Nigella Lawson shared her “sweet” and boozy chocolate and strawberry tart recipe for a midweek treat. Thankfully, the baking legend affirmed that this rum-infused tart takes hardly any effort to make at all.
“The dramatic dark base comes courtesy of crushed Oreos and butter, which need no more than to be pressed into a shallow flan tin,” she revealed. While there is a lengthy cooling time, requiring nearly two hours in the fridge in total, it’s such a lovely dessert to serve that the wait is worthwhile. Plus, it’s a great dessert to indulgence in come a splendid sunny evening.
Chocolate and strawberry tart
Ingredients
- Two 154g packets of Oreo cookies
- 75g unsalted butter (softened)
- 100g white chocolate (broken into small pieces)
- 165g full-fat cream cheese (at room temperature)
- 100ml double cream
- Pinch of fine sea salt
- 45ml of white rum (optional)
- 400g strawberries (hulled and halved)
- Five mint leaves (rolled up and cut finely into strips)
Method
Put the Oreos into a food processor and blitz to fine crumbs. Add the butter and blitz again. Tip out into a nine-inch deep loose-bottomed fluted tart tin, press into the base, and up the sides.
Chill the tart base in the fridge for 45 minutes and take the cream out of the fridge so that it warms up to room temperature.
Melting the chocolate
About 25 minutes into the tart base chilling time, put the white chocolate pieces into a heatproof bowl that will sit on top of a saucepan.
Fill the saucepan with water so that the base of the pan is covered with about 3cm of water, then bring to a gentle boil.
Set the bowl with the white chocolate pieces on top of the saucepan that has the bubbling water.
Turn the hob’s heat to low, allowing the chocolate to melt slowly. Stir now and again. After about five minutes, when no chocolate lumps remain, take the bowl off the saucepan. Let it stand for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, put the cream cheese into another bowl, pour in the double cream and salt, and give it a mix.
Add the cooled white chocolate, mix and fold, then add in the white rum (an alcohol-free version of this dessert needs lemon zest and juice, and vanilla extract in place of the rum).
Take the tart tin out of the fridge, add the white chocolate mixture to the base, then put it back into the fridge for an hour.
Once the hour is up, add the strawberries and mint and remove the sides from the tart tin and serve.