Almond Joy Tart

 I decided to bring this week's Club:Baked recipe along on our Thanksgiving trip to visit the family in PA.  While the recipe is for 6 almond joy tarts, I decided to make a 9 inch tart since I didn't own the mini tart pans and I thought it would be easier to transport. I finished the tart the night before we left (making the dough and ganache the night before) and covered it tightly for the 4 hour trip .  Luckily the tart transported nicely, save for the chocolate topping being brushed in a few places by the foil.  My mom was thrilled the tart made the trip, because it was delicious! 

I didn't alter the recipe much to adjust from 6 tarts to one large one.  I don't remember how long I let the crust bake, but I believe it was 5 or 10 minutes longer than the recipe called for with the mini tarts.  Otherwise, I think the recipe easily adjusts to one 9 inch tart.  I would recommend adding a thicker chocolate layer (maybe making one and a half or even doubling the layer).  I love chocolate, so that's just my preference.  The coconut/white chocolate ganache layer was amazing!  It tastes just like the almond joy filling.  I even loved the white chocolate ganache before adding the coconut. 

Great recipe for anyone who loves almond joys :)

Check out the other Almond Joy Tarts from my fellow bakers at Club:Baked: http://club-baked.blogspot.com/2011/12/bakers-links-to-almond-joy-tart.html#comment-form

Buckeyes

We're having an early Thanksgiving potluck at work on Tuesday which works perfectly with this week's Club:Baked recipe: Buckeye candies.  They're an easy crowd pleaser and the recipe makes a lot of candies.  Even better, I don't have to worry about bringing a serving spoon (which I usually forget!).  This recipe is quick to put together, but the dipping took me awhile.  It took about 5 candies for me to figure out the right way to dip and roll the candies in the chocolate to get a clean, pretty peanut butter circle. I don't think any of mine came out as pretty as the picture in the book, but my husband took a positive position: "atleast they'll know they're homemade!"  My husand thought they'd be better with milk chocolate (he's not a fan of dark chocolate).  He also tried to suggest using white chocolate (his favorite)- maybe one day we'll experiment.  While I don't have any great suggestions for getting the perfect "buckeye" look for the candy, I messed up a few and decided to cover the entire ball with chocolate, which I found to have a better ratio of chocolate to peanut butter.  So if you get frustrated with rolling the perfect buckeye, go ahead an roll the enitre ball.  They are just as yummy :)  I hope everyone else at Club:Baked enjoyed their Buckeyes!

New York Style Crumb Cake

I'm catching up with some of the recipes Club:Baked completed before I joined.  The first recipe was a New York style crumb cake- perfect for a crisp fall morning to go along with a cup of coffee.  The recipe was pretty easy and has the perfect crumb to cake ratio.  I used low fat sour cream instead of regular, which I think may have changed the taste of the cake slightly.  I expected the cake to have a slight sour taste (in a good way!) due to the sour cream, but couldn't really pick up on the taste.  Next time I think I'll use the regular sour cream to see if I get a different result.  The cake was still  delicious.  While the cookbook says the cake will stay for 3 days, mine got 4 days of use.  The crumbs softened a bit by day 4, but I think they still tasted fabulous.