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Book Clubs, Bunco Groups, Crafting Meetups. Like me, I’m sure many of you are proud card-carrying members of a group like this…or maybe two or three? We gather about once a month with like-minded friends, often around food (always with beverage) – and discuss, share, comfort, and occasionally transform one another. Sometimes you talk about the book… sometimes you don’t. But you often walk away with a good re-charged feeling.
My friends and I are quickly approaching 12 years strong for our Cooking Club. There are five of us. We had babies and toddlers back then. When we started a few of us were strangers, but that didn’t last long. What brought us together was the idea of showing up to the table and sharing a meal. The first several years we were very organized and uber enthusiastic not letting a month pass without a Club meeting on the calendar. At one point we even talked about compiling all our recipes into a cookbook (that lasted 5 minutes). In preparation for a meeting the host picks the theme and cooks the main dish while everyone else jumps in with a complimentary side-dish, dessert, or beverage. Some of my favorite and most memorable dinners have been… “All things Pumpkin”, “Wisconsin Supper Club”, “Comfort Food”, and “French.” There have been dishes that were fantastic…and those that were epic fails! But that is the fun of it. We still laugh about the time I brought an Avocado Chocolate Tart to a Latin themed dinner. We never had a chance to try it – the dog got to it before we could. I still wonder if that was an odd coincidence? When I excitedly arrived that evening, announcing my dessert, I recall not being met with equal enthusiasm. Plan B was a Jewel-Osco Bakery cake for dessert.
As the years have passed our Club meetings sometimes stretch to every eight to ten weeks. Our kids will soon be off to college. Sometimes we decide to eat together at a restaurant instead of cooking. And if you’re busy and just can’t find the time to pull a dish together…we welcome store bought. We have even taken our Club meetings on the road to Lake Geneva for a different scenery. But the idea of Cooking Club and the reason we started remains the same. We all show up to the table and share a meal. We catch up on each other’s lives. We laugh together and often laugh at each other. And most importantly, we walk away with a good feeling in our hearts and are recharged for what the next day brings… and thankful we made the time to share a meal at the table.
Maybe at our next Cooking Club I’ll give the Avocado Chocolate Tart a go again. Or maybe you can make it for your next Club meetup. If you do, let me know what you think!
Avocado and Dark Chocolate Tart
- ½ cup unsalted roasted pistachios
- 6 ounces dark chocolate wafer cookies
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- Kosher salt
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 medium soft-ripe avocados
- 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
- 6 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons each lemon juice and vanilla extract
- 4 ounces dark chocolate (60 to 64% cacao), chopped
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- Preheat oven to 350°. Pulse pistachios in a food processor until coarsely ground; reserve 1 tbsp. Add cookies, granulated sugar, and a pinch of salt to remaining nuts and whirl until finely ground. Add butter and whirl until mixture is just combined. Press over bottom and up sides of a 9- to 10-in. tart pan with a removable rim. Bake until fragrant, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack.
- Scoop avocados into cleaned food processor. Add cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and a pinch of salt; whirl until smooth. Spread filling in tart crust, preferably using an offset spatula. Chill while making ganache.
- Put chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Heat cream in a small saucepan until bubbles form at edge of pan. Pour cream over chocolate and let stand 1 minute. Whisk until smooth. Cool ganache until just warm to touch (95°), 5 to 6 minutes.
- Pour ganache over avocado filling and gently spread to cover, preferably using a clean offset spatula. Sprinkle with reserved 1 tbsp. pistachios. Chill at least 2 hours.