So this last week has been a whirlwind. The tradition in my house is to put up the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving. What started out as a simple holiday tradition, turned into an all-out clean-fest of the garage which had been sorely neglected in the last year. A week later, we have a *moderately* clean garage and festive house covered in lights, at least on the inside. I’ve been all over creation looking for the right *priced* extension cords to aid in trimming the outside of the house in jolly luminosity only to find after purchasing my prized extension stakes that 1. they aren’t long enough and I don’t have a three prong extension cord to extend the extender and 2. there’s no switch, something lazy me wanted. So, like Scrooge, I’m in the dark…though only on the outside.

But that’s not why you’re here! You want mouth-watering recipes that celebrate those spices I mentioned earlier. Believe it or not, I’ve been planning this little theme for a while, and I had baked this wonderful Cinnamon Milk Tart some time ago. I found this recipe in Nancy Silverton’s Pastries From The La Brea Bakery, which is a seriously good book despite it’s loathsome lack of bakers porn.

This is the same book where Nancy Silverton proclaimed, “Once you’ve tasted freshly ground cinnamon sticks, you’ll never settle for preground cinnamon from a supermarket jar.” Unfortunately, though I had the cinnamon sticks, I do not have a spice grinder. I do have a mortar and pestle though, and took an inordinate amount of time grinding up maybe 1/2 teaspoon worth by hand. Did it make a difference? Honestly I can’t be sure, because thankfully due to some strange celestial alignment, I had the foresight to buy some ground cinnamon as well. If I hadn’t had the ground stuff on hand it would have been more of a milk tart instead of a cinnamon milk tart.

One thing I can say for sure is the specialty cinnamon from a real spice purveyor TOTALLY makes a difference. While I only had a limited amount of the fresh ground stuff, the other ground cinnamon I used was fab! Admittedly I was never a big fan of cinnamon, but after using a more premium cinnamon I might become a cinnamon junkie. If you can scratch some pennies together, it really is worth buying your spices from a specialty store rather than the mass produced brands found in the supermarket. When you start to check the numbers, the cost isn’t much more, especially if you have a local shop. Remember when buying cinnamon, or any other spices for that matter, plan on buying only about a years worth of ground or up to a two years for whole. This is a moderate guideline for the shelf life of any spice. Regardless of any timetable, use your nose. If you get a whiff that’s strong and fragrant, you’re good to go.

That said, this tart is crazy good and it really highlights cinnamon. Apparently this is a traditional South African treat. The crust technique of smearing the dough to mix it, struck me as a bit odd considering everything I’ve read hammers in the desire to keep the butter as solid as possible when creating any kind of crust. But hey, that’s why those experts and pastry chefs get paid the big bucks. They know what the heck they’re doing. Now I know the smear technique creates a tasty crust with the texture of a crunchy cookie. So no more worries of creating something that requires a chainsaw to cut!

With the light waning the day I baked this and wanting to take a picture of it (along with craving to gobble it immediately!), I unfortunately didn’t have the time to get more creative with the cinnamon dusted design. I made do with the traditional circle template in the middle…well sort of in the middle. If you want to get creative, you could cut out any number of shapes or words to fit any occasion.

What is really wonderful about this dessert is that it’s a sweet and satisfying treat without being too heavy. Ms. Silverton also offers a Cinnamon Custard Tart in her La Brea Bakery book, but I was looking for something a little lighter to enjoy the cinnamon flavor. You get a light, sweet taste that is creamy, crunchy, and full of flavor. This really was one of the best things I’ve made. While you can keep this tart covered in the fridge for a day or two, it does start to get a bit…not soggy so much as…moist maybe? It’s FANTASTIC the first day! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Don’t forget to enter my spice giveaway before the 15th!

Cinnamon Milk Tart

my notes are in bold
Special Items:
10-inch flan ring, lightly coated with melted butter (I used an 8-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and ate the leftover filling.)
3-inch diameter cardboard guide or paper plate (I made mine out of a plastic page protector. It worked great!)

For the crust:
2 1/2 cups unbleached pastry flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 extra-large egg
1 extra-large egg yolk

For the filling:
4 cups whole milk
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cornstarch

For decorating:
1/4 cup ground cinnamon

For the crust:

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour and sugar and pulse, or mix on low, to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off or mix on low, until it’s the consistency of a coarse meal. I (at the time) had neither of these wonders of engineering, and was forced to make do with my trusty pastry blender, and frankly, I can’t imagine using a standing mixer for this. If you don’t have a food processor, get your pastry blender out. If you don’t have a food processor or a pastry blender, get a beater from your hand mixer out. If you don’t have a food processor, pastry blender, or a hand mixer….I guess you’ll have to bare knuckle it, which apparently my Grandmother used to do when she made her family-famous pie dough. Oh, and yes, you can use a beater from a hand mixer like a pastry blender. It’s been done in my own test kitchen

In a small bowl, whisk together the whole egg and egg yolk, and pour into the flour mixture. Pulse or mix on low until the dough barely comes together. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Dip the hell of your hand in flour and working with small sections, smear the dough away from you to blend it together. When the dough has been all smeared out, use a metal scraper or spatula to scrape and gather it together.

Divide the dough in half and gently knead each half and gather into a ball. Flatten into 2 discs and wrap in plastic. Chill one piece until firm, at least 2 hours, and freeze the other for later use. (I actually halved the recipe because I wasn’t sure it was going to turn out. I wish I could tell you the exact amounts, but I used a scale to halve the eggs and powdered sugar. If you want to do the same, you need a scale to measure it out.)

On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough out to at least 2 inches larger in diameter than the pan you are using, 1/4 inch thick, flouring the surface of the dough as necessary. Gently fold the dough into quarters, placing the point into the center of the pan, carefully unfold the dough. Press lightly into the corners, and see that the dough comes up slightly above the top of the rim. Make sure you don’t stretch the dough to fit the pan (like I did), otherwise it will shrink during baking (like mine did). Trim any excess dough. Chill or freeze until firm, from 30 minutes to an hour. Line your crust with parchment paper or coffee filters, and fill the lining up to the rim of the pan with dried beans or metal pie weights (or rice which I foolishly, and cheaply use. It’s a b**** though and I’d suggest going with the beans. I went with rice because it was cheaper, but it’s soooo difficult to get back in the bag!). Make sure that whatever you use fits snugly into the corners of the dough. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 25 minutes, until the top of the crust is golden brown. Cool completely and remove the weights and parchment. If the bottom of the pastry is not uniformly browned, return it unlined to the oven for a few minutes until fully cooked. (I don’t know why, but this took FOREVER to brown properly. I was worried it had browned too much, but it actually turned out perfectly *except for the shrinking*)

For the filling:

In a deep stainless-steel saucepan over low heat, warm 3 1/2 cups of the milk with the granulated sugar. Using a small knife, split the vanilla bean lengthwise. With the back of the knife, scrape out the pulp and the seeds and add the scrapings and the pod to the milk. Turn the heat to medium and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the remaining milk and the cornstarch. When the milk comes to a boil, pour it into the cornstarch mixture and whisk together. Return it to the saucepan and bring it back to a boil over medium heat, stirring (not whisking! Use a wooden spoon here) occasionally, so it doesn’t color. Continue cooking, allowing it to bubble and thicken, about 2 minutes (I stirred constantly not occasionally. You do want this to cook a bit without it burning on the bottom.) Remove the vanilla bean and pour the filling into the baked tart shell. Chill until set and cold, about 45 minutes.

Place the circle template (or any other you were planning on using) in the center of the tart and sift and even layer of cinnamon over the top of the tart. Enjoy!

We revisit the golden lemon this week with Babette of Babette Feasts. She chose Dorie’s Tartest Lemon Tart which, as written, uses the WHOLE lemon, “zest, pulp, and juice.” This zesty combination truly gives you one of the tartest lemon tarts you’ve ever tasted.  

I’m going to start right off by telling you that I didn’t like this…as written. Unfortunately I didn’t read the TWD post prior to baking this. If I had, maybe I would have foreseen the probable bitter and disappointing end. The thing looks beautiful, I have to say. My mouth was watering to try a slice while I was taking my pictures. While it was a feast for the eyes, it didn’t gratify the stomach or rather the tongue…at least for me. The inclusion of the pith, which Dorie does not exclude in the book, resulted in one of the few things I just couldn’t eat. Can you believe it? Check out how good it looks….it’s unfathomable! Something that looks so good but tastes so bitter. I’m sure there’s some kind of relationship joke that would be appropriate here, but at near 2am it’s escaping me.

Bungalow Barbara was kind enough to clue everyone in to another whole lemon recipe from Dorie, a Creamy Lemon & Raspberry Tart, that you can find on Serious Eats. In this one she suggests the removal of the pith. I STRONGLY suggest you do this, unless you are crazy for bitter stuff, then pith away. Steph from A Whisk and A Spoon also pointed us to the comments section of this post on Dorie’s blog where she suggests blanching the lemon slices before using to remove some of the bitterness. I say kick the pith to the door and you should be fine in the bitter department. I think I could have eaten this if I piled on an obscene amount of whipped cream, but I couldn’t qualify the calorie intake for something that I didn’t really enjoy. It’s not like I’m never going to bake again…this week…ok tomorrow. If I’m going to put something in my mouth, I’m sure as heck going to relish it.

Bitterness aside, I would try this tart again….WITHOUT the pith. The worst thing about the bitterness was that it was a bitter aftertaste. This is why I think that this would have been fine without the pith because initially it tastes good, but then it turns ugly bitter. And do realize I’m talking bitter, not tart. There is a difference. If you make this tart with the pith, that difference will be crystalized for you in your mouth and you’ll never mistake the two ever again.

One thing I will include here is a recipe for candied lemon slices. I actually am using one I came across on Tastespotting a couple of weeks ago for candied kumquats of all things. Go to Cook Oui Chef Blog 1.0 to learn how to make Kumquat Glass and Rhubarb Ribbons. While you’re there you can take a gander at some of the most gorgeous pics of kumquats you’ll ever see.

Candied Lemon Slices

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 lemons, sliced as thin as you can, the thinner the better…don’t forget to remove the seeds! (also, I’d suggest using organic lemons and a decent silpat because the silcone baking sheet I got from Target for two bucks left a creepy aftertaste, not that you’re supposed to be downing these things like Lemonheads or anything)

Preheat oven to 170˚F.

Put the sugar and water in a pan. On medium heat stir until sugar is dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Place a silpat on a baking sheet.

Dip the lemon slices into the syrup, well coating both sides. Shake off any excess, and lay on silpat leaving space between each otherwise they will stick to each other.

Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until dry to touch but still slightly sticky.

Flip the slices over and bake for another 10-20 minutes or until the opposite side is dry as well. Remove and allow to cool. They will harden as they cool. Store in an airtight container.

Shesh, has another week gone by already? Some weeks I’m not all that jazzed about the TWD selection, sometimes I’m in excitement mode, and then there are weeks where I’m neither jazzed nor excited. This week initially started out jazzed, then turned lukewarm. When I initially heard the title, “Chocolate Cream Tart” (selected by Kim of Scrumptious Photography) I got excited because who doesn’t get excited when they hear the word, “chocolate”. Then I looked at what was entailed, don’t ask me why, but the technique seemed like a bit of a let down. I have no idea what I expected when I heard “Chocolate Cream Tart”, but I do know it didn’t involve what sounded like a glorified chocolate pudding thrown in a tart shell. Well, sometimes it’s good to have low expectations, or none really to speak of. This was PHENOMENAL!  

Seriously, this was hella good. I did use some of Dorie’s playing around options, hence the inclusion of the recipe since it’s not exactly to speck in the book. I decided to go with using a layer of coconut cream, but I didn’t make a pie. The combination of chocolate and coconut…oh…my….god….a, yum. And considering the fact that I’ve been trying to use up the old Ghirardelli that I’ve had lying around and it still tasted great, well, this recipe is a definite keeper. I know some of you out there love Ghirardelli, but after having some Scharffen Berger…. I just don’t want to go back, but granted, it costs a HECK of a lot more. For now I’ve got a five pound bag waiting for me. When I run out of that I’ll worry about the cost of procuring some more.

Please, please do try this recipe. One thing though, don’t change a damn thing here. I know you may see some other successful experiments across the TWD universe that don’t include all the elements I have here, but really give it a try with the chocolate, coconut, and whipped cream. Oh, and don’t forget the toasted coconut!

Chocolate Cream Tart

As a plan of attack, I’d start off with the tart dough, move on to the chocolate cream, the coconut cream, and then the toasted coconut. I wouldn’t make the whipped cream topping until right before you’re ready to assemble.

Chocolate Shortbread Tart Dough:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cake flour (if you don’t have cake flour, just use all-purpose flour)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tablespoons) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

A couple of caveats, I don’t have a food processor so I tend to over mix things. I needed something to offset the over mixing and make it more tender, hence the cake flour. If you have a food processor you probably won’t need to use the cake flour, so just use all-purpose flour for the entire amount.

Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom.

Put the flour, cocoa, confectioners’ sugar and salt in a mixing bowl and using a whisk sift the mixture together until blended (or if using a food processor: pulse a couple of times to combine). Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dry ingredients (or if using a food processor: pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in) — you should have pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas. Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and cut this into the dough (or if using a food processor: add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition). When the egg is in, continue to cut the yolk into the dough — until the dough comes together, forms clumps and curds (or if using a food processor: process in long pulses — about 10 seconds each. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change — heads up.).  Those of you who are using their trusty pastry blender should realize that this step will take some time. Initially it will look like nothing is happening and that you don’t have enough liquid for the dough to come together…keep mixing! Eventually you’ll get a nice moist dough. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and very lightly and sparingly knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

Press the dough into the buttered pan. Press evenly over the bottom and up the sides, using all but one little piece of dough, which you should save in the refrigerator to patch any cracks after the crust is baked. Dorie says, “Don’t be too heavy-handed — press the crust in so that the edges of the pieces cling to one another, but no so hard that the crust loses its crumbly texture.” I’m heavy-handed, another reason for using the cake flour to tenderize. Even though I suck at rolling out dough, I suck at this “press the dough into pan” method more. Maybe someday I’ll get the hang of it. I wish I had some words of wisdom for how NOT to have an uneven tart crust, but I don’t….good luck. Freeze for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

To partially or fully bake the crust:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375° Fahrenheit (190° Celsius, Gas Mark 5).

Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust. (Since you froze the crust, you can bake it without weights.) Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. For a partially baked crust, patch the crust as necessary, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack (keep it in its pan).

To fully bake the crust:
Bake for another 8 minutes or so, or until it is firm and golden brown. Keep a close eye on the crust’s progress — it can get too dark in a flash. Transfer the tart pan to a rack and cool the crust to room temperature before filling.

To patch a partially or fully baked crust, if necessary:
If there are any cracks in the baked crust, patch them with some of the reserved raw dough as soon as you remove the foil. Slice off a thin piece of the dough, place it over the crack, moisten the edges and very gently smooth the edges into the baked crust. If the tart will not be baked again with its filling, bake for another 2 minutes or so, just to take the rawness off the patch.

Chocolate cream:

2 cups whole milk
4 large egg yolks
6 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
7ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature

Bring the milk to a boil.

Dorie suggests using another saucepan for this next step, but I used a stainless steel mixing bowl. One way or another you’ll have two things to wash, but I have more mixing bowls than pots, so bowl it is. If you want to see the original instructions please view this Scrumptious Photography’s blog.  Meanwhile, in a medium stainless steel bowl, whisk the yolks together with the sugar, cornstarch and salt until well-blended and thick. Whisking without stopping, drizzle in about 1/2 cup of the hot milk — this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they don’t curdle — then, while whisking, add the tempered yolk mixture back to the pan that has the remainder of the milk in a steady stream. Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking constantly (make sure to get in the edges of the pan), bring the mixture to a boil. Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.

Whisk in the melted chocolate. Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until they are fully incorporated and the custard is smooth and silky. You can press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the custard to create an airtight seal and refrigerate the custard or, if you want to cool the custard quickly, put the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water and stir the custard occasionally until it is fully chilled, about 20 minutes. (If it’s more convenient, you can keep the custard, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.)

Coconut cream:

1 1/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Put the heavy cream and coconut in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly. Continue to cook and stir until the cream is reduced by half and the mixture is slightly thickened.

Once I finished this procedure I found the coconut to be a bit too….stringy? Stringy, chunky…it was too much of a texture that didn’t seem appropriate for a cream tart. If you have the same reaction, through the mixture into a blender or food processor and run it until the mix has reached your desired consistency. I wanted it to have as little texture as possible, so I kept checking my blender for about a minute…it’s up to you.

Scrape the coconut cream into a bowl and cool to room temperature.

Toasted coconut:

about 1/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 325F. Spread the coconut out over a parchment lined pan. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes or until lightly tinged with gold (or forget to take it out of the oven after your timer goes off and have it get totally tinged with gold like I did).

Whipped cream:

1 cup cold heavy cream
4 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream until it just starts to thicken. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until the cream holds firm peaks.

When you are ready to assemble the tart, spread the coconut cream in an even layer over the bottom of the crust. Whisk the chocolate cream vigorously to loosen it and to bring back its velvety texture. Spoon the cream into the tart shell, stopping just short of the crust’s rim (you may have some left over) — you want to leave room for the topping. Smooth the top and, if you are not serving the tart immediately, press a piece of plastic wrap against the cream and refrigerate the tart until needed (or up to 6 hours).

You can decide how elaborate you want to make this tart. You can either spread the whipped cream over the tart and smooth it with a metal icing spatula or, if you prefer swirls, go for them. I actually filled a piping bag with a star tip and piped little stars across the top. It’s up to you.

Serve the tart now or refrigerate it for up to 2 hours before serving. When you are ready to serve the tart, scatter the toasted coconut over the top.

Wow, Tuesdays With Dorie is one year old. It seems like it’s been around for ages. Although that’s about how long I’ve been baking so go figure! Looks like the grand dame herself chose this week’s treat. The French Pear Tart is courtesy of Dorie Greenspan and it’s a fine, fine tart if I may say so. Actually it was absolutely di-vine when it first came out of the oven. It was one of those taste experiences that reminds you of why the store bought stuff is c-r-a-p and why you keep baking. But alas, as with life, the peak of this tart is too short but more on that later.

As you may be sick of hearing, I don’t have a food processor. Necessity is not only the mother of invention but also learning new techniques in the kitchen! Guess what I learned how to do…blanch almonds!  

I  checked my box ‘o nuts that I have in the pantry and foolishly thought that I had plenty of blanched almonds. Turns out I do, but they are all slivered. Trying to grind nuts in a blender is a hair-pulling task and after my hazelnut meal turned out so well with the Yule log I decided that I would continue my grinding by hand method, ha…hahaha, yeah I’m weird that way. It takes an insane amount of time, but the results are amazing. The only thing is that you need a nice sized nut to start with and slivered almonds ain’t gonna work. I did happen to have a bag of whole, unblanched almonds. My Mom was kind enough to check the receptacle of all knowledge, the computer, and found a nice explanation from About.com. All you need is the almonds, a bowl, and some boiling water. Pour water over nuts just to cover and let sit for one minute and not a second longer, well maybe a second, but get those nuts out of their bath quick and pat dry. For the most part the skins should just slide right off, and voilà..blanched almonds! These were waaaaay easier to work with by hand.

I chose to make this with fresh pears. Boy, do pears go bad fast! I just bought them two days before and they were RIPE. They still worked out ok, but I don’t think that the poaching is really necessary, or maybe I did it too long, or maybe my pears were too ripe because the consistency seemed a bit too mushy for my tastes. I’m not sure what I’ll do next time, maybe get less ripe pears, maybe no poaching, maybe I’ll just get a damn can of pears. I don’t know.

I briefly thought about doing a nut crust but then thought better of it since I was already grinding enough nuts by hand for this recipe. Everything came together quite well despite some mushiness in the pear department. Thinking about the whole pear issue again, I may have sliced them a bit too thin too, God knows. Oh, I almost forgot. I forgot to dust with confectioners’ sugar. I didn’t miss it, and that’s saying something because I generally feel pretty much anything is better with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar.

If you like sweet, this will knock your taste buds out. As I said this was heavenly right out of the oven. The next day, not so much. I realize a lot of these desserts should be eaten the same day, but there’s no way I can make a whole recipe and eat it in one day. I would seriously be crane-worthy after a couple of weeks of that. I always try to enjoy the heck out of these creations for as many days as I can, but some desserts certainly loose their luster after the first day. This is the first dessert that I ever came across having a real noticeable difference after the first day. If you’re going to try to keep this longer than a day I suggest you heat your slice up a bit. I’m not sure why, but it just lost that heavenly quality and was just ok out of the fridge. Reheating doesn’t completely regain the original flavor but it does help.

Despite the second day wilting, I would definitely make this one again. Thanks Dorie!

My kingdom for a … food processor/standing mixer??? I’d be hard pressed to make a decision on that one, if I had the money. Not to pick on the noble blender, but when it comes to performing tasks the right tool can make all the difference. I am a baker on a budget. My budget being virtually nonexistent, I actually made my first pie crust with the attachments from my hand mixer. While getting my MacGyver on can be a thrill, sometimes it’s just a plain drag.

For example, when the Plum Tart with Walnut Cream recipe called for walnuts to be ground into a “coarse powder” I had to entrust this task to my poor, overworked blender. As anyone who’s ever tried it can tell you, chopping nuts into a powder regardless of how coarse it might be isn’t easy to do with a blender. Nuts have a habit of becoming more like a paste on the bottom and large-ish chunks on the top. So what really was a simple recipe that could have been whipped up in a matter of minutes in a properly equipped kitchen, ended up taking me over an hour(s?).  

First I dumped all the nuts in and let her rip. Mistake number one. If you’re going to chop nuts in a blender, do it in small amounts. I did know this, unfortunately I only remembered I knew it after grinding for about 10 seconds and wondering why the nuts on the top where still in one piece. Mistake number two was to try to sift the resulting bits through a strainer so I could attempt another round of chopping. This didn’t really work well. I got nut crumbs all over the counter and I still ended up with some very large chunks. Oh, and the reason the knife is in the blender was because I used it to break up the solidifying mass of nuts I had growing at the bottom. I have no shame (well, maybe a twinge) in admitting that I even tried a damned mortar and pestle to break up the very large, near full nut sized pieces which produced some pretty sad mashed up pieces. Finally I just dumped the nuts in my strainer again and press them through with a spoon. Unbelievable.

Go ahead and try this at home if you’d like, but I suggest doing this with small batches of nuts, like a handful at a time. And just pulse the blender, don’t just press grind and sit back and watch. Finally, don’t expect something resembling anything close to a “powder”. It really looks more like a “meal” texture, if you get my meaning, and there’s no avoiding having some larger chunks floating around.

If anyone out there has another magical way to get finely ground nuts without a food processor (or some other implement that costs more than $20)  I’d love to hear it!

No, this isn’t some far off desert wasteland or a new image back from one of the Mars Rovers. This is the reason why I should always use my rolling pin when making any kind of crust.

This was the pâte sablée shell I made for Clotilde’s delicious Plum Tart with Walnut Cream. Très délicieux! (Sorry folks, I don’t speak French. Babel Fish is your friend.) The technique suggested to create the tasty tart shell called for “using the heels of your hands and your fingers” to press the dough into your tart pan. I’m guessing that someday scientists will link this ability to some French genetic marker because this Polish Princess just doesn’t have the knack. So instead of a nice, lightly golden tart shell I ended up with this blasted and barren landscape that could probably give Death Valley a run for its money on most depressing vista.  

Despite appearances, the crust tasted wonderful! It didn’t really matter what the bottom of the crust looked like since it was covered with yummy walnut cream and plums. I ended up using a bit more sugar for the filling since I like my sweets sweet (not Buddy the Elf sweet, although not too far off). If I remember correctly, I think I used about 4 tablespoons of regular sugar since I didn’t have the unrefined and I have to be in the right mood for honey sweetness. I sprinkled a little sugar on the top just for fun and popped it in the oven. I left it in the oven a bit longer from the look of my plums. The result was great. It could have been a little more sweet for my liking, but Mom loved it.

This was one of the first recipes that caught my eye about a year ago when I first got the baking itch. I have to give credit where credit is due, and Clotilde is a real artist when it comes to food. I’m still trying to master technique and just getting a good work flow going in the kitchen, so the artistry and eye appeal are down the line in priorities and ability for me. If I can get something to taste great first I’m ecstatic. If it not only tastes great but looks great I’m delirious. I have to say that not only did this attempt taste great, but it didn’t look bad either, hurrah!