Recipe Maverick

Dutch Magic Tart

August 23, 2011


I love to bake things for people. When a friend's birthday rolls it around, I like to use it as an excuse to fire up the oven. But sometimes I don't feel like baking a cake. I make a lot of cookies, but after awhile those don't feel as special anymore. That's when I start to pull out the weird recipes. A few days ago, I decided to bake this tart for a birthday party I was going to. It may not have candles you can lick frosting off of, but it's fun to make and even more fun to try to explain to people when they ask what it is. 
 
I don't know where this recipe originally came from, but I got it from my parents' recipe box. It's kind of a pudding and kind of a pie and it likes to call itself a tart. You make a sort of custardy batter, pour it into a pie crust, and pour some chocolate sauce over it. While it bakes, the chocolate "magically" sinks to the bottom, creating a melty chocolate layer between the pie crust and the pudding. When I was a kid, my dad would make it from time to time and it would disappear incredibly quickly. 

Ingredients:
*makes one 9-inch tart

For crust:
1/4 cup butter
1 cup flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
cold water

For batter:
1/4 cup softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1+1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk

For chocolate sauce:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
6 tbsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla

First, make the pie crust. Mix together the flour and sugar, then cut the butter into it until the butter is in pea-sized chunks. Add cold water just until the crust will hold together in a ball. Chill the dough ball in the fridge for 1 hour, then roll it out into a circle to fit a 9-inch pie tin. Keep the pie tin with the crust in the fridge while you make the batter for the tart.
 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. To make the tart batter, cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl, then add the egg and vanilla. Mix the flour and baking powder in a small, separate bowl, and add it to the large bowl while gradually incorporating the milk. Mix the batter until it is smooth, then pour it into the prepared pie crust. Combine the ingredients for the chocolate sauce in a small bowl, and stir until it is smooth and the cocoa powder is completely incorporated. Pour the chocolate sauce evenly over the batter in the pie tin. Bake the tart at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes, until it is firm in the center when lightly touched. 
 
 

Spicy BBQ Chicken Sandwich

August 16, 2011


Lately, I've been up to a whole lot of nothin'. Being unemployed was kind of relaxing at first, but now I feel about ready to have some structure in my life. At the moment, my job is finding a job. Hopefully I'll be promoted soon to the position of having a job. Until then, I get to enjoy having lots of time to make myself lunch.
 
Barbecue sauce is weird, because it's made out of things that seem like they shouldn't go together but actually totally should: tomato sauce, vinegar, and molasses...
Continue reading...
 

Blackberry Strudel

August 10, 2011


Whip some cream and put it on top of your strudel...
 
 
But hold on a minute. Before I tell you how my friends and I pulled off the diamond heist of the century only to end up in the interrogation room at the Davis Police Station, let me take you back to the beginning...
~enter flashback~
 
It was a hot and beautiful day in June. The sun was sifting through the green leaves of the redwood trees onto a
 patch of wild blackberry bushes,
all thorns and not a berry to be seen. Inside the plants,...
Continue reading...
 

Chocolate Walnut Cookies

August 1, 2011


The cookies I make are like a story I tell over and over, changing slightly with every retelling to highlight the parts which seem the most relevant. Little adjustments to the recipe can yield cookies that are chewy or crunchy, sweet or buttery, nutty or chocolatey, or anything else I can imagine.

When my roommate's sister came to visit, I decided to make chewy, chocolate cookies studded with chocolate chips and chunks of walnuts. We ate them while enjoying Sean Connery's voicing of the drag...

Continue reading...
 

Noodles with Bacon and Avocado

July 27, 2011


I love me some noodles. I've mentioned this a few times before, but I'll reiterate. Noodles are good. Noodles make me happy. Noodles with bacon? And avocado?– Make me even happier. 

I used chow mein noodles, but this isn't Chinese food. I used avocado, but this isn't Mexican or even Tex-Mex. I used bacon, but this isn't... wherever bacon originally hails from. Wikipedia says either Germany or Hungary. This is what I would call Californian food, because California is a place where good food...
Continue reading...
 

About Me


Welcome to my blog! I'm Emma, a recent college graduate with a BA in French. I am passionate about cooking and writing, among other things. Come share in my love of food!

Recent Posts