Valentine's Sweets to the Sweet

Oh, Valentine's Day. That yearly tension between refusing to succumb to vapid consumerism and the genuine desire to express your love. To me, the can't-go-wrong solution is to show your affection with a simple homemade or handmade token and then shower your loved ones with the real, sincere kindnesses that money can't buy. A good rule for the other 364 days, really. In any case, here are a few Valentine-y suggestions for an edible treat--rich and chocolatey, tart and fruity, or otherwise. Of course you can always find more via the Recipe Index.

Happy LOVE day & enjoy!

Chocolate
Chocolate Coconut Pie (gluten-free)
Chocolate and Peanut Butter Pretzel Tart
Milk Chocolate and Salted Caramel Hazelnut Tart
Nutella Icebox Pie

Fruit
Blood Orange Chess Pie
Cranberry Hand Pies (heart shaped!)
Pistachio Blood Orange Tart

Custard
Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie
Maple Bourbon Buttermilk Pie
Salty Honey Pie

All of the Above
Chocolate Orange Pie with Mascarpone Cream
Cranberry Chocolate Chess Pie
Dark Chocolate Lavender Tart with a Lemon Cardamom Crust

Cranberry Chocolate Chess Pie

HELLO FEBRUARY! Though I went on two long-weekend adventures during the first month of 2015-- one to a cabin in Virginia for New Year's and another cross-country skiing in West Virginia-- the rest of my free time has largely been spent at home-- reading and writing, knitting and watching movies, listening to podcasts and making food. I've really been feeling the winter nesting alone time vibes; honoring those feelings has felt both productive and relaxing. I'm not sure if February will prompt a changing tide, but I'm open to whatever it sends my way.

In the first few years after I graduated college, my friends and I self-published a collaborative literary journal/zine called The Dovetail Collective. The theme and concept was constantly changing, but each issue had a regular column where members shared what they were currently reading, watching, and listening to. In what were largely pre-social media days (most of us had Myspace pages, but that's about it), it was a good way to get reliable book, movie, and music recommendations. In the spirit of that and my especially bookwormish tendencies as of late, here's what I've been reading/watching/listening:

Reading: Carolyn Chute's Treat Us Like Dogs and We Will Become Wolves. I've had the pleasure of getting to know Carolyn the past few years through NELP. She writes about a side of Maine-- her side-- that's not regularly depicted in the coastal tourist paradise stereotype we're often fed and her stories are raw and real and complicated. I also just started Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven and am totally enthralled.

Watching: Star Trek: The Next Generation. Yep, when I finally finish the sweater I'm knitting, there will be many hours of TNG invested in those stitches. Also, Broad City. For movies I recently enjoyed Selma and Iranian vampire movie, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night.

Listening: Serial and the new NPR podcast Invisibilia (one of the producers, Lulu Miller, was actually a member of The Dovetail Collective). Still blasting D'Angelo's Black Messiah in the work headphones and have been spinning Jake Xerxes Fussell's new self-titled album on Paradise of Bachelors.

What have I been baking? Along with MAV's Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies, you're seeing it right here. Hoosier Mama Pie Company's Cranberry Chess Pie has become a go-to favorite, as I've said before and I was planning to make it for Christmas. When I got home, though, I learned that my mom had already made it for Thanksgiving, so I considered how I might alter the recipe for something new. I thought cranberries would pair well with a bittersweet chocolate and it turns out, they do-- resembling cherry cordials in flavor (another family holiday standby). The recipe whips up pretty quickly and is a good pick for Valentine's Day or for just sittin' at home watching Star Trek and knitting a sweater on a Sunday afternoon.

Cranberry Chocolate Chess Pie
Inspired by Hoosier Mama's Cranberry Chess Pie

Ingredients
Nothing in the House pie crust, halved
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (60% or higher)
3/4 cup white sugar
1 Tablespoon yellow cornmeal
2 large eggs, beaten well
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 cups fresh cranberries, halved

Directions
1. Prepare half of Nothing in the House pie crust as per the directions, reserving the leftover egg for an egg wash. Chill dough at least one hour before rolling and fitting into a greased and floured 9-inch pie pan. Let chill in the fridge while you prepare the filling. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Place the butter and chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Cook until both butter and chocolate are melted into a smooth chocolate sauce, 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a medium bowl.

3. Add the sugar and cornmeal to the chocolate mixture and stir until well combined. Then add the eggs, vanilla, salt, and orange zest. Stir with a wooden spoon until evenly mixed. Gently fold in the cranberries.

4. Pour the batter into the pie shell and smooth with a rubber spatula. Bake for 40-45 minutes, rotating pie 180 degrees halfway through. When done, filling will be puffed and set and crust will be golden brown. Remove pie from oven and let cool until warm, at least 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with chocolate shavings, if desired.



Related recipes:
Cranberry Chess Pie
Cranberry Hand Pies
Cranberry Pie
Chocolate Chess Pie

Cranberry Hand Pies

As I've said before, I don't really believe in Valentine's Day. I do, however, always believe in telling the people you care for that you love them. I also believe in heart-shaped sweet treats. February 14th then, does present a good opportunity for both of those things to occur. Growing up, my grandma and mom always made heart-shaped sugar cookies this time of year, decorated with pink and red frosting. I still take guilty pleasure in that childhood treat, and decided to re-envision it in pie-form. 

These cranberry hand pies use a quick homemade cranberry-orange jam filling. If you don't favor cranberries or have any on hand, you could substitute them with your favorite jam. The heart-shaped pies are all cranberry-filled, but for the circular pies, I spread a thin layer of goat cheese on half for a bit of savory flavor. Those cran-goat cheese pockets would make wonderful snacks or appetizers, while the pure cranberry hand pies are better suited for breakfast or dessert. No matter the time of day, slip these little pies in your pocket and pass them out to the ones you love-- a Valentine's Day celebration I can believe in.

Cranberry Hand Pies

Makes about 1-2 dozen, depending on size

Ingredients
Nothing in the House pie crust
12 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries
Juice of 1 medium naval orange
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon Grand Marnier, if desired
1 egg, whisked with 1 Tablespoon heavy cream or whole milk (for egg wash)
Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
4 oz. goat cheese (for savory pies, if desired)

Directions
1. Prepare Nothing-in-the-House pie crust as per the directions. Once chilled, roll out dough onto a floured surface and cut into circles or hearts of equal size. Place cut crust on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and return to chill in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium saucepan on medium heat, stir and simmer cranberries, orange juice, zest, sugar, and Grand Marnier, if using. Stir occasionally until cranberries begin to burst, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 5-7 minutes more, until a thick sauce is formed. Transfer to a medium bowl and let cool. 

3. Remove cut dough from fridge and mound cranberry mixture into the center of half of the circles or heart. If using goat cheese, spread it on the other half of the pie. Brush edges of dough with water and place a matching piece of dough on top. Press the edges with a fork to seal. Brush hand pies with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, and cut a steam vent in the top of each.

3. On a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, bake hand pies for 35-45 minutes, rotating cookie sheet half-way through. Filling will be bubbling and crust will be golden brown when done. Transfer pies to a wire rack and let cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Thanks to Food52 for featuring these in their #F52grams!

Related Recipes:

Apple Fried Pies

Blueberry Hand Pies

Cranberry Sage Pie

Peach-Bourbon-Ginger Hand Pies

Illustrations by Elizabeth Graeber

Chocolate Angel Tartlets

As I mentioned in the previous post, Valentine's Day for me is about baking and baked goods. Regardless of what our plans were for the evening, I wanted to make some kind of treat to share, and chocolate was requested! So I turned to Nancie McDermott's Southern Pies' "chocolate section" and settled on this inside-out chocolate angel pie.

Angel pie is an inside-out confection, where the meringue, which typically tops a chocolate cream pie, serves instead as the crust. A creamy chocolate filling sits atop it, with the addition of an extra dollop of whipped cream, if desired. Nancie says that the angel pie, a southern favorite, is kin to pavlova, the meringue-centric dessert named after dancer Anna Pavlova, and a traditional dish in Australia and New Zealand. She also notes that both are variations of the German/Viennese "schaum torte" a meringue "cake" that is also popular in Minnesota and Wisconsin (where there are many German immigrants). Growing up, my friend Suzannah used to make meringue cookies in this style, with the addition of chocolate chips.

Based on some quickie internet research, it appears that there are a few variations of angel pie. The lemon version seems to be a well-loved treat and I saw some recipes for other flavors, like grapefruit coconut; I think the meringue crust would be a delicious foundation for any light, cream-based filling. Though I followed Nancie's recipe pretty closely, I decided to make mine into little chocolate angel tartlets, to go with the mini savory pot pies I was making. Here's the recipe I used.


Chocolate Angel Tartlets
Adapted from Nancie McDermott's Southern Pies

Ingredients
For meringue crust:
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/8 tsp. salt
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. (2 oz.) chopped pecans

For chocolate cream filling:
4 squares (4 oz.) semisweet chocolate
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. heavy cream
sweetened whipped cream and cocoa powder for garnish (optional--I didn't to this in the interest of time, but would recommend it!)

Directions
For the meringue crust:
1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Grease 6 mini tart pans and set aside.

2. In a kitchen aid with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt and beat on high until the eggs are fluffy and hold their shape. While beating, add the sugar and vanilla to the egg whites gradually, until they are thick, shiny and form stiff peaks.


3. Scoop the beaten egg whites into the tartlet pans, dividing them evenly between the 6. Use the back of the spoon to shape them into crust-like shapes--high sides, extending slightly over the sides of the pan and thin in the center. Scatter the chopped pecans over the bottom of the meringue crust, dividing them evenly among the tartlets.


4. Place tartlet pans on a metal baking sheet and place on the middle shelf of the oven. Bake for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 250 degrees F and bake until meringue is lightly browned, firm, and dry to the touch, 35-45 minutes more.


5. Once done, place the tartlets on a cooling rack and cool to room temperature. Then refrigerate the crust for 3 hours or overnight.

For the chocolate cream filling:
1. Melt chocolate in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add 1/4 c. hot water and vanilla and stir until everything is combined and smooth. Set aside to cool completely.

2. When chocolate is cool, beat the cream until thick and holds firm peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate for a delicate and creamy chocolate filling.

3. Scoop the chocolate filling into the meringue crust and mound it so it looks nice. Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Serve cold with extra whipped cream and cocoa dusting, if desired.

These tarts were quite sweet, as the filling is essentially a chocolate mousse supported by a rather sugary crust. In the future, I'd like to experiment with using a darker chocolate infused with some other flavor--perhaps orange or lavender, but it was a night where a little sugar indulgence was allowed. I'd also recommend, if nothing else for aesthetics, adding an extra dollop of whipped cream and a cocoa powder dusting or chocolate shavings.

Though I had initially planned a winter picnic in the park, it was dark and a little rainy on the night of St. Valentine's, so we lit some Mexican votive candles, put some 1920s Cajun fiddle music on the record player, sat on the floor of my room and ate one of these delights (preceded by mini savory pot pies in personal ramekins). Then we went out for fancy whiskey cocktails at a joint called Jack Rose (R.I.P.) followed by a rock 'n' roll/rockabilly dance party at the Black Cat.

Tart of Gold--Found!

I've never really been one for Valentine's Day. I appreciate its pagan origins, and think it's always a nice thing to show and tell the people you care about that you do, indeed, care about them, but seeing all the cheap sentiment for sale in the grocery and drug store aisles makes my stomach turn more than my heart beat. What Valentine's Day has always been about for me, though, is baked goods. My mom and grandma always made the most delicious and cutest heart-shaped sugar cookies, glazed with red & pink icing--seriously the best you have ever tasted. They continued the tradition through college, where tins of these cookies with homemade valentines would arrive at my dorm room and I'd have to pawn them off on my roommates and neighbors so as not to eat them all.

So it seems right that this year, Tarts by Tarts did a special Valentine's Day event--offering up made-to-order tarts-- "hearts by tarts" if you will--and various other baked goods at the Tart of Gold Party at Treasury last Thursday.

In addition to our made-to-order tarts, we offered up various baked goods for snackin' at the party, or to take home to your sweetie. Here's the menu:

honey-hazelnut amaranth short bread cookies
maple orange sugar cookie sandwiches with vanilla & raspberry buttercream
chocolate cookies
salted vanilla-bourbon caramels in stamped muslin bags
yeasted doughnuts with chili spiced chocolate glaze
yeasted doughnuts with vanilla-bourbon glaze & toasted coconut
yeasted duce de leche-filled doughnuts
caramel nut tartlets
lemon-ginger meringue tartlets

Though I had recently made my grandma Eileen's lemon meringue pie, this time I used the lemon-ginger lemon curd recipe that we used for the ginger-lemon and bourbon orange tart. The recipe is as follows:

Lemon-Ginger Meringue Tartlets
Makes 6 tartlets

Ingredients
For crust:
Nothing-in-the house pie crust recipe or your favorite tart crust recipe

For lemon-ginger curd:
6 Tblsp. arrowroot starch (or corn starch)
2 cup + 4 Tblsp. granulated sugar
1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
finely grated zest from 2 medium lemons
2 Tblsp. of freshly grated ginger
4 Tblsp. white wine
4 eggs
4 egg yolks
pinch of salt
6 Tblsp. of unsalted butter, cold

For meringue:

5 egg whites

6 Tblsp. sugar

Pinch cream of tartar

 
Directions
For crust:
1. Follow instructions for Nothing-in-the-House pie crust or your favorite tart crust recipe. Meanwhile, prepare your lemon curd (see instructions below).

2. Preheat oven to 400 and remove crust dough from fridge. Grease and flour 6 tartlet pans. Divide crust into six, roll out, and fit into tart shells. Place crusted tart shells into freezer for 15 minutes. 

3. Remove tart shells from freezer. Line each with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans and blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove pie weights and bake for 5-10 minutes more or until golden brown and flaky. Let cool.

For lemon-ginger curd:
1. Place the arrowroot starch, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, grated ginger, white wine, eggs, egg yolks and salt in a small saucepan.

2. Turn the stove on low heat, and with a whisk, stir contents constantly as the curd cooks and thickens. Bring the curd to about 185˚F which should take about 7 or 8 minutes.

3. Once the curd has reached the right temperature turn off the stove and remove the saucepan from the heat. Pour the curd into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Turn the mixer to high and beat for 30 seconds to cool the curd. Then turn the speed to low and add one tablespoon of butter. Beat until it is melted and fully incorporated. Add the second tablespoon beating until it too is incorporated. Repeat with the final tablespoon.
4. Let the curd come to room temperature and pour it into a bowl or tupperware. Cover bowl and place in the freezer for at least two hours or overnight.

For meringue:
1. Once curd has been chilled sufficiently, divide curd into baked tart shells (I had some leftover curd, which was just fine with me--try it on toast, pound cake or ice cream!). Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add sugar gradually and pinch of cream of tartar. Spread meringue over lemon curd in each tartlet, using the back of a spoon to create curls and peaks. Place tartlets in the oven and brown, 13-15 minutes. Let tartlets cool to room temperature and place in fridge. Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled.

 

Cathy of Treasury called it "the best meringue tart of my life! I loved the crust too and I normally like that part the least." Thanks so much to Treasury gals Joyce, Katerina and Cathy, our friends who helped out and took audio recordings and lent us supplies, our customers who ordered tarts and bought baked goods, and to my awesome tartner Kari! We ended up getting a lot of really nice write-ups from blogs and sites**, including Refinery29, The President Wears Prada (who also graciously provided these pictures), and Panda Head--so thank you to those writers and bloggers too!

 

Hope you had a sweet Valentine's day! Look for Tarts by Tarts next at the D.C. Square Dance on March 3rd, where we'll be hawking Southern-inspired treats for all the ladies and gents. Of course, that will include pie (maybe even some fried ones too).

**UPDATE**

Our friend DVD made this adorable and hilarious audio piece about the party--a "little synapse of deliciousness for your ears". Have a listen.

Thanks to TPWP and Kari for the photos.

Vintage Pie-Themed Valentines

Still not sure what to do for Valentine's day? Doughn't pie-ne away! What's butter than getting some "flours" and whipping up somethin' sweet--whether for your special someone, that crush you've got your eye on, or alone on the couch in a union suit, Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, and a bottle of cheap wine (been there). Might we suggest a dark chocolate & salted caramel pie? salty honey? or lemon meringue? And lord knows, if there's one thing I like more than pie, it's puns. Pair that pie with some of these punny vintage Valentines, and you'll be sure to get things rollin'...

 

 

The last Valentine comes from the Montana Historical Society and was delivered to a young resident of Ollie, MT in approximately 1930. Happy hearts 'n' tarts!