TWD - A Tourtely Apple Tart

This week Jeanette of The Whimsical Cupcake chose Dorie's Tourtely Apple Tart. I took a few shortcuts with the recipe so not surprisingly I didn't end up with the slim and elegant tart Dorie describes in the book!

Basically the filling for this tart is apples cooked down with brown sugar, nutmeg and apple cider with a little browned butter thrown in for good measure. I didn't have enough apples on hand so I threw in a couple of pears as well. I used apple juice instead of apple cider, a sour cream pastry rather than Dorie's always awesome sweet tart dough and left out both the raisins and almonds.

The verdict? Fabulous. While I'm sure the original is even better this was delicious. But then again I love apple pie of any variety. With a scoop of icecream on top it was the perfect comfort food on a cool and wet day. My apologies for the awful photo. It was late and dark and this was the best of a truly terrible bunch.

Thanks to Jeanette for a great pick this week. Make sure you check out her blog for the recipe and the TWD blogroll to see how everyone else did.

On another note, my big boy is turning 2 tomorrow! Watch this space for some birthday pics including what I hope will be an awesome birthday cake!

TWD Catchup

Hello? Is anyone still out there?? I'm embarrassed to say it's been over 6 weeks since I last blogged. That's not to say I haven't been baking along at home but life has well and truly gotten in the way of blogging recently. So it's time for another catchup post and another promise to do better this month!

For the 15th of March Lauryn of Bella Baker chose Citrus Currant Sunshine Muffins. Love citrus, love currants, love muffins and love Lauryn! These were really tasty and I have a little stash of them in the freezer.


For the 22nd of March Suzy of Suzy Homemaker chose Honey Nut Brownies. I really wasn't sure about these. I like honey on crumpets and in stir fries but that's about it. Still, my MIL gave me a bottle of roasted hazelnut honey which was perfect for this recipe. These had the texture of a chewy gingerbread rather than a brownie but they were pretty tasty and even better on the second day.



On the 5th of April Jessica of Domestic Deep Thought of the Day chose Coffee Ice Cream Tart. Sold! We weren't huge fans of the crust which set rock solid in the freezer but it tasted great. Next time I would just use a crumb crust and go crazy with different filling combinations. Yum!


For the 12th of April Sarah of Teapots and Cakestands chose Strawberry Rhubarb Double Crisp. I've never actually tried rhubarb and strawberries together before but have been intrigued after seeing it around. The verdict? Delicious! I should have just made a half batch but we ate it for breakfast and dessert over about 3 days and loved it. Definitely a keeper!

So that's it! At this stage I intend to post my Tourtely Apple Tart on Tuesday (gasp!) but as I haven't made it yet we'll just have to wait and see.