Rustic Walnut Tart with Bourbon Whipped Cream
As silly as this sounds, until I saw my Rack of Lamb menu from the ATK Menu Cookbook, I never thought of making any sort of a nut pie/tart other than pecan. It was a definite A-HA! moment for me when I saw this recipe for the Rustic Walnut Tart with Bourbon Whipped Cream. I’m so glad ATK has this recipe in the cookbook.
The tart dough is subtly sweet and crispy. The walnuts provide a great texture since they’re a softer nut. And the bourbon whipped cream? I was eating that stuff with a spoon. This would make another great addition to your Easter menu.
One Year Ago: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes and Pina Colada Cupcakes
Two Years Ago: Lemon Cilantro Potato Salad
Three Years Ago: Black Bean and Butternut Squash Quesadillas and Cinnamon Biscuits
Four Years Ago: Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake
Rustic Walnut Tart with Bourbon Whipped Cream

Ingredients (serves 8)
For the Crust
- 1 cup (5 ounces) fl our
- 1/3 cup packed (2⅓ ounces) brown sugar
- 1/4 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped coarse
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into ½ -inch pieces and chilled
For the Filling
- 1/2 cup packed (3½ ounces) brown sugar
- 1/3 cup light corn syrup
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 Tbsp bourbon or dark rum
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1 3/4 cups walnuts (7 ounces), chopped coarse
For the Whipped Cream
- 1 cup heavy cream, chilled
- 1/4 cup bourbon or dark rum (optional)
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- Pinch salt
Instructions
For the Crust
Grease 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Process flour, sugar, walnuts, salt, and baking powder in food processor until combined, about 5 pulses. Sprinkle butter over top and pulse
until mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal, about 8 pulses.
Sprinkle mixture into prepared pan. Press crumbs firmly into an even layer over pan bottom and up sides using bottom of dry measuring cup. Set tart pan on large plate, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 week.
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Set tart pan on baking sheet. Press double layer aluminum foil into frozen tart shell and over edges of pan and fill with pie weights. Bake until tart shell is golden brown and set, about 30 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Let tart shell cool slightly while making filling.
For the filling
Whisk sugar, corn syrup, butter, bourbon, vanilla, and salt in large bowl until sugar dissolves. Whisk in egg until combined. Pour filling evenly into tart shell and sprinkle with walnuts. Bake until filling is set and walnuts begin to brown, 30 to 40 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Let tart cool completely, about 2 hours. (Tart can be
refrigerated for up 2 days; bring to room temperature before serving.)
For the whipped cream
Using stand mixer fitted with whisk, whip cream, bourbon, if using, sugar, vanilla, and salt
on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to high and whip until soft peaks form, 1 to 3 minutes. (Whipped cream can be refrigerated for up to 8 hours; rewhisk briefly before serving.)
To serve, remove outer ring from tart pan, slide thin metal spatula between tart and tart pan bottom, and carefully slide tart onto serving platter or cutting board. Slice tart into pieces and serve with whipped cream.
Recipe from America’s Test Kitchen







I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 






those look good too. Are homemade butterfingers next? I have a recipe I’m going to try out soon.
Butterfingers would be tasty, but I’ve got something else coming on Friday…
OH YUM! I really want to try these but I’m horrible at dipping things too.
This is exactly what my son’s been asking me to do. You’re making it hard to say no – they look perfect!
Why do you tempt me so? Milky Ways are my favorites. This is so worth trying 🙂
Yum these look delicious! I love Milky ways
Well they look pretty perfect to me! And super delicious too.
I’m so intrigued by the cool whip/chocolate mixture for the filling! These look so yummy and addicting!
These look so cute and much easier than the milky ways and snickers I made a few months ago. I made mine in muffin wrappers so I didn’t dip them, just layered the chocolate, nougat, caramel, and chocolate! They came out pretty tasty but was a lot of work!
I just tried these and they didn’t come out as I’d hoped. The chocolate and whipped cream mix was too sticky and wouldn’t harden. Did I do something wrong? Also what if you can’t find kraft caramel?
Rachael – Sorry to hear they didn’t turn out for you. The center part was a bit sticky while dipping and wasn’t super hard… Any caramel would work for this recipe, I just use the Kraft kind that comes individually wrapped.
I would put melted chocolate in the pan first, freeze, then the chocolate mixture, then the caramel. Then you can spoon melted chocolate on top. Would this work? (It solves the dipping problem too!)
beantownbaker — November 3rd, 2013 @ 12:36 pm
That could definitely work… The caramel might ooze out when you gut them though… Let me know how it goes if you try it.
I hope you are not using Cool Whip which is all trans-fat and high fructose corn syrup. I’m looking for a healthier alternative to the store bought Milky Way. Perhaps a recipe for homemade whip ?
These were a DISASTER. I wasted my morning and a lot of ingredients. The chocolate mixture was so sticky when cutting into squares. The directions did not state whether to add water to the caramels when melting so I didn’t…the caramels ended up thick and so sticky, I had trouble putting it on the chocolate layer. Dumped the whole mess out since I didn’t want to waste a bag of milk chocolate chips to coat them. I have been baking my entire life (60 +) and never had a recipe go like that.
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