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…

Tartcation

sleeping beauty

The Bakery is Closed!

We’re sleeping, relaxing, reading, and generally doing nothing at all productive.  Our apologies to those of you who have just returned to work after a long holiday or two, but we’re resting up.

Never fear!  The bakery will reopen on Tuesday, January 12th at 10:30am.  We’ll be sure to have lots and lots of your favorite treats on hand to make up for our absence.

January Class Schedule

pumpkinseed macaroon

Whew!  The holiday insanity is over!  Market is on hiatus, and we’ve scheduled a much needed vacation.  Time to take it easy, no? Oh, who am I kidding?  We’ll probably be bored after two or three days of doing nothing.  And so, to rev up our return to the bakery, we’ve put together a schedule of classes for January.

 

Classes run 90+ minutes and include hands-on participation.  Pricing is per person.  Reservations and deposit are required, as class space is limited.  E-mail jessica@twotartsbakery.com for additional info, or to reserve a space.

 

Friday, January 15th      6pm                             

Tassies

$20 per person

 

Tassies stir memories like no other cookie we bake.  They resemble miniature pies and can be made in a variety of flavors… pumpkin, pecan, hazelnut, lemon, (and so on and soforth.) We’ll provide you with hands-on instruction in how to make picture-perfect tassies year-round.

 

 

Friday, January 22th        6pm              

Macaroons

$25 per person

  

You masochists.  You asked for it, so we’re going to oblige.  Perfect French Macarons?  Who do you think you are, Pierre Herme?  This promises to be a fun, sticky, and slightly (bwaahaha!) frustrating class.  We’ll discuss a variety of techniques, ingredients, and tools, but ultimately, we’ll make several batches of delicious, chewy puffs of macaroon goodness. We do suggest that those attending have a minimum of baking expertise under their belt, and maybe a convection oven at home? 

  

  

 

 

  

 

lemon crumble bar

Lemon Curd

$20 per person

 

Friday, January 29th      6pm

 

Zesty, lemony goodness made easy.  We’ll teach you how to make the lemon curd of your dreams, then bake off three varieties of cookies utilizing said deliciousness; lemon crumble bars, lemon meringue tassies, and lemon thumbprint cookies. 

 

  

            

  

 

  

Sunday at the Bakery

lemon curd in waiting

A little Goldfrapp to get the day rolling?  Heck yes.

And now that the music is rolling, let’s get on it!  First order of the day… massive quantities of lemon curd.  The thud of a case of lemons as it lands on the butcher block is followed by the rasping of the microplanes and the chatter of Caitlin and Emily as they relive Saturday night.

Whitney at Pix Patisserie

We’ve got a 2x batch (about 3 gallons of finished curd) on the list, and with Lil’ Mama (aka: Whitney) at the Bluegrass Festival, it’s on us.  Making curd is a lesson in patience, requiring loads of mis en place and a painfully long, slow stirring session as the curd thickens.  Each batch must be stirred without rest for the 30 or so minutes it takes to reach a slow simmer.  Burning a six-quart pot of curd is an expensive mistake, in terms of both labor and food cost.  Zesty goodness is the reward for our patience, producing enough curd to fill countless lemon bars and lemon tassies for the coming week.

Clay, we’re thinking of you with every batch of curd!

xoxoxo

The Tarts