A few weeks ago I shared this delicious dish with my mother on a late night trip to the hotel cafe (which served Starbucks) when we were in Houston for the educational convention. Isn't that tart just incredibly beautiful? Paired with a double vanilla latte, I'm not sure there is anything tastier in this world.
I've been wanting to make them ever since. I stocked up on Yogurt to take care of the filling, but have been trying to figure out how they did the tart part for a while. You see, its not just a crisp tart shell. On the inside of the tart there is a short layer of what appeared to be cake! It really added to the texture of the whole thing, though it really surprised me at the time.
For the purpose of eating healthier, I may forego the cake layer, though I still find myself incredibly curious about how that was done. if you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them!
What is your favorite coffeehouse treat?
Gosh I wish I could just pluck that out of my monitor and eat it NOW!
I don't usually get something to nibble on when I'm at the coffee house because the coffee drink is already a treat and I would feel guilty about also having some little sweet thing with it.
Posted by: Marie | December 03, 2008 at 02:41 PM
I am with Marie. Usually the coffee or chai tea is itself the treat. That looks scrumptious.
Posted by: Linda | December 09, 2008 at 10:52 AM
If the cakey bit was almondy, there is a good chance it was frangipane. I recently saw a recipe for some kind of tartlette, very french. It had a lovely tart shell cooked with this ground almond, vanilla, sugar, eggs, butter concoction cooked in it, then either cream or fruit on top.
I googled it a moment ago, mispelled as frangipani pastry, and found a nice british recipe, so it's definitely available, if this sounds like what you had. I made something close to this once, and it was a kind of dense cake, soft cookie texture.
I'm imagining it done with hazelnuts, too....
Since I don't drink coffee, my favorite hot drink treat is a good steamer, hazelnut usually, tho almond is lovely too. I made them at home til I realized I just wanted to drink the entire gallon of milk that way, lol.
Best homemade flavor was discovered when there was no sytrup available: put a bit of water and sugar in a pan, while it heats add some lemon zest, let this boil a little, then add your milk and heat it up. Strain into cup and add a few grains of salt and some vanilla.
It tastes like excellent poundcake smells...
I hope some of this was interesting, if not directly helpful. I ended up here from ravelry, where I've been enjoying the group today. Thank you for sharing yourself in so many ways.
love,
Lily
Posted by: Lily | December 10, 2008 at 01:50 AM
I've no idea what it is! Generally I'm with the others and the coffee *is* the treat, but if I'm getting regular (read: little to no milk) then I'll often pick up a nice biscotti to dunk.
Posted by: Mandaleigh | December 19, 2008 at 09:00 AM