The (Tart) is Back

“C-Ya.”  That’s what my kids call her.  To me, she’s my beloved “Ceener-Bean-Her-Balleriner.”  Yes, as kids, we were quite cruel with the nicknames.  (You don’t want to know what my siblings called me.) And just the other day, we were discussing quite politely the merits of the “Bitch of the Universe” vs. “Bitch of the World” title. (She says she gets the Miss Universe one.)

C-Ya

In any case, my sister Cecelia is visiting from Down Under!  She’s one of the original “Tarts,” and responsible for the name of our business.  In fact, Cecelia has an entire block of fictional business names, and has for some time dreamed of a world where each and every one of them would coexist.  “Our Lady of Guacamole,” which of course has the tag line “Pray for Haas.”  Then there’s the coffee cart called “Express-Ho,” which unfortunately was ruined by the advent of the bikini barrista chain.  Hmmm… they must have overheard us at cocktail hour, planning our takeover of the foodservice universe.  The cheese shop on the block would naturally be “Cheesus!”  and of course we’d need a bank to fund all of this, so we’d call it “Jesus Savings and Loan.”  Jesus saves, and so should you!  It’s really difficult to tell that we spent 12 years at Catholic School, isn’t it?  I bet Mrs Troxler, that amazing English teacher, had no idea her efforts would lead to writing such as this.

So how does all of our sophmoric banter translate to kitchen goodness?  Well, Cecelia has always been the Progenitor of New Cookies in the business.  I really do miss her, an not just when I am at a loss to come up with a 13th variety for the case.  The last few weeks have seen some lovely newbies… rosemary pinenut “bikkies,” florentines filled with chocolate ganache, and hopefully the return of “Mother’s Little Helpers.”  Those are rum-raisin, for those of you who don’t have children.

Alas, Cecelia returns to Australia on Friday, so come visit the bakery this week and enjoy a treat from the original “Tart.”

Lunch Buddies

lunch buddies

 

So yeah, contary to popular opinion, we don’t eat sugar every minute of every day.  Truth be told, we get a little… dare we say tired of sweet stuff?  Lunch is a big deal for us - a small opportunity to make the most of all things savory.  No Tart knows how to lunch it up like our resident lunch buddies, Lindsay and Jessica.  Lindsay’s lunches consist of food vignettes remniscent of her midwest upbringing - tiny containers of peas, the cutest, simplest sandwiches ever, and maybe the perfect  apple.  Jessica is ramen-lovin’, kale-inhaling madwoman.  An alternative luncher, to be sure.  You can find them lunching together at the counter most afternoons, heads bent together in laughter, not unlike a couple of third-grade schoolgirls in the cafeteria.  It’s a lovely sight.

Spring in February?

spring.

 

My friend Jean is trying to kill her rhubarb.  OK, maybe “kill” is a poor choice of words.  Let’s opt for “contain,” or “curb the spread of.” (oh, scratch that - it leads one to think of infectuous disease.)  Jean is trying to “contain” her rhubarb.  I, on the other hand, have managed to kill mine.  So those of you who know me can imagine my joy when I came home to find two gallon containers full of healthy, leafy rhubarb stock at the top of the stairs.  Ready to plant (or kill – your choice.)

For me, rhubarb = spring.

Here at the bakery, it’s the first of the local fruits (is rhubarb a fruit?  Can you call a tuber a fruit?  I’d better do a bit of research, I fear.)  Rhubarb gets it rolling, followed by strawberries, cherries, peaches, berries, etc.  Although we love our passionfruit and our lemon, what we really crave is the weekly wondering of what we’ll bring home from market.  And then, once we’ve brought it into the kitchen, what will become of it?

daffydills

This year, Lindsay and I have already discussed “rhubarb gems,” the spring version of the apple gems we made last fall.  We receive frequent requests for the Roo-Bars we made last spring, and rhubarb rugelach are lovely, delicate things. 

So here’s to spring!  I mean, doesn’t it feel as though it’s here already? (oh lord, I’m pretty sure I just tempted fate to serve up a week-long spate of record cold temps.)

Mini Me

Mini Cap Creams

Winter’s relative calm has given way to guerilla marketing at Two Tarts.  We’ve been working the demo counters at various New Seasons accounts, returning a bit of the

Mini PB Cream vs. Mama PB Cream

 loving support they have shown us in 2009.  In order to sample our wares, we created an even tinier version of our already tiny treats.  Who on earth could resist?  I just want to pinch their sugary cheeks…

As much as we would love to have a marketing budget for concepts such as print ads or radio spots, it seems tht our money is best spent getting cookies into the mouths of Two Tarts virgins.  Mini Me Caps and PB Creams seem to do the trick. Oh, and a heartfelt, chest-thumping thank you to all of our regular customers who have spread the love (handles?) by indoctinating friends and family to our wares.  We would be nothing without you.

xoxo

The Tarts

Lucious Lemon Thumbprints

lovely lemon thumbprints

 Sadly, I must admit that I had abandoned these lovelies in the back of my mind.  During the spring, summer and fall, our creative juices belong to the  produce we bring back with us each week from farmers’ market - the simple source of our rotating seasonal selections.  During the rainiest winter months, long after the last of the sugar pie pumkins are gone, we revisit old friends from the recipe file, delighting with each bite and wondering why we have not made these sooner.  Lemon thumbprints fall into this category to be sure.   My sister Cecelia calls them the ”sunnyside ups” due to their uncanny resemblance to fried eggs.  Zesty lemon sugar cookies filled with fresh lemon curd?  I call them a frickin-ray-of-sunshine.  Here’s to old friends.

Homespun Goodness

Maybe it’s the weather.  Lately we’ve been turning out varieties that feel very, well… comforting.  Maybe a twist or two here and there, but recipes or ingredients you’ve loves since childhood seem to be the focus.

chocolate malted macaroons

 

We’ve tweaked the chocolate malted macaroons enough to justify return visits from some of our most dedicated cookie fanatics.  Chocolate almond macaroons (gluten-free by nature) filled with malted milk buttercream.  Damn.  It’s the solid version of a chocolate malt.  Honestly, I think I could eat a whole lot of the filling on its own.

tart krispies

 

Crispy rice treats?  I don’t know – we just had a hankering one day.  I think Lindsay or Jessica mentioned it during one of our famously short meetings.  You should taste these, to be sure.  Made with our very own   fresh marshmallow, awash in vanilla, and dipped in bittersweet chocolate, these are chewy beyond belief.  Oh, and by chance, they are also gluten-free. 

honey cranberry oatmeal

 

Simple, chewy honey oatmeal cookies studded with dried cranberries and a bit of orange zest.  These are a new addiction for those of us in the kitchen.  We source our honey from Winters Farms, run by Marven Winters, he of the incomparable sweet tooth.

pecan florentines

 

The elusive Florentine.

We’ve still a bit of tweaking to do with these.  They taste fabulous, as we’ve added a bit of orange zest to the mix, but as Jessica and Lindsay both say, they resemble cat barf.  Tomorrow I’ll grind the pecans a bit further and see if we can’t make them more appetizing.  Once we perform a sufficient makeover on these crunchy, crispy, buttery treats, we’ll decide whether to leave them as is, or roll them and fill them with buttercream or chocolate ganache.  Thank you to our friend Sabine for moving them up the production list.

Press On.

Sunset Magazine Feb 2010

 

I think my mom will be proud…

Sunset Magazine is a family tradition for my family.  My parents may have a larger library of back issues than the magazine itself.  As a child, I remember using them as a reference for recipes, school reports, and as a cure for summer boredom.  As we left the house, my mother started purchasing a subscription for each of us every year.  (having ten brothers and sisters, I sure hope Sunset has a group rate or something.)  Being the odd child that I was, I was thrilled one year when my folks brought us to the Sunset test gardens/kitchens and such in Menlo Park, CA.  Although I may have been ten at the time, I remember the visit well, reveling in the shiny kitchen equipment and lush, exotic gardens  (Totally worth the trip if you are ever in the vicinity of San Francisco.)

So check out the February issue of Sunset Magazine!  Not only will you find the usual array of gardening advice, weekend getaways, and food fantasy provided in each issue, but we also have a tiny but sweet spot in the “Editor’s Picks.”  There also happens to be a mention of two of our favorite Portland pizza spots as well – Ken’s Artisan and Tastebud.

Strange to say in a blog, I know, but here’s to the survival of print mags.  I hope the best of them live on.

A Brief Hint of Spring

January Flowers

I’ll be honest. 

We’re already thinking about spring.  My eight-year-old daughter likes to remind me that winter officially began a mere four weeks ago, but  I can’t help noticing the bulb tips peeking out of the otherwise barren, wet, crusty soil in my garden.  Just yesterday I spotted a few early snowdrops and camelias as well (not in my yard, much to my chagrin.)

All this stored energy gets The Tarts  a’thinking… dreaming up new cookies, formulating our 2010 “plan of attack” as it pertains to marketing, events, classes, and such, working up the energy for deep cleaning the kitchen, and putting a few more systems in place.  Basically, we’re continuing our mission of “Changing the world one cookie at a time,” as blatently plaguerized from the movie Stranger than Fiction.

So to end the blathering and get to a point…

What would you like to see from Two Tarts in 2010?  We want to know! 

How would you feel about a regular “club” type shipment/pick-up?  New ice cream flavors?  Cookies you’ve been dreaming about?  Let’s hear it! 

Tartcation, Part II

OK, Portlanders… here’s some basic math for you.  What’s the sum of

        this lovely coffee            plus organic milk                plus this beauty?

The answer should be obvious, but not when you are vacationing somewhere in the food/time continuum of California’s Central Coast.  Holy hell!  I found drinkable coffee!  Our friends at Barista and Coffeehouse NW might raise and eyebrow at the latte art, but to find passable coffee here is truly miraculous.

A latte from Joe Mama coffee in Avila Beach

 

Being here is lovely and relaxing, but it makes me realize how much I adore Portland in all of its quirks and glory.  The food and coffee available to me in P-town completely outweight the sometimes questionable weather patterns.  Maybe a plethora of sun dampens the quest for that which is truly delicious?  There’s no telling, I suppose.  But let me repeat… it sure is lovely here!

Letting Down

tart krispies

 (Just a reminder: The Tarts are on vacation until the 12th of January.  These posts are being made from the 80-degree comfort of the sunny Central Coast of California.)

Uh, yeah.  But before we abandoned the Portland weather for a week, we messed around with a few ideas for the coming year.  Lindsay made these ridiculous crispy rice treats using our very own marshmallow and organic crispy brown rice.  I wanted to eat the entire batch in one sitting.  These things are so fragrant with vanilla, they don’t even need the chocolate.  Other stuff we’ve been musing about?  Crisp florentines rolled and filled with seasonal buttercreams, or maybe just dipped in chocolate… making the chocolate malted cookies we perfected in December a part of our regular production (note to self: why bother to come up with a new variety during a month in which you have no time to produce it?)

chocolate malteds

… we’re dreaming of rhubarb again, and a cookie with some sort of honeycomb candy incorporated into the finished product.  Valentine’s Day is around the corner, too, so the bakery will be host a plethora of heart-shaped favorites, of course.

We like this blogging bit, as it enables us to post more photos of new varieties, and regale you with dorky stories from the kitchen.  More to come…