I love JHill Design’s work – I recently purchased a custom piece for The Husband and I, symbolic to our relationship. Lots has been happening on the home front lately and family’s been on my mind so I thought it was so perfect when I saw this today.
This would make such a lovely Christmas gift or a gift for someone who’s just had a baby to start their legacy. I especially like the Summer tree. You can purchase it here.
Both pictures copyright J-Hill Designs
Love!
Thanks.
Today’s my favorite day of the year. More than my birthday or even Christmas. Thanksgiving has always been an enjoyable holiday that signifies time with people I love, lots of laughter, and reminders of things for which I should be grateful. My in-laws and the families we spend Thanksgiving with have been through a lot together, both good and bad. For them to welcome me with such open arms from day one, well, I couldn’t ask for more. It’s why Nashville has so easily become such a home for me – I was loved from the moment I moved here.
My contribution to this Thanksgiving feast is small, usually one dish (it used to be deviled eggs) and I like to bake so dessert is a natural choice. This year I attempted The Smitten Kitchen’s Cranberry, Caramel and Almond tart.
It started easily enough – my game plan was to make her Unshrinkable Tart Shell.
It shrank. I think it’s because I didn’t chill the dough before rolling it out and used the alternate method. Never again. How do I know this is why? The last time I made this shell following the exact instructions, it didn’t shrink.
Then I made the filling. First batch of caramel was burned. I obviously don’t know my stove very well and whatever I thought was “medium low heat” was still too hot and instead of going through the stages of “straw colored – gold – nutty brown” it went from white to “I think this is straw” to “holy crap it’s molasses.”
I added the cranberries and almonds. Again, it didn’t look like her pictures where you could still see the caramel and it didn’t look overly nutty. Oh, I have to mention that by this point it was 10:30pm the night before Thanksgiving and I wasn’t about to go run out for more sugar/heavy cream/frozen cranberries. So I looked at her pictures, looked at what I had in front of me, muttered an expletive and shoved it in the oven.
25-30 minutes later:
Now, it’s not as pretty as The Smitten’s tarts, but it still looks pretty good for a first attempt. And, since only 2 pieces were left after dinner today, I think it definitely tasted much better than it looks.
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