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(or Recipe Lost and Found)
I was a little pressed for time.
I know. It’s never happened to you, right? Must be nice.
(If you are pressed for time, you can skip to the recipe here.)
When you are the lady with the desserts, you are expected to be the lady with desserts. You are not the lady who shows up to Trivia Night with store bought French Onion Dip and chips.
Personally, I am all about the French Onion Dip, but I have to hope someone else brings it.
Okay, so what dessert to bring? Usually the easiest thing to throw together at the last minute is cake pops… and if you know anything about me, you’ll know how exciting I find that. (If you don’t know me yet, you can read all about it in my first ever post.)
On this particular Saturday, I knew I did not have any frozen cake in the freezer. After I had already spent my morning taking a Daisy Journey with my troop and having lunch with my visiting niece, we ran into Target for some dessert ingredients. (Click here to read more about my Daisies. 😊)
We got home just in time for my husband to whisk her away to the hockey game.
Whoo hoo! Peace and quiet to concentrate on my dessert.
…
About 30 seconds later, the neighbor started edging his lawn.
(shrug)
By this point, it is 2:30pm. I know I want to make some no-bake fruit tarts, and I have to get them started so the filling can chill for an hour before I add the fruit topping. I have to leave at 5:30pm, so I should just have enough time.
I walk into the office and pull out my tea recipe binder.
Nope. Not in there.
Okay, so it is in my general dessert recipe binder.
Uh-uh.
Wait! It is on the coffee table because I was planning to use the recipe for a class I am teaching.
…
Fine. No problem. I prefer having my printed copy of the recipe, but I will just pull it up on my phone. It is on a popular recipe site, originally created by Hershey, so I will just type in the title on this site and it will pop right up. I have been using this recipe for at least 15 years.
“Double Chocolate Fruit Tart”
…
Someone is punking me right now, right?
(sigh)
Let’s just type this in the search bar on my browser and see. After 15+ years, I know the image like, well, like I have used the recipe for 15+ years.
Nothing.
I would like to say that I calmly walked back into my office and started sorting through recipes.
Let’s pretend that’s what happened anyway.
By 3:00pm, I had gotten all my ingredients out and started the recipe.
By the time 4:00pm rolled around, the tart filling was chilling, and I could finally breathe for a few minutes.
I had some leftover crust crumbs and some filling, so I think I earned myself a little snack.
This is one of the easiest fruit tart recipes I have ever made. The crust is no-bake (and chocolate). The filling is no-bake (and chocolate). The fresh fruit topping gets glazed with (not chocolate, why would you think that?) melted apricot preserves.
You start with Vanilla Wafer cookies. Dump them in a food processor bowl. Add cocoa powder and powdered sugar. Process until you get very fine crumbs.
Add your melted butter.
I did not want to lug a knife to Trivia, so this time I went with mini tarts.
I put my liners into my candy mold and filled them with heaping teaspoons of crumbs.
Then I pressed them up against the sides of the liners and into the bottoms.
Again, being pressed for time, I put them in the freezer to set up for 10 minutes instead of putting them in the refrigerator.
Once I had my last tray of crusts in the freezer, I made the filling from cream cheese, sugar, cocoa, milk, and vanilla extract. When the tarts are small, I find it easier to use a large piping bag to fill them instead of trying to spoon the filling in and smooth it out with an offset spatula.
Now into the fridge to chill for about an hour.
One of the fabulous things about these tarts are the ability to use almost any kind of fruit. When I make a larger tart, I like to use bananas, kiwi, blueberries, and strawberries. (Kiwi is my favorite.) When I make mini ones, I usually stick to two, maybe three types of fruit. This time I picked blackberries and strawberries.
The last step after adding the fruit is to melt some apricot preserves in the microwave and brush it onto the tarts. Sometimes I add just a pinch of edible glitter just to make them look fancy.
Since I have a feeling today will not be the last time my recipe disappears, it’s up to you to help me remember where to find an online copy. I really appreciate it. Before you ask, yes, I did check HersheysKitchens.com once I found my copy of the recipe. Not there either.
–Angie
Double Chocolate Fruit Tarts
Notes
If you are making this tart in advance, don’t add the fruit until the day it is being served to preserve appearance. Adapted from: HersheysKitchens.com
Ingredients
- 3-4 cups vanilla wafers, whole (171g) or 1 ½ cups of crumbs
- 1/3 cup Hershey’s cocoa powder (31g)
- 1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar (38g)
- ½ cup butter, melted (113g)
- 1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese, softened (227g)
- ½ cup white sugar (100g)
- 3 Tbs Hershey’s cocoa powder (17g)
- 1 Tbs milk (15 mL)
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract (7.5 mL)
- Various fresh fruits
- ¼ cup apricot preserves
Instructions
Make chocolate crumb crust:
- Butter bottom and side of 12-inch pizza pan, 9-inch removable bottom tart pan, or mini tart pans. In the bowl of a food processor, add the vanilla wafers, the cocoa, and the confectioner’s sugar. Process until you have very fine crumbs. Add to bowl of melted butter and stir to combine. Press mixture into bottom and up sides of prepared pan; refrigerate thoroughly.
For the Double Chocolate Fruit Tart:
- In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, cocoa, milk, and vanilla until smooth and well blended. Spread mixture over Chocolate Crumb Crust or fill mini tarts using a large piping bag. Refrigerate until chilled. Peel and slice fruit. Arrange on cream cheese mixture. Heat preserves until thin; cool slightly. Glaze fruit with preserves. Refrigerate until set. Cut into wedges.
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