Chocolate-Raspberry Torte

My very good friend, Mindy, came to visit this weekend.  Rather than run around the city doing touristy things like seeing the monuments or museums, we spent our time eating at a couple of the city's great restaurants.  We went to Founding Farmers - a place where the menu is based on sustainable and local when possible foods - where I had an amazing lemon-pepper fettuccine (note to self: figure out the recipe for this one.  Amazing!) and Zaytinya - a Greek/Mediterranean tapas-style restaurant, fast becoming one of my favorites.  While we weren't engorging ourselves on restaurant food, we were baking at home.  We made pizzelles and a very rich chocolate-raspberry tart.  I had a small piece and wow.  Mindy deserves all the credit for this one.  Thank you Mindy for the wonderful recipe!  My co-workers will be quite happy tomorrow (and my personal trainer will not be as happy with me tomorrow evening).

Crust:

1 ¾ cup chocolate graham cracker crumbs (13-14 whole crackers)

½ cup sliced, toasted, cooled, and finely chopped almonds

1/3 cup sugar
7 tablespoon butter, melted

Heat oven to 350. Have ready a 9-in. tart pan with removable bottom.

Mix crust ingredients in bowl until moistened. Press over bottom and up sides of tart pan. Bake 15 minutes.

Filling/Topping:

12ounces semisweet or dark chocolate chips

1 ½ cup heavy whipping cream
4 tablespoons raspberry flavored liqueur (such as Chambord)
2/3 cup seedless raspberry jam
2 tablespoons sugar


Heat chocolate chips and 1 cup of cream in microwave until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. (Tip: heat for 30 –45 seconds at a time, stirring well after each heating. Chocolate chips will hold their shape until you stir them.) Do not cook too long or the chocolate will burn. Once mixture is melted, stir in 3 tablespoons of liqueur and let stand 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, spread raspberry jam over bottom of crust. Pour chocolate mixture over the raspberry jam layer; refrigerate 4 hours or until firm.

Shortly before serving, remove tart from pan. Beat remaining ½ cup whipping cream, 1 tablespoons liqueur, and sugar until stiff peaks form (about three minutes). Serve with tart.