Thank you and Happy Holidays

After 10 great years, The Queen of Tarts will cease retail operations on Roncesvalles Avenue in order to take some time, re-assess, and pursue other interests.  

We will be open regular hours until Sunday December 20

Monday December 21 10-6

 Tuesday December 22 10-7

Wednesday December 23 10-7

Thursday December 24 9-4

Thank you, everyone, for your support over the years, and your appreciation and enthusiasm for my work.  Please subscribe by email or RSS to receive updates.

Happy Hanukkah

Delicious, beautifully decorated sugar cookies, complete with geld.

Christmas Cookies

How quickly November speeds by, and suddenly it's Christmas.  We have so many lovely Christmas cookies; they are out on the shelves already, but here's a sneak peek at a few.  Boxed sets of snowflakes and ornaments make a great hostess gift, and you know that there's something here for every kid on your list!  Stay tuned for more photos in the next few days.

Gingerbread Houses!!!

I thought that I'd share a random sampling of our gingerbread houses.  Some were corporate custom orders, some done for a Canadian Tire Christmas commercial, and the castle was commissioned by the California Almond Growers Association for a media event.  It was decorated entirely with almonds, 9 different kinds!  Gingerbread houses are so much fun to decorate - one of our most popular items this time of year is our gingerbread house kit.  It contains all the pieces, meringue powder, and enough candy for the house and to keep you going while decorating.

Two New Cookies for Two Huge Openings

Thirty years ago, I went to see the King Tut exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario.  I was sooooo excited, and I'm just as jazzed to experience this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity again!

Others are even more excited about this opening:

Where the Wild Things Are

How awesome are these guys?!!!!

Fun Gingerbread Cookies

Some more of our great gingerbread cookies .....

Hallowe'en - The Winners!

This sister and brother team wowed us with their act.  She was the pusher of toxic candies, tempting us with her wares, while her brother warned us to keep away from her poisonous treats.  They played their parts perfectly, and we hope they enjoyed their (non-toxic) gingerbread house!

Happy Halloween!!!

Costume Contest!!!!

On Friday October 30, the customer with the best costume (as determined by the Queen of Tarts staff) will win one of these fabulous haunted gingerbread houses.  All ages are welcome (10am-7pm), and there will be treats for everyone.  The winner will be contacted Saturday morning and may pick it up at any time (that we are open, of course).

My family, my guineapigs

I love all my family for many reasons.  We are a very generous, loving family full of wit, intelligence, and good taste.  For every and any occasion I bring dessert, of course.  And my wonderful family members always give me free reign - does that not prove their intelligence and good taste?  So I happily oblige and create something special for each occasion.

The chocolate mocha truffle cake I created for my cousin and her husband (two exceptionally witty and intelligent and tasteful people who designed and created this lovely site for me) for their wedding last fall:

And now they are expecting!  So for a combo baby shower / birthday party, another special cake.  I know that they both love my snickers tart, so I built it into a cake; dark, rich chocolate cake, filled with chopped toasted peanuts, buttery caramel, and peanut butter mousse, then masked with a light chocolate buttercream (it was an afternoon party, after all, have to keep it light).  Divine.

Great Grapes!

Cheese, grapes, and nuts - what could be better?
Our short crust filled with a vanilla bean and mascarpone filling, then

Concord grapes - yum.
Sweet and green inside, tart and dusky black-purple skin, tasting like the perfect sour candy.

Lightly mashed to release their juice, add a touch of honey, then simmered briefly....

A few chopped toasted walnuts on top for texture.

This topping would make an amazing peanut butter and jelly tart. Hmmm.....

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We will be open Tuesday - Friday 10-7

Saturday 9-5

We will be closed Sunday and Monday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gianduja

Gianduja (pronounced John-doo-ya) is a preparation of chocolate and hazelnut paste (think Nutella on steroids), originating in the Piedmont region of Italy, and named after a marionette character representing the Piedmontese.  I have a personal weakness for gianduja and all things hazelnut, so the first chocolate tart of fall is always gianduja.  We use the milk chocolate version from Callebaut to make a ganache to fill the chocolate shell, then finish it with a layer of dark chocolate ganache.  Velvety, voluptuous, decadent.  Pure heaven.

Pumpkin Pie

Well, pumpkin pie may not the prettiest girl at the dance, but she certainly makes up for it in personality.  Plenty of spices:

Plenty of cream:

Plenty of fans.  Our pie was featured in Toronto Life magazine.

Spiced Pumpkin Cake

A lovely moist cake, fragrant with spices, topped with a cinnamon struesel and toasted pumpkin seeds, absolutely a perfect choice for a fall afternoon cup of tea...

Maple Spiced Pecans

How could anyone not love a pecan?  Especially when they are bathed in super-fragrant dark maple syrup, then dressed in sugar and spices, and toasted to a perfect crunch.

These nuts are workhorses, equally good as a straight-up snack, sprinkled on ice cream, chopped up in a cake, magnificent in a salad (especially with arugula, apples, and blue cheese, yum!) 

Cranberry Almond and Caramel Tart

Come September, many impatiently await the arrival of this tart.  Sliced almonds, cranberries, and an orange-scented creamy caramel, mixed together and baked in the crust until the cranberries pop and release their juice, which mingles with the caramel to make a most harmonious blend of sweet and tart.

This lovely tart was celebrated in the Autumn 2005 edition of the LCBO Food and Drink Magazine.

the only brownie you ever need to eat

I make a lot of treats.  I eat/sample a lot of treats.  One of the things that I will never get tired of is my brownies.  I have made thousands of these brownies.  I still LOVE them.  I will ALWAYS LOVE THEM.  Try them, you'll understand.  Darkly chocolate-y and buttery, with toasted pecans and chunks of Belgian chocolate, amazing texture contrast, and a super-dark chocolate glaze....

Photo of course by the amazingly talented  Andre.

Snickers

While I'm on the subject, chocolate and caramel, I thought I'd give you a peek at the Snicker Tart - the most over-the-top, decadent creation...

Chocolate crust, roasted peanuts, caramel, peanut butter mousse, and a generous layer of chocolate ganache.  Woweee!!

The gorgeous cutting board was made by my father from walnut from his farm, cherry from my uncle's farm, and maple from their original homestead.  Woweee!

ooooh, I love turtles

While we're on the subject of autumn treats, I thought I'd share another fabulous shot by Andre.  The Turtle Tart is one of my families' favourites; my aunt's sister and brother-in-law (in Montreal) even order large ones by the half-dozen when they're in town to keep them going until the next visit!

It's hard to believe, but it is possible to top the original.   Packed with toasted pecans, filled with creamy, buttery caramel, topped with a dark chocolate ganache, this tart has it all.  Turtles, turtles, rah rah rah....

Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies

First thing in the fall, I like to share one of my favourite cookies (I love love love cookies) with our customers.  These molasses cookies are my dearly beloved and missed Gram's recipe.  They are darkly molasses-y, tangy with buttermilk, with a perfect balance of spices.  Deee-lish.

 Glass of milk totally necessary.

And an awesome photo by the super-talented Andre the Giant of Giantvision.

Apples!

The long-awaited apples have arrived.  Some people refuse to believe that apple season ends at all and beg us all summer long for apple tarts and pies.  We believe that the hard-working apple needs a rest like all of us, so give it a summer vacation and let the rest of Ontario's bounty do the work.  Alas, the peaches, plums, and berries are on their way out and now is the time for apples to shine again!

The first of the spies, beautifully striated golden green and red......

Crispy, juicy, and the purest white flesh inside ......

Brown sugar, cinnamon, apple cider, and vanilla beans......

simmered for an hour and a half.....

spooned into our butter short crust......

topped with the oatiest, butteriest crumble topping.....

Peach Melba

There is no no arguing with a Niagara peach.  Only a Georgia peach can come close, and California wouldn't stand a chance in a peach-off  (I lived in California for 3 years - I am NOT biased).

Peach Melba was created in 1893 by the venerated chef Auguste Escoffier for the opera soprano Dame Nellie Melba (also of Melba Toast fame).  The original dessert starred an ice sculpture swan filled with vanilla ice cream and peaches, topped with spun sugar.  He added raspberry sauce in a later version.

Our peach melba honours these flavours in tart form.  A thin layer of raspberry sauce on the bottom, filled with the richest vanilla bean pastry cream, topped with a fresh poached perfect Ontario peach.  Heaven.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Crazy as it might seem, it's time to start planning for Christmas, and the first order of business is fruitcake.  

Step 1:The Fruit

Dried apricots and cranberries, currants, raisins, candied ginger, candied fruit.......

And then the rum ....... lots

We soak the fruit for about a week, mixing it up every couple of days and adding yet more rum as the fruit absorbs it.   

Plum and Hazelnut Frangipane

I love love love the sweet/sour of plums.  When they're baked with their skins on they soften and the flesh sweetens just enough to be the perfect foil to the tartness of the skin.

Combined with a minimally-sweetened hazelnut frangipane, they represent to me the pinnacle of fall desserts, before we settle into the long stretch of pear and apple.