This Here Blog on Refinery29 (Last Week, Whoops!)

Let's talk about timing. To wit, last week would have been the opportune time for me to share with you, my dedicated audience of 36, that I, your humble sugar ambassador, was featured in all my coquettish and drunkish photogeneity on the third page of a three-page article highlighting some of DC's bakers. The heading inflates us to "best," you'll see, but they left out my Tartner Emily Hilliard who quite clearly reigns supreme, and my OG mentor and woman I admire Lizzy Evelyn, of PaisleyFig/Room 11/Cork, so I think the list was a wee curtailed. Even so, I am thrilled and flattered to be there, and I hope it's a sign of good things to come!

Pretty righteous cropping job, whoops

The feature was on the apple tart recipe that was shown on this blog in November -- which was then and still is one of my favorite dessert recipes -- in part because of mine and Emily's recent marathon baking adventures with Tarts by Tarts, our partner project. Last week would have also been prime time to share that we were gearing up a partnership with Treasury Vintage, one of DC's purveyors of fine style, for the Tart of Gold Valentine's Party and to share that Tarts by Tarts was accepting online orders for tart delivery throughout DC for Valentine's Day. Whoops again! Well we received some wonderful support from the community, including Refinery29 again as well as The President Wears Prada (click for bitchin' pictures) and Panda Head (click for a bitchin' blog in general). We delivered some 15 tarts, sold bunches of doughnuts, gave away baskets of cookies, and had ourselves some salty caramel satisfaction in a kitchen that is having a hard time losing its sticky sheen. Next stop: Tarts by Tarts at the DC Square Dance on March 3, and coming up soon is a recipe for our yeasted doughnuts stuffed with dulce de leche. Stay tuned!

Tarts by Tarts at the Crafty Bastards Fair!

Photo by Emily!

Hot damn, blog blackout. Last I wrote, I was in the thick of summer and hardly baking a lick because of the swampy outdoors and sweltering indoors. It was a rollicking good summer with trips to Maine, California, and Pittsburgh and time spent in Baltimore, but fall is the g.d. best and what better way to kick it off than with a new business adventure!

Only the essentials y'all 

In July, some amazing ladies and a wonderful fella moved into our house in DC, and one of these gals happens to be a killer baker with a pie forte. And in September, the Washington City Paper announced that this year's ginormous Crafty Bastards Arts and Crafts Fair would feature an "indie food market." Kismet! In years past, Crafty Bastards hasn't had much food, particularly not much local and independent food, so we quick-quick planned and wrote our application to represent. Thus was born Tarts by Tarts, our bakery ode to butter, bourbon, and New England.

 Doughnuts stuffed with dulce de leche, savory apple tart, chocolate cookies, and apple-apple butter tartlets

Following nightly prep of business cards bunting, the day before the fair had us up and at 'em early with a breakfast of fried green tomato croque mesdames (holler!) and a last-minute grocery trip to purchase deep-fry oil and a boatload of sugar. Twenty-two hours of baking, two hours of sleep, and 15 pounds of flour later, we had churned out dulce-de-leche-stuffed doughnuts, apple cider doughnuts, chocolate- and vanilla-glazed buttermilk cake doughnuts, molasses gingerbread, pumpkin whoopie pies, a savory apple-onion-gruyere tart, double chocolate cookies, vegan iced oatmeal cookies, apple tartlets, honey walnut tartlets, and plum hazelnut tartlets—about 200 individual baked goods all told.

Emily, tartin' it up

And we sold out! After a rewarding though rainy and freezing four hours, Tarts by Tarts sold its last cookie and packed its many bags for home where hot toddies were flowing and nap time was calling. The marathon baking and fair had me tiptoeing the precipice of insanity, but in the end we had a bang-up time and are really looking forward to plotting our next appearance. Doughnut cart? Farmstand? Pop-up bakeshops? Thanks to everyone who came out to support, or helped us out with tents, cars, 3:00 a.m. company, and more! We're only just getting 'Tarted (hah).