Sweet Tarts for my Sweethearts: Stories & Recipes from a Culinary Career

By Bonnie Lee Black

This cookbook is a compilation of some of the author's favorite, tried-and-true sweet tart recipes, along with related stories, drawn from her twenty-year culinary career. Her message to readers is simple: "I hope that Sweet Tarts will inspire you to make one or two--or more---of these recipes from time to time, especially on special o

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nighthawk Press LLC
• Release date: Oct 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781733448383

Book preview

img1.jpg

Sweet Tarts for My Sweethearts:

Stories & Recipes from a Culinary Career

Copyright © 2020, Bonnie Lee Black

www.bonnieleeblack.com

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Cover and interior design: Kathleen Munroe, www.starrdesign.biz

Cover photo: Kharin Gilbert

Dedication page photo: Thomas X. Loughlin

Interior photos: Kharin Gilbert and Bonnie Lee Black

Type is set in Calluna and Apple Chancery

ISBN 978-1-7334483-3-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020947706

Published by Nighthawk Press, Taos, New Mexico

Printed in the United States of America

Other books by Bonnie Lee Black:

Somewhere Child, Viking Press, New York, 1981

How to Cook a Crocodile, Peace Corps Writers, 2010

How to Make an African Quilt, Nighthawk Press, 2013

Jamie’s Muse (a novel), Nighthawk Press, 2018

img2.jpgpage_5

A Sweet Tarts Story

Mom’s Apple Pie

Lee’s Paper Bag Apple Pie

Mom’s Oven Bag Apple Tart

An Apple Tart Tour of France

Parisian Apple Tart

French Farm-Style Apple Galette

Norman Apple Tart

Alsatian Apple Tart

Bonnie Fare Tarte Tatin

A True Blueberry Story

BB’s Blueberry Tart

A Catering Love Story

How To Make Heart Shaped Tartlets

Raspberry & White Chocolate Valentine Tart

A Matter of Balance

Bonnie Fare Lemon Tart

Recipe Lost and Found

Red-Wine Tart (or Tartlets) with Frosted Champagne Grapes

A Sweet Tart Education

Pear-Frangipane Tart

Poached Pears in Puff Pastry Tartlets

Poached Pears

Pecan Tart La Colombe d’Or Story

Pecan Tart La Colombe d’Or

Raspberry Dreams Dashed

Raspberry-Rhubarb Tart

Wild Plums for Old Chums

Plum Galette

An Abundance of Apricots

Apricot-Ginger Jam

Apricot-Ginger Tart

Thanksgiving Offerings

Cranberry-Walnut Tart

Variations and Adaptations

Orange-Infused Prune-Almond Tart

A Slimmer, Trimmer Tart

Apple (or Pear) Pizza Tart

On the Poetry of Perfect Pastry

Basic All-Butter Pastry

Lemony Pastry for Lemon Tart

Galette, or Free-Form Tart, Sweet Pastry

BB’s Pâte Sucrée

Nick Malgieri’s Sweet Tart Pastry

Rolling, Fitting, & Prebaking the Tart Shell

Removing Finished Baked Tart from Its Pan

Postscript: Nut Crusts

Coconut Cream Tart with Macadamia Nut Crust

Chocolate Ganache Tart with Almond Crust

Recipe Index

Measurement Conversion Tables

Acknowledgements

About Bonnie

Bonnie’s Other Books

Notes

O f all the things I’ve loved to cook and to bake over the years, making sweet tarts for loved ones and special occasions has topped the list. This cookbook is a compilation of some of my favorite, tried-and-true sweet tart recipes, along with related stories, drawn from my twenty-year culinary career. I hope that Sweet Tarts will inspire you to make one or two — or more — of these recipes from time to time, especially on special occasions, and enjoy them with your own sweethearts.

Bonnie Lee Black

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

October 2020

page_9

O nce upon a time, a long time ago now, I fantasized about opening a small, French-style patisserie on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, near where I lived, specializing in dessert tarts.

I could see it all so clearly in my mind: The shop on the ground floor of an old brownstone building on a side street off of upper Broadway; the name out front in charming lettering, Sweet Tarts; the tinkling bell over the front door announcing customers’ entrances; the gleaming glass display cases showing off my proud handiwork, such as apple, raspberry, pear, plum, pecan, and lemon tarts and tartlets.

Yes, I would make all the dazzling, jewel-like tarts by hand by myself. Of course, the ingredients would be the freshest and best quality. And my secret ingredient, bien sûr, would be love.

The New York Times would do a write-up on my Sweet Tarts shop, and customers would arrive in droves (quelle fantasie!). I would be tired, but not as tired as I’d become from catering in New York for ten years. This new venture would be small, specialized, steady, and close to home. I’d be doing what I loved most to do: baking beautiful, regal, crown-like tarts and making