Tardy Tart Tatin

I suppose you could say that time got the better of me. Or you could say that I've been lazy. You could say I've given up. But none of these are true, in reality I've just been enjoying my summer holidays in the sun and amongst the company of my wonderful girlfriend and my lovely friends. It has been over two weeks since I did a blog post and honestly there hasn't been a moment in which I've had the desire to do one either.

Again, you could call me lazy but the reason I did this challenge was so that I could enjoy writing about something in my summer months whilst completing a fun challenge. I have enjoyed both aspects but I certainly won't do it til I actually hate doing it or if it gets in the way of spending time with those important people I don't get to see all that often anymore!

Alas, poor reader, don't weep into your keyboard or frustratedly tap your tablet screen in anger because I have finished. No, I certainly haven't finished! There are still nearly 40 recipes to be baked and just under a month to do it! Can I do it? Oh I've no doubt that I will but whether ill be alive at the end I just don't know!

I the past few weeks I have been baking I can assure you this, I have even begun selling some of my produce to my place of work (a local Windmill) at a profit and shall be taking even more in this coming Wednesday. I have another car boot sale planned in the near future and a lot of the more difficult cakes and tarts left to do. But don't worry, I still haven't had any awful disasters in a long time so the future is looking bright for those dastardly looking challenges. 

Today's recipe though was a particularly exciting one, mainly because it looked absolutely dastardly. A Tart Tatin is essentially an apple tart made with melted sugar and butter, the apples are then simmered  in the toffee esque sauce before being covered over with puff pastry and baked. The tart is flipped out of its tin before serving. It looks so very impressive I could hardly believe that it worked so well. I was so sure I'd be facing a bit of an embarrassment which I could easily not mention (after all, my break means that I didn't have to mention burning a few things!) yet to my astonishment it slid out of the tin easily and was, and I quote my father, "the best thing yet" (My dad is a fan of tarts... Though hopefully not the kind out in the local club on a Friday night!).

The Result:

Mmmmm, Toffee Apple (Tart Tatin)

Here is a collection of some of the cakes I've made in the last two weeks, I have definitely done more than just these but unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of some of them. Hand on heart though, they were completed! 

Mmm Burnt Cherry Pie!

Mmmelting Cream Palmiers

Mmmalted Chocolate Biscuit Slices

Mmmacaroons... Vanilla Style!

I've got a lovely burnt Coconut...

Whilst sewing a button onto an old pair of shorts - which had seen better days considering I was bought them as a young teen - and patching on some velcro whilst listening to some beautiful Jazz (Sample it for yourself here) I realised that I am by no stretch of the mark a "normal teenager." To most people who have met me in person I would say they might not think this remotely true, yes I am quite a quirky and happy-go-lucky kind of person when you meet me, but only once you get to know me do you realise that I have some really very unusual hobbies and ways of spending my time.

Obviously I'm not alone in being a baking fan (you, my humble reader, must have at least a passing interest in the cooking art) but it isn't my only "quirky" habit. It has been noted by people that teenagers who grow their own herbs and other plants aren't quite normal. Someone who knows how to sew a button back onto their jeans is disappointingly rare. Anyone who can repair basic household things or even have a vague understanding of technical ideas is becoming even less so. I have grown up with my father being able to fix almost anything which broke in our house (unfortunately not anything hi-tech of course) and unfortunately I never really paid attention to how he did these things. But as I've grown up I've realised that being able to do the odd job here and there is not only handy (and far easier than you'd imagine most of the time) but also saves time and money.

Really, that's where my hobbies come from, a desire to do something myself which I know is far cheaper, quicker and can sometimes yield far better results (especially when baking or growing herbs). Call me a tight-wad or a cheap scrounger all you want. But saving a few pennies here and there means I don't have to spend money buying a new towel rail for the bathroom (something I recently fixed at Uni) and can instead spend it on something I really want. That's why I don't mind being called weird or "quirky" or "odd" because to me it is far more odd to not know the basic mechanical knowledge that goes into making everything that surrounds us.

Today's recipe was by far the most easy I've had to do, mainly because it cheats and uses a ready made flan case. Part of me thought this wasn't really in the mood of the challenge which to me has a bit of a "discovering new things" and DIY vibe to it but I must say that it was a relief to not really have to put any effort in at all!

However... that doesn't necessarily mean everything went completely to plan! I think the main problem with today's challenge was actually the store-bought, ready-made flan case, why? Well naturally it isn't the shop's fault - nor the company who made said case - but mine and mine alone. Because when I went shopping for this flan case I wrote down on my list "flan case" and I came back with a "sponge flan case."  Naturally sponge isn't as heat resistant as pastry...

The Result:

Mmmm burney

So as you can see, it is a tad (a lot) blackened around the edges. Though I'll be first to admit that this is certainly not the worst disaster I've encountered on the blog it is certainly one which is very disappointing, I really looked forward to my coconut tart. Yet, when I bit into that first mouthful of coconutty tart I discovered that the overcooking had actually made... a MASSIVE difference, as much as I wish I could say that it was lovely and tasty despite the slight excessive use of oven it is clear that if only I had noticed in advance that that the flan case was the wrong kind perhaps it would have been perfect. The end result was a lovely filling and a burnt crust. Disappointing to say the least.