Dark Chocolate Ganache Pretzel Tart

This recipe is so easy and delicious, and it's done in no time! You combine the ingredients for the crust, then you bake the crust, cool the crust while you're making the ganache filling, pour the ganache into the cooled crust, and then into the fridge it goes.

A slice of chocolate heaven!

Dark Chocolate Ganache Pretzel Tart

ABC - Croûte d’abricots with Lavender & Honey

The August recipe for the ABC club was the Croûte d’abricots with Lavender & Honey. Although I left out the lavender, it still tasted awesome. So awesome in fact, that I baked this recipe twice: one time with apricots and one time with raspberries.

First time: made half the recipe in a 6" round pan

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Almond Tarts

I love almonds. Blanched, unblanched, roasted, spicy, plain, salted, it doesn't matter. The fact that I'm allergic to most other nuts probably also plays a role in that affinity. This month's ABC baking project is uber almond-y: Almond Tarts from King Arthur Flour. The recipe uses almonds in the crust, and almonds in the filling. It looked fairly straightforward and you didn't have to buy special ingredients like almond paste. If you don't have almond meal/flour, you could certainly make your own by grinding up almonds in a spice grinder (which I find does a better job than a food processor, although it takes longer because you can only do one small batch at a time).

One large Almond Tart. Yum!

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Mushroom Cheddar Tarts

"Could we bake something savory for ABC?" Sunita asked. Yes, we can Sunita! :o) I browsed through the seemingly endless list of recipes on the King Arthur Flour website, looking for savory recipes. And that's how this month's Mushroom Cheddar Tarts came about.

Yummy savory and cheesy tartlettes :o)

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Velvety Pumpkin Tart

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. I missed Turkey Day this year because I was overseas on a nice long (and well-deserved) vacation :o) When I get a chance, I'll try to post a few pictures of my trip.

A slice of pumpkin-y heavy!

This ABC post is waaaaay too late, but I just couldn't get myself to skip it all together, especially after the rave reviews from the other ABC bakers. The November recipe for the ABC bakers was the Velvety Pumpkin Tart. This recipe couldn't be easier and it comes together in a flash, especially if you have all the ingredients at home (which to me are all staple items). As you know, this recipe can be found in The Weekend Baker. I also found it posted online by a Bay Area newspaper here. Note: they adapted the recipe by adding crystallized ginger to the crust.

Announcement: the ABC bakers will be baking from www.KingArthurFlour.com in 2013. If you'd like to join us, please email me at HanaasKitchen [at] live [dot] com.

ABC - Classic Fruit Tart

For this month's ABC, we're baking the Classic Fruit Tart from The Weekend Baker by Abby Dodge. I found some really good raspberries at the store so that's what I used. Although fruit tarts always look so pretty and appetizing, they always seemed so fussy. I learned with this recipe that that's not the case at all. There might be a few components to it but Abby breaks them down into manageable steps that you can do over the course of 2 or more days. I had some leftover ganache to decorate the tart. I mean, who doesn't love raspberries and chocolate? :o)

Raspberry Tart with Pastry Cream and Chocolate Ganache

A slice of yummy fruity goodness! :o)

If you would like to join the ABC baking club, please email me at HanaasKitchen [at] live [dot] com. Please find more details about our baking club on the ABC blog.

SMS - Caramel Apple-Cranberry Tart

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe was chosen by Susan of Baking with Susan. She picked the Double-Crusted Apple Pie, however, I decided to bake a tart instead. No messing around with 2 layers of pie dough and consequently less calories. To add more flavor to the apple filling, I added orange zest, dried cranberries, and cinnamon.