I was dragging all day last Sunday, waiting for Chris to get home from his camping trip.  My iMac’s hard drive crashed so I couldn’t blog or surf the ‘net.  My big activity of the morning was making breakfast.  I had the leftover filling of goat cheese, pepperoni, and chives from the stuffed zucchini blossoms so I made an omelette with it for breakfast.  While waiting for the football games to start, I needed something to do so I decided to practice my crust-making skills.  I really liked the pâte sablée crust I made a couple of weeks back, so I got to work on making it again.

I was still too lazy to go to the store so I had to make the tart filling from ingredients I already had on hand.  (On a side note, I do not like grocery shopping and find it to be a tedious chore.  Luckily for me, Chris does not mind it as much, and he has done a majority of the grocery shopping for the past couple of years.  That said, you would think that we would minimize our shopping and do it once a week, perhaps on the weekend.  Well, we don’t.  We like to shop for food every couple of days since we never know what we would be in the mood to eat.  Consequently, there’s never a lot of stuff to eat around the house.)   One of the ingredients I always have at home is chocolate – bittersweet, semi-sweet, and even white.  I quickly figured out that with heavy cream and raspberries in the fridge, I can make a simple and easy chocolate ganache and raspberry tart.  It will be a perfect welcome home dessert for Chris after a long 8-hour drive home.

Chocolate Ganache and Raspberry Tart
Yields one 9-inch tart

Ingredients:
Pâte sablée pie crust, blind-baked in a 9-inch tart pan and cooled
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
2-3 tablespoons raspberry preserve. or more to taste
2 tablespoons liqueur, Cointreau, Amaretto, Frangelico, Kahlua or Chambord, optional
Fresh raspberries, for garnish
Powdered sugar, for garnish

Method:
Follow the recipe and method for blind-baking the pâte sablée dough in a tart pan with a removable bottom.  Cool and set aside.

Place the finely chopped chocolate and butter in a medium bowl and set aside.  Combine cream, vanilla extract, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves and liquid is just at a simmer, about 4 minutes.  Pour cream mixture over chocolate and butter and let sit until melted, about 2-3 minutes. Gently stir until smooth.  Add liqueur, if using and continue to stir until it is completely incorporated.

Spread the raspberry preserve on the bottom of the cooled tart shell.  Pour the ganache into the shell and transfer to the refrigerator.  Chill until set, about 2 hours.

Garnish with fresh raspberries and sprinkle powdered sugar on top.