Tarts

Not Quite a Cookie: Samoa Tart

By Love & Flour in Tarts 3 Comments Tags: , ,

Samoa Tart 009 Edited Not Quite a Cookie: Samoa Tart

Do you have a favorite Girl Scout Cookie? If I were stranded on a deserted island, I would want a case of Samoas to wash up on shore. Thin Mints and Tag-A-Longs would put a smile on my face, but Samoas would temporarily make me forget my dire circumstances alone on that island.

Samoas have not always been my favorite. As a little girl, I loved Do-Si-Dos simply because the little dot of peanut butter on the top sandwich cookie reminded me of a tiny belly button. The resemblance made me giggle. And whenever I laugh, I tend to really like something.

Samoa Tart 004 Edited Not Quite a Cookie: Samoa Tart

What are these cookies I just mentioned called in your area? South Carolina cookies are called Caramel deLites (Samoas), Peanut Butter Patties (Tag-A-Longs) and Peanut Butter Sandwich (Tag-A-Longs). Those names may seem like little more than trivia until you ask a South Carolina girl scout for a box of Samoas. The response you receive will be one of puzzlement, not a box of cookies. I recommend forgetting the names altogether and asking for the cookies in the purple box.

This Samoa Tart does not have quite the same taste as a traditional Samoa cookie, but it is delicious nonetheless. Coconut haters can still find some usefulness from this recipe as the crust is easy to make and tastes quite good (as far as crusts are concerned). For another idea on what to do with Dulce de Coco, try these Snickerdoodles.

Samoa Tart 022 Edited Not Quite a Cookie: Samoa Tart

In addition to this tart, I have another special treat for you. As I was writing this post, I thought up the second joke I have ever come up with on my own. Those people who know me personally just closed their browser windows. But for the rest of you unknowing souls, I leave you with this:

What do you call an island when a case of cookies washes up on shore? A desserted island!

Now, please do not desert my blog because I have a corny sense of humor. Enjoy!

Samoa Tart 029 Edited Not Quite a Cookie: Samoa Tart

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Samoa Tart
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Ingredients
  • For the Crust
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ⅓ cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ cup canola oil
  • ¼ milk
  • ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • For the Dulce de Coco
  • 1 – 13.5 ounce can coconut milk
  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • To Complete the Filling
  • 1¾ cups unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • For the Ganache
  • ⅓ cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 teaspoon canola oil

Instructions
  1. Whisk together the flours, sugar and salt in a medium bowl.
  2. Next whisk together canola oil, milk and vanilla extract in a separate bowl.
  3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix a few strokes until the dough comes together into a ball.
  4. Press the crust into a lightly greased tart pan with a removable bottom. It may seem as though there is not enough to go around, but it will fit if you keep working at it.
  5. Use a fork to poke holes across the bottom of the crust.
  6. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
  7. While the crust bakes, start the dulce de coco. (This step can also be completed in advance).
  8. Combine the coconut milk, brown sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium-high heat.
  9. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium.
  10. Cover the saucepan and allow the mixture to continue to simmer for 20 minutes.
  11. Reduce the heat to low, uncover and allow to continue to simmer for 35-40 additional minutes, stirring occasionally.
  12. When the mixture is thickened, remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
  13. Once the dulce de coco has cooled so it is merely warm to the touch, stir in the coconut, milk and salt.
  14. Pour the incorporated mixture into the cooled crust and spread until even distributed.
  15. To finish the tart, melt the chocolate chips and oil over low heat, stirring until smooth.
  16. Drizzle the chocolate and enjoy.

Notes
If you make the dulce de coco in advance, store it in the refrigerator. Then heat it in the microwave for 15-30 seconds just to soften it a bit.

 

Marchocolate – Rosemary Chocolate Tart

By Love & Flour in Tarts 3 Comments Tags: ,

IMG 2804 Edited Marchocolate Rosemary Chocolate Tart When I received a tart pan this past Christmas, I could not wait to make my first tart. When, two days after Christmas, Aimee at From Chapel Hill to Chickenville left a comment about a rosemary chocolate tart she once made, I knew what form my first tart would take. Granted, “could not wait” turned into nearly three months because it wasn’t until yesterday at 10 p.m. that I began work on my first tart.

In my defense, being born on the day after Christmas (a day which my sister once dubbed the most depressing day of the year) has led me to develop a habit of hoarding saving my gifts as long as I can before I use them. I once saved a gift card until Memorial Day so I could buy summer clothes rather than a winter sweater. I don’t quite understand why I do this given I’m all for wearing fancy perfume everyday instead of saving it for a special occasion, but so it goes.

IMG 2797 Edited e1332453124312 Marchocolate Rosemary Chocolate Tart

 

Though I claim I wanted to “save” my tart pan, the real reason I waited so long to make a tart was I felt intimidated by the tart crust. The thought of making a pie-like crust – breaking out a rolling pin, flouring a work surface, etc. – all in hopes I would create a dough I could artfully tuck into those little tart pan pleats was just too much. But then, in a David Lebovitz blog post, I found a recipe for French Tart Dough that included the statement, “If you’ve been afraid to make tart dough, give this one a try.” I was ready.

(If you have an extra moment, I recommend reading the aforementioned blog post. It contains a cute  story about the recipe’s author, humorous anecdotes like, “It was as if someone told me that Anne Coulter actually wasn’t really out of her friggin’ gourd,” as well as practical and helpful recipe advice.)

IMG 2784 Edited Marchocolate Rosemary Chocolate Tart

The tart dough recipe requires boiling ingredients in the oven. The original recipe cautions to take care not to grab the just-out-of-the oven bowl once removed from the oven and placed on the counter. I scoffed at that seemingly unnecessary advice, thinking I’d have to be pretty  dumb (or incredibly forgetful) to grab a bowl I just took out of the oven. Well, I’m either pretty dumb (or lacking in short term memory), because I grabbed for the bowl twice. Fortunately, it was so hot I felt the heat and moved my hand before I actually grabbed it.  I move bowls around on the counter all of the time, so I really was unaccustomed to having a red-hot bowl on the counter. Perhaps this means I’m not dumb as much as I am a creature of habit. The melted butter mixture also comes out of the oven bubbling and sputtering, and it will spatter a bit when the flour is added, so take care not let it splatter on your skin or in your eye.

The tart dough was a breeze to make, which was great because I had to make it twice. The recipe was written for a 9-inch tart pan, and I had an 11-inch tart pan. I went ahead with the recipe as written, curious to see exactly how it would turn out, so I  anticipated another round would be necessary. After two batches, I had a dough that filled my tart pan and yielded a leftover dough ball about the size of a golf ball. I wrote the recipe below based on the original 9-inch size, so please keep in mind you may need to adjust quantities accordingly depending on the size of your particular tart pan.

IMG 2789 Edited Marchocolate Rosemary Chocolate Tart

The slice of the tart you see here looks a bit wrinkled as I let the plastic wrap fall on its top before I refrigerated the tart overnight. When I sleep on crinkly sheets, I wake up with sheet indents on my skin. Why I thought this same rule would not apply to placing a crinkly cover over my tart is a mystery. So, be sure to place a few toothpicks in your tart to allow its covering a place to rest.

Now about the taste. After my first bite I thought, “That rosemary means business.” I could definitely taste the rosemary, but then again, I knew I made the tart with rosemary so I was expecting to taste it. Someone else might just think it tastes unique. And while present, the rosemary certainly does not overpower the chocolate. It surprised me how well two fairly strong flavors, chocolate and rosemary, could work together without fully blending together.

If you are not a lover of rosemary, the original chocolate rosemary tart recipe indicates mint can be substituted in place of rosemary. Mint is likely a more practical flavor for chocolate, but seeing as how I seem to have developed a habit of adding unexpected ingredients to chocolate (see sauerkraut and quinoa), I went with the rosemary. And I’m quite pleased I did.

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Rosemary Chocolate Tart
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Ingredients
  • For the tart dough:
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • 1 heaping cup flour
  • For the tart filling:
  • 2 cups chocolate, chopped
  • 1 – 12 ounce can of evaporated milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 sprigs rosemary

Instructions
  1. Combine the butter, water, vegetable oil, sugar, and salt in a medium-sized, oven safe bowl (like Pyrex).
  2. Place the bowl in an oven heated to 410 degrees F for approximately 15 minutes. The butter should be bubbling and starting to brown around the edges when you remove the bowl.
  3. Remove the bowl from the oven, dump in the flour, and stir quickly and carefully until the dough comes together into a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
  4. Place the dough in a tart mold and spread with a spatula.
  5. When the dough has cooled enough to handle, pat the dough along the bottom and up the sides of the tart pan. Reserve a small piece of dough, about the size of a raspberry, for patching any cracks.
  6. Use a fork to prick the dough all over, then return the tart shell to the oven and bake for approximately 15 minutes or until the dough is golden brown.
  7. Remove the baked tart shell from the oven and repair any sizable cracks with the reserved dough.
  8. While the tart shell cools, prepare the Rosemary-Chocolate mixture.
  9. Place the chocolate in a medium-sized bowl.
  10. Whisk the milk and eggs together in a saucepan over medium heat.
  11. Stir in the rosemary, and heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  12. Remove the saucepan from the stove top and pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove the rosemary and any bits of egg that may have cooked.
  13. Pour the mixture over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate is melted and completely smooth.
  14. Pour the rosemary-chocolate mixture into the crust and refrigerate until firm (likely minimum two hours).
  15. If desired, serve slices of the tart garnished with whipped cream and a sprig of rosemary.



	
	

	
		


							
						
											
	



	
						
	

	
						
Finicky Runeberg Tarts

		 
	    
	

	
	
 
					
		
						By Love & Flour
				in Tarts
									4 Comments
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IMG 1730 Edited Finicky Runeberg Tarts


Some people I know are naturally drawn to the cultures of the far East, others to the countries of South America. I gravitate towards Scandinavia, in particular Finland, and the reason is fairly ridiculous.


It started in March 2006. A few weeks before, I had moved to Charlotte from Tampa, started a graduate school program, started a new job, and knew one person in the city. One Friday night, I was living it up by sitting in my apartment, doing Economics homework in front of the television. A Conan O’Brien episode where he visited Finland came on, and I laughed repeatedly. So, that’s when I decided to like Finland. Whenever I associate laughter (or donuts) with something, I am forever a fan. At times, I am a simpleton.


February 5th marks the birthday of Finland’s national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg. As such, I tried my hand at Runeberg Tarts. Legend (i.e. internet research) has it Runeberg’s wife, Fredrika, baked these little lovelies for him to enjoy at breakfast.


My attempt at Runeberg Tarts resulted in something much less lovely. In hindsight, I suppose they weren’t really all that terrible, but I got caught up in related failures that included spilling coffee-twice, dropping nearly every utensil I wanted to used on the floor, and trying to make sense of recipes that called for sugar measured in ml (I eventually realized the authors probably meant dl). I started to think  my icing rings were too thick, but my hand was too shaky to make a nice, thin icing ring. It also didn’t help that I used a mini muffin tin rather than a cylindrical cake mold.  Frustrated, I scrapped the originals and frosted them all. My Runeberg Tarts morphed into mini Runeberg Cakes.


IMG 1782 Edited Finicky Runeberg Tarts


An amateur baker at best, it really peeves when I read a blog where the author laments being self taught, then proceeds to post photos of gorgeous, intricate desserts. Becoming a great baker seems near impossible when I read about lovely dishes that came about with seemingly no effort because let me tell you, every ounce of this blog – the baking, the writing, the photography – is still a giant effort. It pains me to post desserts that didn’t turn out the way I envisioned; desserts like these that I consider fails. But I post them because sometimes I could really benefit from reading someone’s “hey, look how much I screwed up” post.


I certainly wanted to give up yesterday, but in the end, I decided I owed it to myself to keep going. I was fortunate enough to realize though I have not yet mastered nearly as much as I had hoped, and perhaps I never will, quitting is the only sure-fire way to ensure I don’t get to where I want to be.


Though these may not look like a traditional Runeberg Tarts, I assure you they taste delicious. I’ve even been asked by my taster to hide them! Though the base for all Runeberg Tarts recipes uses almond of some sort, there are a lot of ways to boost the flavor. I used ground ginger snaps rather than ground almonds in the batter, and I added almond extract as flavor to both the batter and sugar syrup. Other recipes call for additional spices, primarily cinnamon, cardamon, or cloves, and other flavorings, like rum or amaretto.


I used a pastry bag fitted with a tip 230 to fill the tarts with raspberry preserves before topping the muffins. For the large frosting ring seen in this post, I used a round tip 12, though round tips 5 and 3 would probably be better suited to the task. I used leftover frosting I had on hand, but most recipes I came across simply suggested mixing small amounts of water, confectioners’ sugar, and a dash of almond extract for flavor.  Have fun experimenting!


IMG 1783 Edited Finicky Runeberg Tarts





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Runeberg Tarts








 




 Serves: 14 mini-muffins 


 






Ingredients


    

  • For the Tarts
    • 

  • ¾ cup flour
    • 

  • ¼ cup crushed ginger snaps
    • 

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • 

  • 7 tablespoons butter
    • 

  • ¼ cup brown sugar
    • 

  • 2 tablespoons sugar
    • 

  • 1 egg
    • 

  • ½ teaspoon almond extract
    • 

  • ¼ cup whole milk
    • 

  • Raspberry Preserves
    • 

  • White Icing
    • 

  • For the Syrup
    • 

  • ¼ cup sugar
    • 

  • ¼ cup water
    • 

  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
    • 









Instructions


    

  1. Whisk together the flour, ginger snaps, and baking powder and set aside.
    2. 

  2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
    3. 

  3. Add the egg and the almond extract and mix until combined.
    4. 

  4. Alternately add the milk and the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and mix until incorporated.
    5. 

  5. Spray a mini-muffin tin with vegetable spray and fill muffin cups about ¾ full with the batter.
    6. 

  6. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin/tart comes out clean.
    7. 

  7. Allow to cool for five to 10 minutes, then use a toothpick to poke a few holes in each muffin/tart.
    8. 

  8. While the muffins cool, boil ¼ cup sugar, ¼ cup water, and 1 teaspoon almond extract.
    9. 

  9. Pour the syrup over each muffin/tart and refrigerate for at least one hour.
    10. 

  10. If desired fill each muffin/tart with a small amount of raspberry preserves.
    11. 

  11. Top each muffin/tart with raspberry preserves and held in place by a ring of white icing.
    12. 









Notes



 
 To make the icing for the ring, mix a small amount of confectioners’ sugar with a small amount of water and almond extract.
 
 









 


	
	

	
		


							
											
			

			

				
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