Tuesdays with Dorie~Chocolate Truffle Tartlets

I haven't been inspired by food for a few weeks. Nothing has blew wind up my skirt. I have found things to stomach but nothing that brought me back wanting more. Well, that was the case until I made these chocolate truffle tartlettes. It all came whirling back to me, why I love to bake, what I like to eat, the taste of quality over quantity and the satisfaction of taking risks.

See, the first few weeks of pregnancy sends a rather balanced body into a hormonal whacked out world.  For a while I lived on smoothies, salads and hot fudge sauce. I couldn't even smell meat and heavy foods were no longer comforting. Then all hell broke loose, I was no longer pregnant and really not hungry. I lived on cookies and wine for a while and that worked until it didn't. 

Then our anniversary rolls around and the next day is Valentine's day, it is my chocolate eating season and I needed to pull my act together and get back in the game. I was getting pretty good at the cookie eating thing so an excuse to try more, bah. I figured it was time to get lost in a recipe, the kitchen. and was desperately in need of a way to clear my head, a new recipe usually does the trick for me. As I thumbed to the Baking with Julia cookbook for this month's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe, I felt the tickle of excitement that a new a challenging recipe holds for me. I went head first, baking off biscotti (my new favorite cookie might I add) mixing the perfect chocolate tart crust that I pressed into dozens of tartlette tins and added a chocolate ganache studded with bits of cookies and more chocolate chunks to the warm tart shells and baking until just set.

A rather fancy dessert for our house for a special couple of days that we tend breeze by. Something sweet and home made by loving hands for a special someone.

I pulled the tartlettets from the oven several hours before we were slated to have a quick bite to eat for our anniversary, something sweet to come home to I thought. In the afternoon sunshine, I popped one loose from the mold, smiled, let a sigh of relief, and nibbled my way through one, two, three. The texture the first day, once cooled to room texture is astounding. The shell a rich and flaky chocolate crust that holds a richer, bold with chocolate and textured with studs of crisp cookie filling. The second day the flavors shine but the texture is lost. Never miss these the day they come from the kitchen but never waste a single bite of this goodness.

As you can tell, my appetite is coming back for food and life, the kitchen is messy not from carelessness but business. As with life, we can handle most challenges be they life changing or the dessert menu.

Just two recipes into baking my way through Baking with Julia I am hooked on the quality and content of this cookbook. I have used it as my go to inspiration when I need to pull something together. I would highly recommend purchasing the book if you are inclined to baking, if you are looking for this recipe visit the host's site:

 Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon.
Spike of Spike Bakes
Jaime of Good Eats and Sweet Treats
Jessica of Cookbookhabit.