Week 3: Tarts (ha)

This is the 3rd or 4th time I've started this blog post. Get ready for some Lunch Hour Rapid Fire posts to cover the last 2 weeks. Between job interviews, cross-country flights, major life decisions, and a general lack of sleep, exercise, and nutrition, these posts will be photo-heavy and light on the musings (you lucky ducks!)

So this was the beast of the class that kept us up til 3am (for anyone who had to deal with me the next day, I apologize). How does making 1 dough take 8 hours, you ask? Well when you use it so each person makes 4 tarts with 3-4 different components each, time seems to fly. I think my classmates and I all reached a new level of intimacy (read: we all almost ripped one another's faces off). I won't bore you with too much more detail, just some pretty pictures and descriptions!

Chocolate Tart: 

Tart Catalan (Pate Foncer (the dough); Brown Butter Filling; Apricots & Cherries):

Pear Chibouste aka the 3am cake.
Elements Include:

Poached Pears

Chocolate Almond Cream

Mousseline of Meringue Italienne & Chobouste Cream

And a blow torch (model, Kristina)

Voile!

 Finally, Tart Beausejour (Caramel Apple Tart!)

Lessons Learned:
Brown butter is yummy
Using Torches is fun, albeit scary. Especially when the words 'Flame behind' come from one of your classmates.
There is, in fact, a limit to the number of tarts one can consume in one evening.