About That Tart

I'm convinced that coffee makes me crazy. With time on our hands this Sunday, I decided to roast tomatoes, bake up some tarts and whip up another batch of banana muffins so as not to let the ripened bananas go to waste.

Charged with these tasks and buzzing from a cappuccino from Bonaparte, I got to work. The tomatoes were a no brainer. With a coating of olive oil, salt and pepper, I threw them into the oven and let them do their thing. The result was concentrated, sweet sunshine on my tongue. After I tasted one, I'll admit that I could have finished off the entire sheet pan. The results appear on today's sandwich along with mozzarella.

While the tomato slices were sizzling, popping and shrinking in the oven, I made quick work of the tart crust. Timing was crucial at this point. I had to have the dough in the fridge chilling for at least 30 minutes. My goal was to pull the tomatoes out, and while they were cooling I would roll out the dough, nestle into the tart pan and commence with the blind bake.

So far everything was unfolding as planned. As the pies were blind baking, I set out to prep for the filling and wash the blueberries.

'Beeeeeeep', goes the timer. I pull out the tarts, removed what was making them bake so blindly and placed them back into the oven until golden.

The tarts were finishing in the oven as I whisked the créme fraîche, brown sugar and vanilla. I then beat the cream cheese. After I combined these two components, I stirred in the lemon zest. Everything would be room temperature soft when it came time to fill the shells.

When the shells were ready, I pulled them from the oven and set them to cool by the kitchen window.

Once cooled, I filled with the prepared cream and topped with blueberries. They sat in the fridge to chill and set until it was time for after dinner espresso that night.

In my eyes, they look beautiful. The filling is a little tangy, not to sweet, sort of cheesecake-like. The blueberries are a nice finishing touch. They tasted 'all right'. Maybe I was just craving that final chocolate coated cake donut from Hoehn's sitting under the cake dome.