Because pi day is next week! And while celebrating with math is one option, I prefer to add an E and celebrate with all things pie instead. Even if that pie is really a tart. Who knew math could be so very deeeeeelicious?
I wanted to follow up from Monday’s complete sprinkle loaded magical sugar bomb with a sweet, salty, sultry little number. Today we’re combining a toasty peanut crust with a caramel nut filling and peanut butter milk chocolate topping. Finishing it off with chopped Snickers and salty peanut crumbs. I made this the other weekend on our trip up in the mountains and retested it this past Monday, just to make sure it was totally worth your while. The verdict? YES. Very much worth everyone’s while.
Now can you please come pry this tart from my hands before I have a 3rd slice and say toodaloo to my self control forever??
While calories mouthwatering flavors are in abundance, this is a super simplified recipe. I know I always say that but I PROMISE it’s the caramel-y truth. The crust takes a few minutes to come together and is the most “tricky” component (if you can even call it tricky!). I’ll include all of the crust step photos for you below the recipe. But here’s what to know now:
3 Layers To Love
- Peanut Crust made from peanuts, flour, brown sugar, cold butter, + ice water.
- Caramel Nut Filling made from homemade caramel + salted peanuts.
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Topping made from just chocolate + peanut butter.
There’s milk chocolate, peanut butter, caramel, and salty peanuts all in one bite. Just like a Snickers bar. And there’s chopped Snickers too! Plus a super tender and melt-in-your mouth peanut crust, unlike any I’ve ever tasted before. Once the crust is prepped, pre-bake it so it cooks, becomes all toasty, and stays intact.
If you’ve made my 4 ingredient salted caramel before, you’ll be happy to know it’s the base of the caramel filling. Reduce the salt in the caramel because you’ll stir in 1 cup of salted peanuts. If you use unsalted peanuts, however, make sure you add the salt to the caramel filling. I include this in the recipe notes below.
So we have the pre-baked crust, the caramel nut filling, now what? Let’s top the whole thing with the melted chocolate + peanut butter. Seriously just give me a spoon with this stuff. Same topping we use for peanut butter cup tart, too.
Make sure you don’t freeze the tart. Rather, stick it in the fridge for a few hours to set up. Freezing the caramel = rock hard caramel! Rather, we want a nice soft, smooth, chewy caramel and a few hours in the fridge will help us get there. You can freeze the tart to enjoy at a later time though—see my make-ahead tip!
More Reasons To Make This Snickers Caramel Tart
- The crust and caramel for the filling can both be made ahead. So if time’s a concern, you can absolutely begin a day or two before.
- You don’t need to bake the filling + topping! Just spread both into the pre-baked crust and refrigerate.
- Decorate the pie however you’d like whether that’s chopped Snickers bars, a little extra caramel drizzle, crushed peanuts, sea salt, etc
- Truly, this is one of the best desserts I’ve ever made. And that’s a direct exclamation from my husband who usually just says “this is good.”
Crust step by step shots and helpful notes below the recipe.
More Snickers Recipes
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Snickers Caramel Tart
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes
- Yield: serves 8-10
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Snickers caramel tart combines caramel, salty peanuts, chocolate, and peanut butter for one irresistible sweet and salty dessert!
Ingredients
- 1 and 3/4 cups (220g) salted roasted peanuts, divided*
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 Tablespoons (25g) light brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) ice water
- homemade salted caramel* (see note)
- 6 ounces milk or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 2 Tablespoons (31g) creamy peanut butter
- optional: chopped Snickers bar, crushed peanuts, extra caramel for topping
Instructions
- I encourage you to check out the step-by-step photos for the crust below this recipe before beginning.
- For the crust: Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Using a food processor, pulse 3/4 cup peanuts, the flour, brown sugar, and salt together until it reaches the consistency of coarse meal. Add the cubes of cold butter and pulse until the mixture turns into pea-sized crumbs. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Slowly stir in 3 Tablespoons of ice water. You only want to add enough water to bring the dough somewhat together. Using floured fingers or the bottom of a flat and lightly floured measuring cup, press the dough evenly into a 9-inch tart pan. You want it extremely tight in the pan. You’ll need to use pie weights for the next step, so line the crust with aluminum foil or parchment paper and add pie weights. If you do not have pie weights, prick the crust a few times with a fork so no air bubbles form.
- Bake (with pie weights) for 18-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to slightly cool as you prepare the filling.
- For the filling: Mix the salted caramel and 1 cup of peanuts together. If the salted caramel was made ahead of time, slightly warm it so that it can easily be poured. Pour caramel nut filling into crust.
- For the topping: Using a double boiler or microwave, melt the chocolate and peanut butter together until smooth. If using the microwave, stop and stir every 15 seconds until melted. Spread over caramel nut filling. Garnish with optional toppings, if desired.
- Chill in the refrigerator, uncovered, for 2-3 hours or until set. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: This is the perfect recipe to make ahead of time and there are several ways to do it. You can prepare the entire dessert, cover tightly, and keep in the refrigerator for 3 days before serving. If the caramel is too firm, let it sit at room temperature for a couple hours before cutting. Or you can prepare the crust in steps 2 and 3, allow to cool, and refrigerate for up to 2 days. You can also prepare the salted caramel for the filling up to 1 week in advance. Tart freezes well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature to soften the caramel before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Food Processor | Glass Mixing Bowls | 9-Inch Tart Pan | Pie Weights | Black Serving Plate
- Peanuts: I suggest salted roasted peanuts for best flavor. You can use unsalted if you prefer, see next note + use 1 teaspoon salt in the crust.
- Chocolate: You need 6 ounces of pure chocolate. Pure baking chocolate is sold in 4 ounce bars, so you need 1.5 bars. I recommend Baker’s or Ghirardelli brands, both solid in 4 ounce bars in the baking aisle. Instead, you can use 3/4 cup chocolate melting wafers (I like Ghirardelli brand) or chocolate chips. Nestlé Toll House milk chocolate chips work wonderfully here!
- Caramel: If you use salted peanuts as suggested, reduce salt in salted caramel sauce to 1/4 teaspoon. If you are using unsalted peanuts, follow the salted caramel recipe as listed with 1 teaspoon of salt. You’ll need 1 cup of salted caramel, which is the entire recipe.
Keywords: snickers tart, homemade tart, chocolate tart
Let’s take a look at how the peanut crust is made. This crust is exactly like my toasted hazelnut crust only we’re subbing in peanuts for the toasted hazelnuts. You’ll need a food processor for this crust—otherwise, a pastry cutter will be just fine.
Remember to always use cold butter and cold ice water. Temperature is everything in baking, but it’s of utmost importance in pie and tart crusts. Cold cold cold! After the dry ingredients are pulsed with the butter into crumbs, pour it into a bowl and stir in some ice water. It’s the wintertime right now and therefore, it’s super dry out. I had to use about 3.5 Tablespoons of ice water. Keep the time of year in mind when preparing pie crust. Humidity (or lack thereof) makes a difference!
Left photo: the water mixed in. Get your hands dirty to really combine those crumbs together. Then mold it into an un-greased tart pan right photo. I use floured hands + a floured measuring cup to really pack that crust tightly into the pan.
Pie weights! Crucial here. If you do not have pie weights, prick a few holes into the crust and blind bake without them.
There we go! Crust is completely baked and ready for the caramel nut filling in step 4. Have fun, bakers!
I love Sally’s Baking Recipes! This tart was good but a little too salty for us. I’m thinking maybe it was even the peanuts I used. The crust was fine and the chocolate topping was fine but the caramel mixed with the salted peanuts just got too salty and overpowered the sweet. I don’t see anyone else having this problem in the comments though so I’m thinking something went wrong in what I did or the peanuts must have been to salty.
★★★★
Can I use store bought salted caramel instead of?
Absolutely.
I loved this recipe!
★★★★★
Do you think a can of Dulche de leche could replace the Caramel?
Hi Heather, we haven’t tested it but can’t see why not. Let us know if you try it!
Decadent & delicious! I used 8 oz of Ghirardelli’s semi sweet baking chocolate with the peanut butter melt & painted a thin layer of the melted chocolate mixture on the inside bottom of the crust because I was shipping the tart over night as a birthday gift & I wanted to protect the crust! Kept it secure in the pan as well. It arrived intact & was a hit! I used the original snickers all over the top with just a light sprinkle of coarse flaked sea salt on the top & it was gorgeous! Perfect for special occasions!!
★★★★★
One of the best desserts I’ve tried! I like to add a little coarse salt on top as the topping sets.
★★★★★
Sally – all my local stores are sold out of heavy cream. I got some “light cream” – do you think that’ll work for the caramel?
Hi Kate! The caramel won’t come to the right consistency without heavy cream.
Hi! I just found this recipe and it looks soo delicious! But I have a question. For the caramel, can I substitute the heavy cream to whipping cream?
Hi Sach, you can use heavy cream or heavy whipping cream. Do not substitute “whipping cream” without the word “heavy” in the title because it doesn’t have quite as much milk fat percentage.
Can I melt a block of caramel with heavy cream instead of making homemade caramel? If so, would I just need to measure a cup of it?
Hi Sally! can I use dark chocolate (70%) instead of semi-sweet? should I add some cream?
So excited to make this for my husband’s birthday! I have an 8×11 rectangular tart pan. Would you recommend making as is in the 8X11, increasing the recipe, or just using a 9-in pie pan? Thanks!!
Hi Emily, It just depends on how many servings you wish to have of the tart! You can increase the amount for a larger pan if you wish. We hope he has a great birthday 🙂
One of the yummiest things I have ever eaten!!
Hi Sally! I made this tart for my Mom last week (she is a Snickers-lover!) and made your 4-ingredient caramel for the filling. I’ve made the caramel several times before and it’s always turned out so yummy! However, with this tart the caramel filling got *rock*hard* and wouldn’t soften up, even when kept at room temperature. Can you think of any reason why?
Thank you so much, and congratulations again on your pregnancy! SO happy for you!
Hi Katie! Did you follow the caramel recipe exactly? Heavy cream, right? It also sounds like it was over-cooked. That’s the reason it would get super hard. Try turning down the heat on the stove and boiling for less time.
This tart is delicious! I love the variety of textures in it, and the combination of sweet and salty. I happened to be multi-tasking in my kitchen when I made the chocolate peanut butter topping, and forgot to press the Snickers pieces in before it hardened. SO, I decided to melt more chocolate and use that as “glue” to have the Snickers pieces stick to the top. Cutting the tart when it’s straight from the fridge causes the chocolate to crack, which isn’t a big deal unless you want the slices to look totally perfect. I might try having the tart sit out for 30-60 minutes before slicing next time. This is definitely a keeper! What a great recipe, Sally!
Great thinking with that fix, Kristin! Yes, letting it sit for a bit should help it not to crack 🙂
Your site is my go to for any baking recipes. Your step by step instructions and pictures allow me to produce great desserts and breads. I purchased a 12 inch tart pan but cannot find recipes to fill it most use a 9 inch. Would you be able to instruct me how to convert. Looking at your chocolate caramel one. Thank you in advance
Hi Crystal, thank you so much for the comment and for using my recipes. I’m sure you could use this exact recipe for your larger pan, the layers will just be a little thinner. I’m unsure how to perfectly scale it up without testing it. (As the caramel layer would have to change, and cooking candy isn’t always easy to scale up.) The bake time for the crust may be a little shorter since it’s thinner, perhaps 15-18 minutes.
Made this over the weekend! Delightful 🙂 when my husband asked where I got the recipe, I replied “sally of course!” Almost everything I make is yours! 🙂
So delicious!!! I was only wondering why the tart pan shouldn’t be greased? Won’t the crust break when you try to remove it?
The crust has enough butter that there won’t be any sticking. Good question!
I just made this tarte! So lovely and decadent!
Truly an ode to the Snickers bar! Sally, l wish you lots of productivtiy and energy to finish the new book by Sunday’s deadline! Greetings from Germany! 🙂
For the caramel sauce, do you use 1 cup of it? Can’t wait to try this decadent looking dessert!!
Yep, use the entire homemade caramel recipe which is 1 whole cup.
Man, this looks soooo good. Could I use dark chocolate for the topping?
Absolutely! YUM.
Sally, this looks amazing! Could this recipe be made into mini-tarts? The peanut crust is an interesting take and I look forward to making it!
Absolutely! I’m unsure of the bake time for mini crusts. Once it’s set, it’s done! Same oven temp.
Can this be made in a pie pan if you don’t have a tart pan?
Yep! It will be a little more difficult to cut. Tart pans are great for tarts because tarts are on the thinner side and it’s helpful to have the sides removed for easy slicing.
Hi Jennifer! It could work, yes, but the tart will be quite thin.