The first things that I will say about this project is that it is time consuming, somewhat frustrating and at some point, you will be asking yourself why the heck you are doing it. But then the presentation wins out because they are very pretty. And tasty. Here is the deal … and I am mentioning this right away so you can plan for it … first you need to painstakingly poke holes and drain a dozen eggs of their content. This took me an hour (even though I have done this before and thus have “had practice”). Then you have to “wash” the insides of the eggs by soaking them in water and wiping them and shaking them somewhat dry. Once you’ve done all that, the actual making of the cake batter and filling them with a piping bag, and then baking seems minor. At any rate, it seemed like it was an all day affair. Was it worth it? Yeah, the “cupcakes” (which you can also just make regular cupcakes out of, of course) were yummy, the presentation is fun and I like them. So there.
Desserts
This pie could also be called “I have a lot of frozen berries in the freezer that I really should use up” Pie. I always pick a lot of PYO berries in the summer — strawberries, high-bush blueberries, raspberries and this year, red currants (my favorite). Summer time is then full of pie, but some do end up in the freezer. So when I got this new pie plate (Eat More Pie! Words to live by), I thought I would use up some of the berries. Ended up using some jarred cherries as well. Summertime on the last official day of winter!
Recipe 1000. One thousand. A one with three zeros after it. Wow. Ugh. Holy Cow. That’s a lot of food. Yes, this French-style Apple Custard Tart marks the 1000th recipe on this here website. I had wanted to hit 1000 at the 4 years mark, but I am a few weeks late. Oh well. I have a day job afterall.
This tart uses the smallest Pink Lady Apples that I have ever seen. They were really only about 2 inches in diameter. They were even sold as mini apples. You could, of course, use “normal sized apples” but as I had these, I used these instead. Note that this tart isn’t overly sweet, so if you are an “a la mode” person, definitely scoop on the ice cream!
Here’s a recipe that is quick and esy and you probably have all the ingredients readily available. Well, provided that you have bourbon. Not everyone has stashes of booze around, but I do (though that is a long story). And if you don’t have pecans, walnuts or almonds will do just as well. Start to finish under an hour, so if you are in a rush for your kid’s bake sale, this recipe might be for you. And yes, as a matter of fact those are mini-binder clips holding the parchment paper sling in place. I’m funny like that.