Family favourite: Cooksista

This peppermint and caramel cream tart is a sure winner with the whole family and it's super easy!

Today's recipe is from Frances Chisholm, the lady behind Bristol based business Cooksista. She tells us "This recipe is an adaption of a proudly South African peppermint crisp fridge tart . It’s love at sight and bite- You’ll love it".

Peppermint and Caramel Cream Tart

Ingredients:

• 200 g nice biscuits ( or any coconut biscuits) 125g butter
• 5 ml peppermint essence/ extract
• 50g powdered sugar
• 2 cups double cream
• 360 g tinned caramel
• 150 g peppermint chocolate, roughly chopped ( I like to use a mixture of milk chocolate and dark mint chocolate or if you can find it, Peppermint Crispt Bar from any South African Shop )

Method:

1. Crush the Nice biscuits and place in a blender with the melted butter. Blend together until the biscuits are fine and coated in the melted butter. Press the biscuit crumbs into a 17 cm springform cake tin or tart tin and chill for 30 minutes.
2. Then, place 1 cup of cream in a mixer. Whip the cream until it starts to peak and get stiff. In a separate bowl, tip out the tinned caramel and mix until smooth. Now, take the cream and gently fold it into the caramel with a spatula (1 spoon at a time). Once fully incorporated, spoon the cream caramel into a piping bag and pop in it in the fridge. With a clean bowl, whip up the second cup of cream.
3. When the cream starts to thicken stop the mixer, add in the powdered sugar and peppermint essence. and then resume mixing again starting with low speed and increase to medium speed up to high speed. Take this cream and place it into a piping bag and set in the fridge.
4. Now it is time to assemble Take out the biscuit base from the fridge and your two creams. Cut open the piping bag (2cm diameter) and pipe a layer of peppermint cream over the base. Then, take half of your chocolate and sprinkle over the cream.
5. Next, pipe the caramel cream on top of the peppermint. Any left over peppermint cream and caramel can be used to decorate the tart. Sprinkle over the rest of the chocolate. Remove from cake tin.
6. If you can resist eating it, you can leave in the fridge to chill overnight. Otherwise, pop on the kettle, make some tea and enjoy

 

Advanced

For a challenge, why not try making your own biscuits and caramel...

Homemade Nice biscuits

Ingredients:

• Half tbsp linseeds
• 200g plain flour, and a little extra for dusting 100g coconut oil
• 25g desiccated coconut
• 140g golden caster sugar

Method:

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Put the linseeds in a small bowl and add 1.5 tbsp water. Leave to soak for 5-10 mins. Meanwhile, rub the flour and coconut oil together in a large mixing bowl until the coconut oil is well distributed and the mixture looks like fresh breadcrumbs. Stir in the desiccated coconut and set aside. Tip the linseeds, together with their soaking water, into the bowl of a mini food processor and blitz until frothy. Add the sugar and blitz again until well mixed. Pour the linseed and sugar mixture into the flour and coconut oil and knead together to form a ball of dough. If the dough feels like it’s too dry and may crack when rolling out, add a little water, 1 tsp at a time.
2. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and roll it out to about the thickness of a £1 coin. Cut into 7cm x 4cm rectangles and place on a large baking sheet lined with baking parchment – make sure you leave 2-3cm between each biscuit. Bake in batches for 10-12 mins or until just starting to turn golden at the edges. Transfer to a wire rack using a palette knife or fish slice and leave to cool completely before decorating.

Homemade caramel (but like the tinned kind you get in the store)

Ingredients:

• 1 x 395g tin sweetened condensed milk

Method:

1. Remove label from the unopened can of condensed milk. Fill a deep medium saucepan with water. Bring to the boil. Carefully place the can in the saucepan, ensuring there’s enough water to completely cover the can at all times, topping up water frequently throughout the cooking process.
2. Simmer, uncovered for 3 hours. Ensure the can is completely covered with water at all times during cooking. Carefully remove the can from the boiling water. Allow to cool completely before opening and using.