Saturday, October 22, 2011

Coup de grâce

Photobucket

This MoFo has been...a learning experience. I refuse to say "failure," although a lot of the things I have made have not come out tasting as I'd hoped, or outright disappointed me. I guess I should be relieved that the plan I had for next week (candy) is being done this week by someone else (right down to the exact items I wanted to veganize). Part of me feels frustrated that now I have to come up with other ideas, but I'm also somewhat glad because this month seems to be jinxed. I've forgotten things in pictures, I've forgotten ingredients when blogging recipes (only to go back and edit after posting that shit all over the place), and I haven't taken any time off work, thus making grocery shopping, cooking, and blogging something that is just more shit I gotta do instead of something I normally look forward to. I'm also feeling incredibly anxious about tackling things, when I used to feel challenged and excited. Sucks, huh? I guess the only thing I can do is soldier on, finish the month, and resolve to experiment more with things. Starting with this Tarte Tatin.

tarte 001

It started off so well. The caramel was perfectly amber, and then at some point, it burned. If I have anything to teach anyone about veganizing, it's that vegan versions don't take long to get to where they need to be. Case in point: caramel. I put the apples in long after I should have, and cooked it longer on the stove than I should have.

tarte 004
The inside, which was perfect.

I ended up scraping off the burnt sugar on top, and served this with vanilla ice cream, and it was good (not awesome).

tarte 006

What I learned about this dessert is that I can skip the long caramelization process called for in the original recipe. Simply melt, stir, bake. Since everything happened so fast, it can happen in the oven. I'll be tackling this again. Trust me.

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