My New Boyfriend ... True, true, love

Meet Maxx ...

 Maxx (with the double "x" 'cause he's soooooo extream) is a KitchenAid Professional HD standing mixer.  Our match maker was a little place called Cayne's, they're a lovely group of people who knew that Maxx and I were meant to be together and so offered him at a price I could not refuse.  If you're in Canada ... CHECK THEM OUT ... I can't stress this enough.

I was off work today so Maxx and I had a play date ... we made Salted Caramel Tarts with Chocolate Sugar Cookie Shells.

 It's really a recipe in 3 chapters, you're going to want to scroll down to start the mousse and then do the shells and then come back to the mousse.

For the Shells ~ Chocolate Sugar Cookie Dough:

2 ¾ cups all purpose flour

¾ cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 ¾ cups granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350^oF and place rack in the center of the oven.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough.

I used a mini muffing pan and a tart tamper … if you don’t have one, get one, they are a great tool for stuff like this!  Mine looks like this:

and is a perfect fit for regular and mini muffin pans.

Roll dough into two inch balls and drop them into the muffin wells and then squish them into shape with the tamper.  Bake for 7 – 9 minutes, until firm. When I pulled them from the oven I pressed them with the tamper again just to put the shape back into them and then let them cool in the pan for a couple of minutes before pulling them out.

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For the Salted Caramel Mousse:

1/3 cup sugar

3 Tbsp. water

1/3 cup heavy (whipping) cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. sea salt (or more, to taste)

4 oz. PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

Briefly stir together granulated sugar in a small saucepan and let it melt in the pan, stirring constantly.  Watch it carefully as sugar will burn quickly.  When it becomes a nice caramel colour, add the water slowly; being careful, as the mixture will definitely bubble up and possibly splatter a bit.  Bring this to a boil over medium-high heat.

Remove from heat and slowly add in cream (just start with a tablespoon or two), stirring with a wooden spoon until completely smooth. Stir in vanilla and salt.  Set aside until it reaches room temperature, or refrigerate to speed up the process.

(Now’s a good time to go back and do the tart shells)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese on medium-high speed for 1 minute until very smooth.  Add in the room-temperature caramel and powdered sugar, and beat on medium-low speed until combined.  If the mousse is too thick, add in a tablespoon or two of heavy cream.  Then increase speed to medium-high and beat for another 2 minutes until light and fluffy.  

Use the mousse to fill the tart shells and dust with Cinnamon.

Keep tarts in the fridge to chill until you serve them up.