Tarts by Tarts Starts!

This past Satuday, after baking all day Friday, 2 hours of sleep, and getting up at 4am to fry doughnuts, my friend Kari and I took to D.C.'s Crafty Bastards Food Market for the debut of Tarts by Tarts! We set up our stand with ticking and tablecloth, a pennant flag, homemade stamped business cards, baskets, wooden library boxes and Kari's genius "doughnut suitcase"; despite the dreary day, I must say that it looked pretty cute.

We opened for business at 10am and had a steady stream of customers, many of them after our hot mulled cider with a doughnut hole-on-a-stir-stick (it was cold) and our other breakfast-y treats. By 11am business had really picked up, and we were slammed for 2 hours straight, with a constant line of friendly folks who had lots of nice things to say about our goods.

 

Here's what we offered:  

Tarts by Tarts at Crafty Bastards  
Hot mulled cider with a doughnut hole 
Dulce de leche filled yeast doughnuts 
Apple cider donuts 
Glazed buttermilk cake donuts (vanilla and chocolate) 
Pumpkin whoopie pies with maple cream cheese filling 
Molasses gingerbread (slices) 
Double chocolate rads (cookies) 
Vegan iced oatmeal cookies 
Savory apple tart with carmelized onions, gruyere and sage (recipe to be posted soon!) 
Plum hazelnut tartlets 
Apple tartlets with homemade apple butter 
Honey walnut tartlets

 

By 2pm we had completely sold out (though in the last fifteen minutes we had a "name your price" deal to clear our few remaining cookies and pumpkin whoopie pies. Though it would have been nice to stick around and talk to more people, we were thankful to get out a little early, as we were freezing, rain-drenched, and exhausted. All-in-all our first outing as Tarts by Tarts was quite the success! We sold out and even made a little bit of money, which exceeded our goals and was encouraging as we had no idea what to expect from Crafty Bastard's first Crafty Food Market.

 

Kari and I would like to extend a special thanks to all those friends who helped make this possible--everyone who lent a table or a tent, a thermos, or the use of a van, stopped by to say hi and buy, helped us set-up, tear down, as well as those who kept us going while baking by offering jokes,  late-night grocery-run accompaniment, and encouragement. I'd also like to thank Kari for being an awesome baking partner and sharing all her baked goods sale expertise! Looking forward to doing it again soon. Stay updated on future Tarts by Tarts adventures on our blog here: http://tartsbytarts.tumblr.com/

Pumpkin Whoopie Inspiration: Maple-Cream Cheese Variation

Last Sunday I got home from brunch and the grocery store, all set to make pumpkin (actually butternut squash--the store had no pumpkin puree yet!) cupcakes for a pumpkin-carving party. But after peeking here and seeing Michelle's pumpkin whoopie pies, I had to divert my plans! I didn't have marshmallow on hand (and am not so much a fun of marshmallow creme in general), so I made a maple-cream cheese filling instead.

I used Michelle's recipe below for the cakes, and used this recipe for the filling:

Maple Cream Cheese Filling

Ingredients
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 Tblsp. maple syrup

Directions
1. In a food processor, beat the butter until it is smooth. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined.
2. Add the confectioners' sugar and maple syrup and beat until smooth. Cover the bowl tightly and put it in the refrigerator. Let the filling soften at room temperature before using.
A hit amongst the jack o' lanterns and at the WXYC new DJ filing party the next day!

p.s. if you've never experienced the whoopie or need some background check out this post and the linked NY Times article from last year.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pie Recipe

PUMPKIN WHOOPIE PIES with MAPLE-MARSHMALLOW FILLING 

1 c. powdered sugar, sifted
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 7-oz jar marshmallow creme
2 t. maple extract
CAKE
3 c. all purpose flour
2 t. ground cinnamon
1-1/2 t. baking powder
1-1/2 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
3/4 t. ground nutmeg
3/4 t. ground cloves
6 T. unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 c. (packed) golden brown sugar
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 15-oz can pure pumpkin
1/2 c. milk
Nonstick vegetable oil spray

PREPARATION

FILLING
(1) Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add marshmallow creme and maple extract; beat until blended and smooth. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.
CAKE
(1) Sift first 7 ingredients into large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars in another large bowl until blended. Gradually beat in oil. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend between additions. Beat in pumpkin. Add dry ingredients in 2 additions alternately with milk in 1 addition, beating to blend between additions and occasionally scraping down sides of bowl. Cover and chill batter 1 hour.
(2) Arrange 1 rack in bottom third of oven and 1 rack in top third of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment; spray lightly with nonstick spray. Spoon batter onto baking sheet to form cakes (~3 T. per pie to make ~23 pies), spacing apart. Let stand 10 minutes.
(3) Bake cakes until tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through baking. Cool cakes completely on baking sheets on rack. Using metal spatula, remove cakes from parchment.
(4) Line cooled baking sheets with clean parchment; spray with nonstick spray, and repeat baking with remaining batter.
(5) Spoon about 2 T. filling on flat side of 1 cake. Top with another cake, flat side down. Repeat with remaining cakes and filling. DO AHEAD Can be made 8 hours ahead. Store in single layer in airtight container at room temperature.