Not so tarty tarts

I’ve been busy moving (into my parent’s basement like every successful cliché) and unpacking so haven’t had a chance to post this yet. The recipe title for this was a Brandy Tart, but it much more resembled a not crumbly coffee cake to me. Good, just not super dessert tasting. The recipe calls for mextaxa or other good Brandy, and we used Christian Brothers Brandy so whatever you have around (or if you’re under aged like me, can get people to buy for you) should work fine.

I lucked out with my family; my Uncle married a very nice woman who has very nice parents who are amazing Greek cooks. Every Thanksgiving we have normal Thanksgiving and then Greek Thanksgiving. This recipe comes from their wonderful cookbook.


Adapted from Papas' Art of Traditional Greek Cooking
Brandy Tart

5 eggs, separated
½ cup sugar
½ cup brandy
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ tsp pure almond extract
1 cup farina
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
1 cup sliced almonds

Beat the egg whites in an electric mixer until stiff. In a separate bowl beat egg yolks and sugar until fluffy. Add the brandy, vanilla, and almond extract and beat for an additional two minutes. Add farina, baking powder, cinnamon, clove and almonds together, then slowly fold in the egg whites a little at a time with a rubber spatula. Slowly add this to the brandy mixture. Butter a ten inch spring form pan (I used a normal 8 inch pan), and pour in the batter, spread evenly. Cook for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.


One of the suggestions the book gave (that I didn’t follow but sounds pretty damn good) was pouring basic syrup on top as a sort of glaze. I’m including the recipe here so you can try it out. It would also be good with ice cream I think, but then again I think everything would be good with ice cream.

Basic Syrup

4 cups water
8 cups sugar
½ cup fresh lemon juice
2 oranges cut in half
2 lemons cut in half
2 cinnamon sticks
1 cup honey

Add everything but honey, and bring to a rapid boil. Continue to boil until thickened, about 20 minutes. Remove pan from heat and remove cinnamon sticks, orange halves, and lemon halves. Add the honey and stir well. Refrigerate to cool completely for later use.

Honey, Thyme, and Blackberry Granita

I miss dessert also. Besides my cravings for butter and chocolate, I miss that right now? I’m not eating one of those five desserts I had last week. Tonight I had my friend Eunice, who is leaving sadly for law school in a whole different state for away next week, over. I haven’t been able to bake for her before because she doesn’t do dairy products, and granite seemed like just the thing on this hot summer day. Only I don’t have sugar, so I was pretty nervous about how this would taste.
Having been inspired by Fat of the Land, we went out and foraged some blackberries. Most aren’t ripe, but we picked the handful that were.

Adapted from Food Down Under, just barely
Blackberry and thyme granita

2 cups fresh picked blackberries (local)
¼ cup honey (local)
3 cups water (local)
2 sprigs thyme (local)

Wash the blackberries thoroughly, put them in a saucepan and pour honey over them. Then cover with the water and start to boil, add the thyme and keep boiling for a couple of minutes. Then pour into a glass pan so that the mixture is half an inch thick. Wait for it to cool down and then place in the freezer. Every half hour mix with a fork to keep the ice crystals coarse, granite is a sort of ice shaved creation.

Just a few more weeks and these will all be ripe!