TWD: Chocolate Cream Tart

It's that time of the week again...and lately that seems to mean me in kitchen...unwrapping bars of chocolate...chopping it.......tempering eggs to make a custard....(mind you, I am not complaining, we've just had our run of custard and chocolate recipes lately!)

This week's Tuesdays With Dorie recipe was Chocolate Cream Tart, chosen by Kim of Scrumptious Photography.

I love chocolate cream pie...love, love it. And it's the kind of dessert I rarely buy, or order out...I was really looking forward to making this week's dish, seeing the posts on P&Q on TWD site-and hearing from fellow bloggers like Nancy, who promised this recipe would not disappoint.

The only thing I fear is I'M the one who will disappoint....Confession: I didn't make the tart crust for this....what's worse, I didn't make the crust at all..I used the frozen one that's been in the freezer the better part of 6 mos! It was another hectic weekend in the house, my 4 siblings came to town, some with niece/nephew in tow, and we were hopping back and forth between my house and my brother's a few miles away. He was putting up a basketball hoop in his driveway for his three kiddos, and needed help putting the finishing touch--backboard--up onto the pole....Some folks swung by our house as Dear Husband and I wanted to show off the progress we've made on the various paint jobs he's done around the house. So as much as this recipe called for a crowd, I did not make it until it was back to just the 2 of us on Sunday.

Since I am still "wishin' and hopin' and prayin'" for a large capacity food processor to tun out tart dough and other fun pastries (Yes, I know I can make in the mixer..but it never quite comes out the 'grainy' texture I look for) I flaked out (pun intended I suppose!) yet again and went for the frozen pie shell in the freezer that was begging to finally be used. "Use it to save it" as my grandmother would say...and so I did. It also meant I can take this recipe in piecemeal--focus on the filling, get it right, and then next time incorporate a home made crust.

The filling was amaaaazing! I loved this...It came together super easily and I'm a whiz now at the temper, stir and boil routine! Bring on the custards!
I put the filling together on Sunday morning and did the saran wrap on top-and-cool in refrigerator route most of the day. Here is the saran-wrapped filling:
Meanwhile, I baked the empty shell and it hung out on the counter until after dinner when I put it all together with the whipped cream...(is there anything more lovely than home-made whipped cream?!)

So here is the finished product....
I got a bit messy with the topping...not the best presentation (I urge you to visit other TWD bloggers for more creative takes on this!)
I'll definitely make this again--and we are enjoying it tonight, on day 2, so the whipped cream held up in the fridge....so I think it does not necessarily need to be eaten that day, as suggested.

Dear Husband (my chocolate connoisseur) admitted that with such a rich filling, a chocolate crust might actually have been too much chocolate for him, so he voted to go with a pie crust next time (I just vote that next time I make the crust..I feel like a farce using the store bought shell!)

So there you have it...not the best post I've ever had either...I'm rather distracted now that I have 'wi-fi' in the house and a new work laptop...I've got one eye on this post--and the other on my poor Yankees....looks like Detroit is not any better luck for them than Beantown was....Sigh...