Just Baking

I never realized, silly me, that summer fruits have  their own dedicated pastry when it comes to turn them into desserts such as “tarte.” In my book, and until this summer, there were 2 kinds of pastries: puff and shortcrust, occasionally filo played the role of the third culprit. I had heard, seen, and even enjoyed “pâte […]

Imposters!
I came up with the idea for Wannabe Portuguese Egg Tarts after seeing many pictures of egg tarts around the Web. I’ve never eaten an authentic egg tart — heck, I’ve never even seen one in person. These were my attempt to get something in the ballpark of what an egg tart would taste like. […]

When I think about tarts, I think about a crazy aunt who often jet-sets off to Paris and brings everyone back exotic gifts that cannot be found anywhere in your hometown. She is always traveling on glamorous adventures, leading a life of glitz, yet always keeps an element of mystery to her life. Her life […]

This past week I had the pleasure of going through one of the first copies of Hannah Kaminsky’s new cookbook My Sweet Vegan and it really is impressive. I knew there would be great recipes in it but what surprised me was how complete of a cookbook it is. This book not only had a […]

As a native southern Californian, I grew up with a rather different appreciation for Fall. Changing colors and colder temperatures were distant notions that existed mainly in photographs and calendars. Now that I live in the Midwest, I have come to witness the power of the changing seasons. Not only do our bodies have to […]

When I think about summer, I think about the beach, the long days spent at the beach with my parents and siblings and the painful sunburn on my shoulders and back. When I think about summer, I think about the naps we would take my mother and I in the living room because it was […]

Prune plums are still in season here in Michigan, but only for one more week. Now when it comes to plums, I am a very picky person. That said, the only plums that were worth eating and staining my white marine dress with were when I was six or seven at my mother’s aunt. […]

It is not very often that I get to punch the air with my little fists and perform a dance. Therefore, it might have been a strange spectacle, for any onlooker, a few days ago to see me  doing so in the middle of the kitchen singing to word: tarte, tarte, tarte.
Of course the puzzled spectators did not have the script and could […]

So, for Valentines Day, I had planned on making a saucy dessert, made scarlet with raspberries and strawberries, perhaps something with cream or jelly, or a tart curd of some sort. Perhaps a simple Creme au Coeur. However, my desire for something savoury got in the way of all so I made a distinctly unpudding-like […]