Cherry Heart Tarts: How They Came to Be

Read the title. That's a combination of my week last week. I made some cherry heart tarts, and I taught a lesson on subtitles. ("They give us a little more information, so we really have a good idea of what the book will be about...") 4th grade is the best grade, sidenote.

So Cherry Heart Tarts and How They Came to Be... I could really back this story up and take you to several months ago, but I won't. Here's the slightly shortened version...

I came across this photo (below) from Bakerella on flickr when I was creating a V-Day mosaic. Click here to see finished mosaic.


That got me totally in the mood for cherry pie...a mood I hadn't particularly been in for roughly a year, since last year's International Women's Day cake contest (below, far left). I don't think I need to explain why. (Don't get me wrong, totally into the art of the vagina-cake, but some "decoration" is just too much for me.)

Then I happened upon this post at Not Martha, "to make: tiny pies." This comment in particular got my mental-pie-making-wheels spinning,

"I think you could do more free form pies without the shallow, gentle-sloping muffin tine. Cut larger circles of dough, either with a circle or free-form, and fold the edges over to make mini "rustic tarts." You can bake these on a cookie sheet then! Comment by Anastasia"

I'm just going to be honest and say I had a hard time getting the temptation of cherry pies out of my head. Then I was all, "Oh they could be shaped like hearts." AND I had to make them in time for the weekend because I had some out of town guests I could easily force feed if necessary. Do you understand how the universe was making me bake cherry pies?

I could only resist so long.

They turned out pretty nice. I didn't exactly know how long to bake them, especially considering our oven is fickle. About 9 minutes seemed to do it.

That's pretty much the story of Cherry Heart Tarts.