Tarts Day 1

Tarts galore! The last station and the one I have been looking forward to most. There are two things I really want to improve on: tarts and pies. I won't be making pies for another week, but this week is my chance to get to the heart of tarts. :P

We started our day with individually portioned unbaked chocolate ganache tartlettes and lemon meringue tartlettes. The unbaked ganache tarts are garnished with a swirl of chantilly cream (the formal name for sweetened vanilla whipped cream), some chocolate cigars, and a blueberry. Usually we put berries or nuts on the bottom of the shell but these ones were plain. Unbaked ganache is really rich and decadent, much more so than the baked ganache as the baked version has more dairy mixed in - mellowing out the richness slightly.

So rich even a quarter is too mcuh

We had a dud lemon meringue tart so we topped it with extra meringue to split amongst ourselves. Quality testing. ;p I wanted more toasted meringue so I scooped myself an extra spoonful. If I had remembered, I would have sprinkled some leftover graham cracker crust on top! Almost like s'mores!

Toasted meringue goodness

At the tart station, each member makes two baked chocolate ganache, two fruit, two linzer, and two French apple tarts. Three of us were busy on other tasks so we let D roll and line tart pans for everyone's fruit tarts. This was her first time ever working with tart dough and she did a remarkable job! These pans were lined with short dough and filled with a lemony almond cream - the basis of a fruit tart.

Rolling and lining tart pans

Baked short dough tarts with almond cream

After, we all rolled and lined our own pans for the chocolate, linzer, and apple tarts.

Around that time, the cookie team pulled out some disaster cookies. I'm a sucker for disaster cookies. Better than properly cooked cookies sometimes. There was a bigger pile, but I packed some to take to a party tomorrow. (Not for me, honest!)

Don't let their looks deter you

Maybe I got it from my mom, but I often like the overly browned bits on the edges. I can appreciate the gooey chewiness of the center of a cookie or the lush softness of a pudding, but there's something about those crispy edges. For cookies, are you a crispy cruncher or a chewy chomper?