Your Mom called. (She wants those 18 years of her life back.)

When I think of mothers, I often find myself wondering what it would feel like to be in the shoes of my friend Sharon. Sharon has three very cute, very active, very young boys. Yep, three. Whew! I mean, that’s a Bonneville Damn’s worth of energy.  Three young men, excited about life. Every second. Of every day. She recently admitted to me that they had nicknamed their youngest “Spicoli.” Snow days feel like a personal conspiracy. I frequently receive texts about one of the boys partaking in any number of creative endeavors: flushing shoes down the toilet, tossing down throw pillows into the fire, and never, ever giving her a moment’s peace.

For Mothers’ Day this year, Two Tarts is pairing up with Steven Smith Teamakers. We’ve put together a sweet little package of cookies and tea. Bon Bon , new from Steven Smith, is a minty, fruity, vanilla-scented gem of a tisane. Pair 4oz of Bon Bon with a bakers’ dozen of four of our favorite flavors*, and your shopping is done.  This dynamic tea and cookie duo runs $25, including shipping within the continental United States. To order, send an email to Emily, or call the bakery at 503.312.9522.

So in honor of Sharon, and all the other amazing moms
out there, Happy Mothers’ Day! I swear to you that your children will grow up to be the most polite, well-rounded, brilliant members of society ever.

*hazelnut baci, cappuccino creams, lil’ mamas and a special Steven Smith Teamaker shortbread

Be Still My Heart

Ah, just a few, short, heart-shaped days left. Until what you ask? Well, we’re counting down to a few interesting things here at the bakery.

1. The airing of our spot on “Unique Sweets” this Sunday night (cue the deer-in-the-headlights look.)

2. Valentine’s Day. For the last week, anything and everything we could possibly make into a recognizable heart shape has been…well, heart-shaped. Cappuccino creams, shortbread, cocoa nib “stars,” linzers, and so on. On Tuesday, the Cinderella cookies metamorphosize back to their former selves. Presto change-o.

3. Rhubarb. It’s been a warm, dryish (we are talking Portland here,) winter. Marven, how’s the rhubarb looking? Soon? Please? I mean, we love the passionfruit creams, but you know that stuff doesn’t grow here.

4. The last few winter markets. Sigh. They’ve been amazing, and we will miss them greatly. Have you made it there yet? What a stellar performance by the farmers! Rick Steffen, Marven Winters, Groundworks, DeNoble…we cannot believe what they managed to grow for us in January. It’s heaven to have a full produce drawer in the refrigerator again.

So here’s to countdowns, both happy and sad. When something leaves, or when it’s drawing near,  we appreciate it all the more, no?

Gift-O-Rama

It crept up on me, it did.  It’s damp and chilly, leaves are dropping like… well, like leaves, I suppose.  Rake, sweep, repeat.  I cannot bear to rake the yard yet, as the bits of color are still so beautiful lying there on the ground.  Just the walks for now, thank you.

But in another week or so, the excitement of the holidays will be upon us.  Steamy windows, cold and warmth punctuated only by the grumbling hinges of the front door, and good smells slyly winding their way down 23rd Avenue.  And in all of the hullabaloo, we sometimes forget what brings us all together in merry solidarity.   My sister Carol, who works for UPS, refers to one of December’s major holidays as “The ‘C’ Word.”  Easy to feel that way when your job is shipping (I mean, who ever calls to tell you “thank you” for getting a package there on time?)  Here at the bakery, it’s just a ramped up version of our daily dose of baking.  But something feels different, somehow.  I think that the holidays, much like alcohol, magnify elements of our personality (both good and bad.)

In an effort to magnify what we do best at Two Tarts, we’re offering a selection of items we already love with our whole heart and soul.  Two Tarts Cookies, Sterling Coffee, Freddy Guys Hazelnuts, and one or two lovely food books written by local authors.  Any and all of these can be packaged beautifully and shipped for you.  We want your holidays to be simple, so that you can better enjoy the family and friends that have been there for you the whole year through.

Pie Time: The End of an Era

Psssst!  Hey, you!  Yeah, I’m talking to you.

You know how every Thanksgiving we’ve made pies for you?  Pies you could pass off as your own, in a lovely ceramic or glass pie plate – not those cheesy, boring-ass shallow aluminum (aluminum? really?) pans? Well guess what?  It’s been a busy summer, so we’re scaling it back a bit and doing a very low-key offering this year.  We’ve got 25 of those gorgeous cherry-red pie plates on hand, and we’re making 25 ridiculously delicious deep-dish pumpkin pies.  Freshly roasted sugar pie pumpkins from our favorite farmers, pasture-raised eggs, brown sugar, cream, and a sprinkling of candied ginger and other pie spices.  $30 each includes the plate.  We’ll stop taking orders when we hit 25.

Email your orders to elizabeth@twotartsbakery.com

Winter, Sweet Winter.

I realize that it’s technically still Fall, but the chill outside says otherwise. With snow flurries forecast for Saturday market, I’m thinking spicy, warm thoughts. Over the past month, you’ve most likely seen a change in the pastry case as we’ve gradually moved toward our sweater wearing, down vest sporting, warm-your-hands-around-a-hot-cup-of-cocoa varieties. Ginger molasses chews sport three different types of ginger. S’mores made with our thick-cut honey grahams are filled with our very own marshmallow and dipped in dark chocolate. Hubba hubbas are filled with sweet-tart Bandon cranberry buttercream. Pumpkin whoopie pies and ginger pumpkin tassies boast a silky, supple style of spice. Not-so-thin mint bars clear your nasal passages with a whiff of minty goodness. Apple pecan rugelach make the most of this year’s amazing heirloom apples. And now, cranberry spice macarons. By nudging our almond macarons ever closer to winter’s edge, we’ve added a bit of pie spice to the meringue, then filled them with cranberry orange buttercream. Winter macarons, yes indeed. Best enjoyed with a cup of extra chocolatey cinnamon hot chocolate, I think.

When even the Democrats aren’t on my side… Two Tarts and the Durbin Amendment

We all have our reasons, it seems; budgeting, financial reporting, reimbursements from our employer, fraud protection, miles, and points at REI are some of the many soundbites I hear from customers who are using their credit cards for what we refer to as “small ticket” transactions.  Hey, I get it.  Credit cards are easy to use!  Corporate banks have made us feel that way, at least.  But what the banks aren’t telling you is that businesses (small ones in particular, as they don’t have the negotiating power of the Costcos of this world,) pay for all of the above mentioned “benefits” of using a credit card in lieu of cash or a debit card.  Here are a few fact that every consumer should know:

Mileage that you accrue using your Airline Rewards Card is paid for by the businesses in which you use them.  These cards, along with Corporate Issued Cards (the ones you get from your employer) cost businesses owners the most.

If your card is stolen and you report it within a reasonable time period, by law you are not liable for charges made to the account.  Know why?  Businesses pay them.  It’s called a “chargeback.”  If a card is used fraudulently at my business, your credit card company takes their money back.

You know those lovely financial statements that American Express provides for you at the end of every year?  Guess who pays for those?  Yup, you guessed it!  AMEX has one of the highest processing fees of any provider.

So where is this leading?  Well, for me, it’s leading to a Debit Only policy beginning November 21st, 2011.  Due to the recently passed Durbin Amendment, our processing fees have increased by 20% in the last month.  That’s a big deal for small-margin businesses such as ours.  And while the Durbin Amendment gives large ticket operations a lower cost per transaction, it penalizes small ticket businesses such as ours.  This was a concession to the credit card companies in order to achieve a pass in Congress.  Sorry politicians.  If you thought small-ticket businesses would sit back and take it, think again.

I realize that in our busy lives we look to modern day conveniences such as credit cards to help us manage our lives.  As a business owner, I’ve ditched each and every one of mine.  Once I found out who really pays the price for these conveniences, the choice was easy.  And you know what?  Debit cards are every bit as convenient.

 

Buddy Biscuits

 

Bella and Big Bird (she ditched Edward.)

Do you have a fondness for four-legged, furry creatures?  Recognize folks by their pets rather than their faces?  Zoom in to the fuzzball at the end of the leash rather than the human attached at the other end?  We’re with you all the way.  In honor of our loyal friends who never talk back, never judge us, and are always happy to see us, we’d like to introduce you to “Buddy Biscuits,” our in-house treats for cats and dogs (they’re perfectly acceptable for human consumption as well, as Michelle likes to point out.)  Made at the bakery with farm-fresh pumpkin, carrot, peanut butter, and rice flour, they are gluten-free and have been thoroughly tested on nearly every animal that happens by the bakery.  All sales of Buddy Biscuits benefit The Pixie Project, a Portland-based charity that rehabilitates and rehomes cats and dogs. At $2 per bag, they are the perfect add-on to a bakers’ dozen, and a way to ensure that you get to enjoy the cookies without guilty stares from your furry loved one.

Mac Heaven

What’s up with this macaron craze?  Hey, we’ve always loved the Parisian version that is now en vogue, but it used to be that the American public thought macaroons were made from coconut and sweetened condensed milk.  Maybe it’s a spin-off of the gluten-free diet?  Who knows?  It’s all beside the point if it means we can pump out new flavors of macarons and know that they will sell in a flash.  Macarons are fun for bakers – so much flexibility in flavors and fillings.

Yesterday Lindsay worked with some toasted hazelnut “cake” given to us by Barb and Fritz at Freddy Guys.  Straight up hazelnuts make very fragile macarons, so Barb and Fritz gave us this “cake” to use.  It’s dry roasted, pressed hazelnut mass that results from pressing some of the oil out of the nuts.  Turns out, it makes the best macarons ever.  Super chewy and beautiful, we’ve filled them with dark chocolate ganache.

Market Watch

The anticipation is killing me. PSU market opens tomorrow morning. The car is packed, the cookies are baked… now all I have to do is get a lil’ shut-eye and off we go. Emily and I are on market duty tomorrow. We’ll be there with a lucky 13 varieties, and we’re hoping to score some fresh rhubarb if this rotten weather will allow. Marven? You out there picking rhubarb stalks in this muck?

Do me a favor, and cross your fingers for a couple hours of dry weather tomorrow. Pleeeeeeze?

I like coffee, I like tea.

Caffeine. 

Other than our kitchen manager, Lindsay, we’re all addicts.  Coffee and tea are as much a part of our day as reminding our children to pick up their coats/towels/socks off of the floor.  (Only the coffee and tea consumption evokes less eye rolls.)

We like to think that we’ve put as much thought and love into choosing our coffee and tea purveyors as we have into our delicious cookies.  It’s no wonder that as of late, we’ve fallen hard for cookies in which coffee or tea is used as flavoring.  Espresso macarons, chai tea shortbrea, green tea macarons, cappuccino creams, and now…earl grey brownies.  The brownies?  We’ve given them the usual dose of dark, thick, chocolatey goodnes.  The rub is in the frosting – an earl grey infused chocolate ganache.  The citrusy bergamot note from the tea gives these brownies lift.  As Mark, our favorite brownie customer noted, “I could eat two of these!”  And that from a one-brownie-a-day kind of guy.  Kudos to Foxfire Tea for the beautiful earl grey tea.