bake cakes and pies. But just a deluge of formulas is never enough to do certain things. I could have made this oh-so-simple sweet something long long back.. but I didn’t. What was I waiting for? Christmas you would say, but a decadent strawberry cake took its rightful place and again this particular recipe took a backseat.

One for the season

Inspiration. Yes, that’s what I needed. And Inspiration comes to us slowly and quietly… prime it with a little solitude
Being all alone(and the fact that a box full of cherries is lying uneaten)has its impacts. Yes, you end up making a cheery cherry chocolate pie. And if the inspiration bit is kicking your butt, then you end up adding nutella to it 😉

tart sweet and juicy

Those cherries had not takers. The precious little eyes which gleamed when a box full was spotted turned blind at the mere mention. The tongue was more than appeased with the little stone fruits. They had been gorging on them for over a month now. So, the scorned neglected but juicy red fruit sat all alone waiting to be acknowledged. I grabbed them before they withered and sulked.

Serves One 🙂

The Recipe: To make a small tart or 4 small one-serve cups

Ingredients

• 1 pack of digestive biscuits or any cream biscuits. I used Bourbon
• 1 tbsp melted butter
• 1 cup cherries, pitted and halved
• 1/2 cup low fat cream, I used Amul’s
• 50 gms dark cooking chocolate, cut into big pieces
• 2 tbsp nutella
• 2 tsp cornflour

Method

Crush the biscuits in a ziplock pouch using a rolling pin. Remove the crushed mix into a large bowl. Drop a tablespoon of melted butter. Using your fingers, mix and mash around till it resembles a fine crumb.
Grease the container in which you want to set the dessert. Press the biscuit butter crumb as tightly and neatly as you can. Refrigerate for about an hour or so.
Meanwhile, save a bit of cream and mix with cornflour. Keep aside. The remaining cream, nutella and chocolate goes into a pan. Heat till it melts, stir all the while.
Pour the cream and cornflour mix into it. Keep stirring till the sauce thickens to a batter like texture. Cool for about 30 minutes or so.

Now, remove the biscuit base, dot with pitted and halved cherries. Pour the cooled chocolate-nutella-cream mix. Chill for at least 3/4 hours or until set.

Serve with more cherries or stewed cherries like I did.

The biscuit base lends a delicious crunch!

Recipe for Stewed Cherries:

Boil 1 cup of pitted and halved cherries, along with 2 tbsp sugar, juice of 1/2 a lime and 1 cup water. Simmer till the cherries have wilted into a mushy consistency. Keep adding water all along if they stick to the base or incase they tend to burn. Cool and use as required.

A peek inside

Note: The original recipe has a baked base, I opted for a no bake one. To follow the original, click here.

Note: This recipe will go great with peaches, strawberries, blueberries or even mango.

Note: You can use standard white chocolate instead of the dark one.

Note: Serving options include whipped cream or even vanilla ice-cream. Yumm!

Simple, easy delicious dessert

I am taking dessert this time over at Angie’s Friday Fiesta #24. Do peek over to see some awesome collection of mouth-watering recipes and writing.

Choco Chip Mini Muffins – EggFree

School re-opens. A brand new year. New teacher. Fresh clean books. Sharpened pencils. And amongst all this – new classmates. Her class gets shuffled every year, and this grade none of her friends are with her. She returns home dejected and sullen.

Mini Muffins

Slow at makin friends and adapting to new people, the little girl takes her own sweet time in settling down and getting companionable. Once she does though is another story altogether! But for now, she is bitter. Full of complaints on the first day – that girl pushed me, this boy pulled my hair, teacher was rude… the list is endless. It takes mammoth patience and understanding to explain that the whole world is not there to bite her. They have other work too. A task really. But her stubborn mind is not so yielding.

Choco chips in butter vanilla

When the hostile mind slowly dies down, out rises the receptiveness. Her desires for amity make way for innumerable possibilities. Topping the list was Food 🙂

One smart girl I have. Food brings people closer, breaks barriers, warms the heart.
Someone so rightly said “If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house, EAT with Him….. the people who give you their food, will give you their heart”

So I bake for her camaraderie. And I bake for her zest and spirit.

chocolate muffin

For the Vanilla Butter Cupcakes –

Ingredients

• 1 cup maida/all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• Baking powder 1 tsp
• Baking soda 1/4 tsp
• Warm Milk 1/3 cup
• Curd 1/2 cup, whisk it before using
• melted butter, 1/4 cup
• Vanilla essence 1/4 tsp
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips, white or dark or a bit of both

Method

Preheat oven to 150 C.
In a big mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients except the chocolate chips. Mix well. Now, make a well in the center of the dry mixture. Add the curd, vanilla, vinegar and butter.
Using a hand whisk, gently mix the ingredients until well combined. Make sure the wet ingredients are incorporated into the dry ingredients. Don’t over mix. Gently fold in the choco chips.

Now line your cupcake tray with liners or grease them of required. Spoon the batter till the moulds are 3/4th full. If you like, you can top the cupcakes with more chocolate chips.
Bake the little muffins at 150 C for about 8-10 minutes or until they are done. Remove. Cool.

For the chocolate cupcakes, follow the above method and add 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa to the dry ingredients and add a bit of milk accordingly.

Box full

Note: Chopped nuts or any dried fruit can also be added in place of chocolate chips.

Note: Do not over bake the cupcake, around 8-10 minutes should be apt, else they turn hard and chewy.

Little Treats

She wanted the entire box, which is SO not allowed in school. Gently coaxing her to take a few to share with her immediate neighbors was met with instant disapproval.
Friendship takes time, I cajoled.
Yes, but I need some for my old friends too…. left me with no more words.