Bites from other Blogs

I must have had tarts on my mind this week (you’ll see why next week) because just about all of the recipes that caught my eye on other food blogs were for tarts! 

• I rarely use figs in baking, but I love the sweet, rich flavor of the fruit. Dessert First has not one, but two tasty fig desserts up right now: Honey Panna Cotta with Grilled Figs and a Fig and Huckleberry Tart. Unfortunately, the recipe isn’t included for the tart, but you can find it in The Sweet Life: Desserts from Chanterelle if you’re interested in giving it a try.
• You can do a lot simply by changing the frosting on a cake, a fact illustrated perfectly by Fresh From the Oven‘s Espresso Chiffon Cake with Caramel Glaze, which is shown with both a caramel glaze and a decadent chocolate ganache topping.
• A tart is just a pie in a different wrapper, so if you like lemon meringue pie, you’ll probably love the lemon meringue tart at Food Beam. Actually you may love it no matter what, because Fanny says that it is the Meilleure tarte au citron meringuée du monde entier. English translation? The best lemon meringue tart in the whole world.
• There are so many things that you can do with puff pastry that it is always worth having on hand. You can make up a bunch of miniature Tartes Tatins of Caramelized Red Onion and Goat’s Cheese, featured on 80 Breakfasts, for instance. They are simple, elegant and, because of the jewel tones of the red onions, stunning to look at.
• Had enough tarts for one week? The final treat that caught my eye was the Frosted Apple Squares at Culinary in the Country. The squares are somewhere between a Danish pastry and a tart, with a pie crust-like dough enhanced with yeast for an unusually light texture. It is baked as one giant pie/tart, then sliced into individual portions for serving.

Finally, I couldn’t resist pointing out these amazing looking Harry Potter Cupcakes at Taste Goblet. They’re made with Devil’s Food Cake with a cream cheese filling (what? more filled cupcakes) and you don’t have to be a wizard to guess that they taste as good as they look – although a summoning charm could come in handy if you wanted to try one yourself.