A French Grand~Maman's no fail recipe.

The mini lemon curd tarts..are a combo of meringue..mini torched w/ no butane left;)

Jane's Small Batch Vanilla Lemon Curd,found on IG and then her blog:)

And this girl's nana's delicious pate sablée recipe..over 100 comments and only a few fails.I decided to try it..plus I was magnetized to it.Found on IG.

This isn't a pate sucrée..i.e. Dorie Greenspan's..(I love that one  too)..this is flakier..more pie crust typish..Typish?:)

I made it exactly as she said..except only let it rest1 hr in the fridge.I did not roll it out..I presssed it into my vintage molds..
The molds are ordinary aluminium..no teflon ..nothing.I did nothing as far as prepping them..the perfect little tarts popped right out.
A gem of a recipe:)Keeper category.

La Recette:

2 tbsps sunflower oil..I used canola
2 tbsps milk
2 tbsps sugar

100 gr semi-salted very soft butter
1 egg yolk
200 gr flour

In a bowl beat first 3 ingredients
Add butter and egg yolk beat until homogenous
Add flour and mix until you get a soft dough

Wrap and chill 2 hrs(I did one)
The use as your creativity suggests:)

So..I blind baked..it blind bakes perfectly..
I blind bake the little tarts w/ parchment..but I frill the edges..

I did not roll it out..I pressed it in my tins..placed the frilled edge parchment on top..and then the weights.
So good ..so easy:)

Moving on to my first greenery..with still lots of snow here..this is invasive..it's everywhere almost in the back of the mini pond garden..but what a respite after all white.
Let me tell you..and I know this will sound bad..
but everything everywhere is so ugly right now.
Dirty roads ,dirty snowbanks,brown grass when visible,fences to be painted..birdhouses to be put back up,leaves to be raked(again)..the list goes on..driving home yesterday we both remarked how these last few days have been so unsightly.
Freezing rain..sleet..grey..and our monochrome landscapes.

This too shall pass..is that saying true? Is it?:)

See that pretty cake? Made in that infaillable Ikea mold that I love?
This was a going to be an Eagle Brand treat for Jacques..he just likes a sliver of this or that after dinner.
Well..the recipe and the cake looked fab..
I made it.
Inedible.
I found the recipe here..

Then I Googled and so many similar recipes abounded..BUT.. 1/2 cup of butter too.They left out an ingredient!!
I know we all make mistakes..I should have checked other recipes..but how can something so cute  be so bad LOL?

I made up for it w/ a most delish but plain pound cake..I'll share it next time..

When I worked..I collected a few things that took my fancy..like these little sets..you know..soup and sandwich or soup and salad..I think I have 10 clear sets and 6 or 7 floral china ones.
I wonder who will use these later?

So weird that I think of these things;)



Just finished Bon Appé~tempt..on my sidebar.A coming of age story I really enjoyed.:)
A small excerpt after their trip to Paris..(You may remember ours:)..

"But if life is"mostly lived by timid bodies at home"*** we are mostly doing great.At that part of life,I know we excel.And though this may not be as easy to share at dinner parties with strangers("What do you do?""Well I love cooking dinner for my husband and myself and then eating it while watching House Hunters International."I'm realizing that's ok.

*** from the book Paris to the Moon.

Don't read this book for the recipes..these were her favorites as she was learning to cook..and bake..we all have different tastes and different degrees of experience:)

The sun'l come out tomorrow..tomorrow:)