No-Bake Chocolate Tart with Strawberries

They say young people need to get the wildness out of their system. They say youth gives you permission to do stupid things. Someone wise also added that youth is beautiful not because it lets you do stupid things, but because it gives you time to put them right.

Well, perhaps it’s time. My second eighteenth birthday. From tomorrow, time to put things right — I mean, lose weight. But today, one more celebration of youth. Better today than tomorrow. Still young today, a grown-up tomorrow. So it wouldn’t be fitting.

And this tart, which I once stumbled across on some YouTube video, had been on my mind constantly. Well, luckily I’ve finally ticked it off. Youth tells you to notch things up; maturity only to consolidate them. And put them right. So, a diet tomorrow?

Perhaps it’ll work? Or perhaps youth isn’t over yet?

Besides, how do you combine losing weight with giving up smoking? And that’s already been promised. Yesterday, Ninka and I were walking back from the playground when she asked, „Daddy, what’s nice about smoking cigarettes?” Nice? „There’s nothing nice about it. Smoking is pure stupidity, isn’t it?” And then came the question that always puts you on the spot in these situations: „Then why do you smoke?”

„You know, Ninuś, sometimes people get used to doing stupid things and find it hard to stop, but I promise you I’ll give up soon. Maybe on Wednesday.”

„You should give up on Monday, because it’s your birthday on Monday.” My darling child didn’t add, „and you won’t be young any more”. Well, I suppose I never was, to her 😉 Children are like that: every grown-up seems old until they find the right point of reference.

Perhaps I’ve written this before, although… I once worked as a children’s holiday camp counsellor. In Łeba, on the Polish coast. The children were in their early school years, little rascals in primary school grades 1 – 3, and from Ruda Śląska to boot (greetings to Ruda :). It was just after my school-leaving exams. Three weeks of gruelling work. It was a camp. A Polish camp. A punishment camp for the counsellor.

But that’s not the point. I got used to my little group. We even grew quite fond of each other. On the last day, we went for our final walk on the beach and I was asked a dozen or so difficult questions. Difficult now; back then, fresh out of school and my exams, they seemed rather simple. „Mr M, where does the sand come from?”, „Mr M, why are there waves?”, „Mr M, why is the sea water salty?”…

After lengthy explanations, one of the bravest campers asked whether he could ask me an „intimate question”. I said he could ask pretty much anything; at worst, he wouldn’t get an answer. So out came the question: „Mr M, how old are you?” I chuckled inwardly at „intimate” and said, „19”. And that was when the point of reference appeared.

oh, my sister’s older than you. We thought you were old and already had a wife and children…

Unfortunately, back then that wasn’t a compliment yet. What’s more, the authority I’d spent three weeks building collapsed completely. These days I’d take that sort of indignation without hesitation 😉

So I probably never was young to Ninka. That doesn’t change the fact that I’ve promised to give up cigarettes. I don’t know whether I’ll manage to reconcile that with losing weight.

Back to the tart: I definitely recommend testing whether you can resist it. This incredibly chocolatey tart. Exceptionally easy to make. Clearly healthy, thanks to the strawberries. If you can’t resist, you’re definitely still young. My result says I’m younger than Ninka today (aged 7), because I ate twice as much as she did. So I recommend this sweet little test.

Recipe at a glance:

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Chilling time: at least 4 – 5 hours

Serves: hmm, several people

Calories: mistakes of youth are forgiven, even their calories

Ingredients for chocolate tart with strawberries:

• 28 Oreo biscuits (7 packs of 4)
• about 12 fairly large strawberries
• half a bar of white chocolate (50 grams)
• 1 bar dark chocolate (100 grams)
• half a large bar of milk chocolate with whole hazelnuts (about 150 grams)
• 100 grams butter
• 1 carton sweet whipping cream, 30% fat (200 grams)

Recipe for no-bake chocolate tart (with strawberries and an Oreo base):

I put the Oreo biscuits (whole, with their filling) into the blender container (the one with the chopping blade; unfortunately, I had to do it in 3 batches because my container is small), and Ninka blended them (crushed them, that is). Then we tipped all the crushed biscuits into a tall bowl. We mixed them to check they had become fine sand with no larger pieces left.

I melted the butter and added it to the bowl of Oreo sand. Ninka mixed it thoroughly. We transferred the mixture to our tin and carefully shaped it into something resembling a tart (trying to build up higher sides). I put the prepared base in the freezer.

I washed and dried the strawberries and cut them in half.

While the tart base was in the freezer (about 20 minutes), Ninka and I prepared the chocolate topping. Ninka put the chocolate, broken into small pieces, into a bowl. Meanwhile, I heated the sweet 30% cream (until very warm, but not boiling). I poured the hot cream over the chocolate pieces and mixed thoroughly, until every piece of chocolate had melted and we had a smooth mixture with nuts.

I took the base out of the freezer and poured the chocolate cream on top. Ninka decorated it with strawberries (as you can see in the photo :). I covered our tin tightly and put the tart in the fridge. After about 4 – 5 hours, it’s ready to eat. But it’s best after roughly 12 hours in the fridge. Enjoy!