Of tarts and tart pans

Weddings are wonderful things. Besides being married to your best friend and sharing a home together there is one more thing that many people forget to mention.  But I am going to be honest here. Weddings are also great because it is a chance to receive gifts that you have always dreamed about. Of course David and I are EXTREMELY grateful for our generous friends and family. It is near impossible to set up even a small one bedroom apartment with out the help of others.

And while I am tackling the small mountain of thank you cards, I must also say thank you. And if you haven't received a thank you card I am WORKING on it. It is hard writing a thank you's when you have school, practicing, work, and organizing your apartment to do.

Nevertheless. I am here to say one of the most exciting things I received was additions to my collection of tart pans. Tart pans are very useful, if not just to make an ordinary pie look really fancy. I mean, look at them!

Who wouldn't  feel special eating a little mini tart? Or regal while eating a goat cheese, asparagus, and bacon tart from the rectangular tart pan? And don't forget the standard circle ones. It is quite necessary to have ones of multiple sizes. Recipes are fickle that way...

But here is a tart I made a few weeks ago from a Mary Engelbreit's cookbook: Raspberry brown butter tart. The middle had a very interesting flavor: a sweet, yet soft custard. There was an over abundance of raspberries in the tart, but if I were to make it again I would either add less raspberries or drench them in sugar because it made the tart a little less sweet than I was anticipating.

As I always say: If the unbaked filling is much more sweet and delicious and delectable than the finished product, tweak it.

PS... the unbaked filling tasted like caramel.  Oh my: HEAVEN.