Caramel Praline Tart

I’ve been waiting quite some time to be able to share this awesome tart with you. I made one weeks ago, but alas, it fell apart in my fridge, and I was so angry I picked it up in chunks and threw it across my kitchen. I had streaks of sticky caramel and clumps of pralines and pie crust everywhere! It took me two hours to clean my kitchen (I was surprised to see some of the places that caramel got into!) and another hour and half to clean out my refrigerator. The moral to this story is: It may make you feel really good to throw food, but you will have to clean it up, and that doesn’t feel so good.

*Sigh. K, I have to admit, I didn’t care about having to clean it up- throwing it was extremely therapeutic 🙂

Without further ado, I give you an excellent Caramel Praline Tart….

1 sheet refrigerated pie pastry*

36 caramels (or 11 oz. pkg of caramel bits)

1 cup heavy whipping cream, divided

3 1/2 cups pecan halves

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

1. Unroll pastry on a lightly floured surface. Transfer to an 11-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom; trim edges. *Since I don’t have a tart pan, I used a pie plate.

2. Line unpricked pastry shell with a double layer of heavy duty foil. Bake at 450* for 8 minutes. Remove foil; bake 5-6 minutes longer or until light golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

3. In large saucepan, combine caramels and 1/2 cup cream. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until caramels are melted. Stir in pecans. Spread filling evenly into crust. Drizzle with melted chocolate.

4. Refrigerate for 30 minutes (or longer!) until set. Whip remaining cream; serve with tart.

Food on Friday: Pies and Tarts