Every summer, after going strawberry picking, I get into a baking frenzy. How many ways can I use 5, 10, 20 lbs of berries? 20 is a lot but sometimes I get carried away in the fields. The obvious answer is jam, but I try to use the berries fresh or uncooked because they’re already so ripe and naturally sweet that it seems like a waste to cook them down.
I came up with this tart about 4 years ago. After graduating from pastry school, I experimented with dessert catering. Haha, I can laugh about it now, but it’s definitely not my thing. A couple of my initial requests were for tarts. I love adding cheese to desserts, whether it’s cream cheese or mascarpone, because it adds a nice tang that then allows for sweeter ingredients to shine.
I know I’ve been MIA but I’m busily preparing for a re-design/re-launch so excuse the bare bones appearance of my blog. xoxo Jenn
I spent 3 hours making pasta last night and had the brilliant idea of making a tart this morning, before work. Looking back, I think I needed the pastry fix because pasta was way out of my comfort zone. It was truly the first time I’ve done it from scratch and while fun, I definitely need more practice.
Let’s all sing together now shall we? “Do you wanna build a snowman…” or perhaps just the faces in this case. I was inspired to make these marshmallows after seeing a set at Williams-Sonoma during the Christmas holiday. I used my favorite recipe, Vanilla Marshmallows, from the Bouchon Bakery cookbook. For the lovable faces, I melted chocolate and whipped up a batch of royal icing.
Happy Holidays! I told myself I’d keep things simple this season and make just one shortbread recipe for all my gifts, bake sales, cookie swaps and parties. I saw the gorgeous shortbread wreath cookies on the December cover of Bon Appetit Magazine and I HAD to make them.
