Martha Stewart’s Pies and Tarts

The most amazing book – Martha Stewart’s Pies and Tarts fell into my lineup at the library. My friend Natashya, who may be found at Living in the Kitchen with Puppies, turned me on to this book.......thank you Natashya!

She reviewed this book on Goodreads and I thought, I’d like to flip through this book.

OH. My. Goodness. I was not prepared for page after page of sweet food porn that is this book. Every page has a recipe. Every page has a delectable mouth watering photograph that seems to invite you to lick the page. This book is only $15 at Costco and don’t you know…I am buying this book when pay day rolls around. And it’s rolling slowly right now.

First recipe we’ll try is Chocolate Espresso Tart.



After whipping the ingredients to make a crust...you have what appears to be frosting. But not so!



End result: It's a fudgey type chocolate coffee overload .... in a pleasing way!


Scoreboard
Baking Gods 1 – Tina 1 It’s a tie this time.

This time I read the directions beforehand. Still…we had our mishaps with the cheese, the crust, the pan……

Recipe states to use a rectangular pan with a removable bottom. I have a round tart pan with a removable bottom. Shape shouldn’t matter



I followed directions to mix the crust batter and refrigerate for at least one hour and I rolled the dough out into the pan and placed back in the fridge for the required 30 minutes. After that you bake the crust. Still looks like frosting but it came out well.

The cheese did not spread out as I thought it would but…did my best to gently push it around and spread it without screwing up that crust.

The ganache whipped up well….but then it looked like drippy fudge. So, since I do not have a pastry bag to pipe out tiny rosettes of ganache to top this tart, I spread the drippy fudgey-coffee ganache on top.

It does not look a thing like Martha’s creation, however, it was not a loss. Hence the tie with the Baking Gods. It tasted good, rich chocolate and coffee mingling with the sweet creamy cheese in each bite. So rich that our company couldn’t finish her piece. (Who knows, maybe she hated it).



So there you have it....... it was a success in your mouth, for your taste buds, for slaking the desire for chocolate decadence. Looks aren’t everything…….substance, that’s what counts!

Up on deck is Tarte Tatin...I'm already eyeing the apples for this one.

With 150 recipes…and 52 weeks in the year….and the common sense factor kicking in on figuring out how many of these pies and tarts I can make…well, that would give us almost three years to try all of them!! Because making one a week would be insane. Insane. I’d need bigger pants (and I have to tell ya….I’m not absolutely pleased with the size I am in now)

A good book....I'd recommend it for a serious lover of sweets and anyone with baking talents. Cheers!