blueberry almond tart

I live just across the river from Washington, DC. You may have heard that we had record-breaking weather last weekend? 2+ feet of snow. While we were snowed in I made bagels from scratch, and I had plans to make a blueberry almond tart, but time got away from me (read: I just wasn’t motivated enough). Last night I finally got my act together and baked before the blueberries spoiled. Yay!


Blueberry Almond Tart (crust recipe from King Arthur Flour, filling from Hummingbird High)

INGREDIENTS
Crust
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup almond meal (I buy mine at Trader Joe’s)

Tart filling
6 oz. (about 2/3 cup) sour cream
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 large egg
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
10 ounces (1 dry pint) fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried


DIRECTIONS
Crust
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9” tart pan liberally with cooking spray, and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the sugar, butter, salt, and extracts. Add the flour and almond meal, stirring to make crumbs that cling together when squeezed.

Dump the dough out into the prepared tart pan, and press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides with your fingers.  Once the dough looks uniform, prick all over with a fork.  Freeze the crust for 15 minutes, then put it in the oven to bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.


Tart
Increase the oven temperature to 400°F.  Place the cooled crust on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and set aside.

Whisk together the sour cream, heavy cream, egg, sugar, and almond extract until well combined.

Pour the filling into the prepared crust. Evenly distribute the blueberries over the custard. If too many berries remain at the surface, gently push them into the filling so that you have just one layer of blueberries at the top.

Bake until the filling has set and the crust is golden, about 25 minutes. The custard is set when its center wobbles just a bit, while the outside remains puffed up and set.

Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm, or chilled from the refrigerator.


It looks fantastic – so the question is, does the taste measure up? It is delicious. And, if we’re being honest, maybe a smidgen too sweet for my taste. If I were to make it again, I’d probably take the sugar in the crust down to 1/3 cup, and double (or times and a half) the amount of custard filling so that the sweetness of the crust is offset a bit more by the creaminess of the tart.

But what about flavors?!  Actually, the almond comes through really well, but not too strong – that part is perfect.  And the berries were just the right amount sweet. Baked blueberries pop open on your tongue like a surprise, you know?  So the flavors were great.  Plus, this is a freaking beautiful food item.  Looks like it belongs in a display case, you know?  So I’ll definitely be breaking out the recipe again, possibly with other berry variations.


Recommended for: a sweet afternoon treat to pair with coffee, as a beautiful (and fancy!) finish to a home-cooked meal, or for any occasion where you want to impress your guests.

Interested in other food-related posts? Check out Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking!

an inheritance of ashes

Thursday, January 14, 2016 | | 4 comments
Many of the books that have shaped my reading life in profound ways have maps at the start. Before the reader finds any text they are invited to pore over the landscape of a fantasy world. There might be bordering countries, or a region, or a large city with all of its crooked streets picked out. Topographical details may be sparse or plentiful.  Whatever the case, these maps usually herald my favorite sort of story: A journey, a courageous hero or heroine, and triumph over evil/survival/happily ever after to top things off.

When I picked up Leah Bobet’s An Inheritance of Ashes, all I knew about it was that I loved the author’s previous book, Above, and that it was set at end of the world. When I leafed through the pages and saw a map at the start, I had a good feeling – and the book did not disappoint. An Inheritance of Ashes is beautiful, fierce, sad, and by far my favorite of all of the books I’ve read in the past year.

an inheritance of ashes
Six months ago, the men of the lakelands marched south to fight a dark god.

Weeks after the final battle was won, sixteen-year-old Hallie and her sister, Marthe, are still struggling to maintain their family farm—and are waiting for Marthe’s missing husband to return. After a summer of bitter arguments, Hallie is determined to get Roadstead Farm through the winter—and keep what’s left of her family together, despite an inheritance destined to drive them apart.

But when Hallie hires a wandering veteran in a bid to save the farm, every phantom the men marched south to fight arrives at her front gate. Spider-eyed birds circle the fields, ghostly messages writes themselves on the riverbank, and soon Hallie finds herself keeping her new hired hand’s despite desperate secrets—and taking dangerous risks. But as she fights to keep both the farm and her new friend safe, ugly truths about her own family are emerging—truths that, amid gods, monsters, and armies, might tear Roadstead Farm apart.

Leah Bobet’s stark, beautiful fantasy explores the aftermath of the battles we fight and the slow, careful ways love can mend broken hearts—and a broken world.

This is the story of a family.  This is the story of the aftermath of war.  This is the story of a battle on the homefront.  This is the story of survival generations after the apocalypse.  This is a story about a teenage girl.  This is a story about fear.  This is a story about breaking apart and (maybe, eventually) healing.  All of these statements are true, but they don’t tell you everything.

Hallie Hoffman is sixteen, and half-owner of Roadstead Farm.  She and her pregnant sister Marthe are trying (and mostly failing) to hold themselves together in the wake of the war against the Wicked God – a war that took Marthe’s husband Thom, along with any innocence they had left.  When she hires a traveling veteran, Hallie doesn’t expect it to spark anything, except maybe a prayer of keeping up with the farm chores.  Secrets old and new follow, endangering and changing Hallie, Roadstead Farm, and their world.

Did that sound suitably ominous? The book isn’t all death and destruction – it’s a nice mix of tension with bits of light. The prologue made me cry in public, and that’s when I knew for sure that the book would wreck me. Things I liked? A) Hallie and Marthe’s messy sister relationship, and how that played into everything Hallie said and did throughout the story. B) The reality of broken relationships, and the saving grace of kindness, forgiveness, and second chances.   C) A romantic relationship that was authentic to the setting, the characters, and the crazy situation. D) The immediacy and intimacy of the setting, without sacrificing big-picture world-building.

That last paragraph covered things I liked. Let’s go deeper (really dig in to Why this book is perfect):

1. Diversity! Included! In! The text! Like it’s no big deal! (spoiler alert: it’s 2016. this is the kind of YA SFF book i want/need)

2. Craft. The writing is just superb – not only poetic (it is, in a way that screams TRUTH while the emotion it evokes absolutely rends your heart) but intricately arranged for maximum impact – no word or detail is left orphaned.  An Inheritance of Ashes is a masterwork.  It is not only gripping and fantastically entertaining, but beautiful, in the way that Gregorian chants, or ancient temples, or roads thousands of years old are (to me).  The sheer work that went into fitting every word like a puzzle piece to make a whole, of showing a little bit, but never letting on too much or boring the reader… is awe-inspiring. 

I do not kid myself that An Inheritance of Ashes will appeal to everyone (it won’t, books never do in the end), but I know I can’t be alone in thinking that this book is just… art.  ART, in all capital letters. Thinking about it makes me want to do better, and be better.  It’s freaking inspiring.

Recommended for: those who enjoy science fiction and fantasy, and anyone who likes strong characters and spellbinding plot in equal measure.

p.s. Dear Leah Bobet, In case it wasn’t 100% clear, I’m a fan for life. Thank you.  –Me  
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