Baked Sunday Mornings: Orange Creamsicle Tart

ORANGE CREAMSICLE TARTS WITH ORANGE CREAM SODA FLAVORED WHIPPED PASTRY CREAM

Roger and family have been our friends for 20 years.   He used to work for us and left to open his own competing business where he is doing well.  He has 2 wonderful daughters who reside in CA and both have recently married.  We were invited to a "Meet the Son-In-Law" party this evening and Hubby volunteered me to make the desserts.  Roger's wife had ordered a grocery store bakery sheet cake and that was all for the sweets table.  Roger is quite a good chef.  He loves to cook and does all the cooking for his family.  Years ago he created a fabulous buffet for my Frolicking Night Owl daughter's wedding reception (300 people) that friends continue to talk about 12 years later.  For his party  tonight he was expecting 75 people.  But Roger cooks; he does not bake...does not like sweets very much.  I don't know what's wrong with him, but I decided to correct this situation for his party.  The only problem was that I only had 3 hours to bake and shower and get myself ready to go which is not much time for what I had in mind.

VALENCIA ORANGES IN MY BACK YARD

I told Hubby that I  would like to  bake the Orange Creamsicle Tart for this week's assignment as I could both bake the tart which takes care of my assignment,  and take something for Roger's party all at once.  I had not read through all the recipe before skipping out to the back yard where I picked oranges and lemons for my project.

I''M STANDING UP INSIDE AN ORANGE TREE WHERE I PICKED MY FRUIT

Hubby found me busily working away on my tart when he asked how many this dessert would feed.  I told him that it depended on how big the slices would be...not a good answer, but his response was scary; would it feed 75 people?  Well, NO!  And then I started reading about refrigerator times and all the steps to go through for this recipe, and I started to stress.  Cooking is my stress reliever, not supposed to be my stress maker, but I could feel it instantly coming on.  

MY PICKINGS

After suggesting that Hubby go to the office for a couple of hours and leave me to my project, I starting thinking that just maybe smaller tarts would cool faster as their smaller size might not need so much time to set up...

ORANGE ZEST FOR TART CRUST

And so I made my plan.  I would make the tart dough, and while resting in the fridge, I would make the filling.  Then, I would make my mini tart shells while the filling was cooling.

CREAMING BUTTER MIXTURE FOR CRUST

Next I would put the tarts together, whip some orange cream soda flavored pastry cream, put it into a piping bag, and put everything into a cooler where it could "refrigerate" and set up more on the way to Roger's house...a 40 minute drive.  It could work.

ADD FLOUR ALL AT ONE TIME

So I made a double batch of everything, and while the dough was resting and the juice mixture was reducing I found several varieties of cookie dough in my fridge which I baked (You may remember from my last "Baked" post that I am the Cookie Monster...always prepared for cookies) so things were looking good. 

MIX IN FLOUR JUST TILL DOUGH FORMS A BALL

When I'm on a roll it is hard to stop and have a shower, do my hair, paint my nails (which were awful due to kitchen work) etc....I could feel the stress coming on again.

THEN SHAPE THE DOUGH INTO A DISK AND WRAP FOR REGRIGERATION

OK.  I'm out of the shower, my tart shells have been baked, my filling is refrigerating (I whisked it so long that it was really cool by the time I put it into the fridge...so the cooling time was reduced.)  And Hubby just walked through the door...he is ready to go.  I send him out for ice...gotta make my cooler become my next fridge to keep the tarts setting up.  And I try to keep taking photos for my post, and I need to take several photos so that my daughters can see the baking process for this tart which is much easier than explaining each step it this recipe turns out to be one they would like to try, and this recipe has lots of steps.

GELATIN FOR THE FILLING...NOTE TO MY KIDS:  THIS IS NOT JELLO

I'm ready to fill my tart shells when, surprise, Stephy-Wephy and Honey walk through the door.  They just stopped by for a few  minutes on their way to a party of their own.  I'm chatting with Stephy when I hear a crash.  My perfect, sweetest, most wonderful little Honey has just pulled an entire cookie sheet filled with precious tart shells onto the floor where they are now in crumbs.  I scream!  OHHHHHHH!  Honey thinks this is great...food on her level and she starts in.  I Stop. I clean up the mess and put honey into a high chair and feed her broken tart shells which she thinks are good...and all I can do is laugh.  What else can I do?  I began to wonder if creamsicle pudding might work?

ZEST FROM ORANGES AND LEMONS

I'll be OK...I have lots of cookies and since I had made a double batch of tart dough, I actually have lots of mini tart shells...probably more than I will need.  Whew...I'll just go do my hair.  Hubby returns, and I tell him to just go watch TV for 10 minutes.

THEN JUICE THE FRUIT--when finished I noted that my oranges and lemons produced more than 2X the juice suggested by the recipe...good...this extra juice can be my lunch.

I whip the pastry cream, found a piping bag and tip that will work, put everything into a cooler, give myself a less than 10 minute make-over, and I'm ready to go.  (Yes, I even painted my nails.)

JUICE DOESN'T GET ANY FRESHER!

The Phoenix traffic is slow...everyone in town must be going out for Saturday night.  But I smile knowing that my little tarts are having more refrigerated "set-up" time.  We make 2 wrong turns after leaving the freeway, but this gives me even more time.  We arrive at Roger's house only 10 minutes late...not bad.  And he is still finishing his cooking...he has made a fabulous Asian food buffet.  Rice, noodles, sauces, veges, ginger beef, some type of spicy chicken, egg rolls, .......nice!

THE SPECIAL INGREDIENT...ORANGE CREAM SODA TO MIX WITH THE JUICE

I carry my cooler into the dining room--dessert serving area, place my tarts on pretty platters, and pipe on the cream.  For my hurry-up job, they are looking pretty good.  I place my cookies on more trays and finish just as Roger announces that we are ready to eat. 

REDUCE JUICE & SODA TO 2 CUPS

AFTER COOKING JUICE MIXTURE AND EGG MIXTURE TOGETHER, STRAIN OUT ZEST

I


I meet the son-in-law, chat with Roger's friends and neighbors, and then I'm bombarded with questions.  The cookies are very nice, but those little tarts are fabulous.  Many, many guests what to know about them.  Relief.  I remembered that I'd not yet tried one.  I run into the dining room where I've set out all my desserts and try a little tart.  Oh my, these are good!  Better than I ever imagined in all my hurry.   I notice that the store bought cake that Roger's wife had purchased for the dessert table is in hiding.

WHISK THE CURD TO CREATE VOLUME

Even "non-sweets-Roger" likes the tarts.  He is impressed!  He stays away from the cookies, but I see him pop two tarts...one after the other into his mouth while telling his friends to try them...he is saying that they are really good.

WHITE CURD IS CHILLING, MAKE THE TART SHELLS

Best of all, Hubby really likes the tarts...I watched him eat 5 or 6, and I overheard him telling the other guests, "My wife made them."  Everyone could see that he was proud of me.  (And Hubby just loves it when I use our backyard fruit for my cooking...something about using it just makes everything taste better to him.)

AFTER SHELLS ARE BAKED, ADD A THIN LAYER OF WHITE CHOCOLATE BEFORE FILLING WITH CURD

CHILLED ORANGE CREAMSICLE CURD

And when Hubby is proud, it makes all the stress of this day totally worth it.  I did not mind at all returning home to a big kitchen mess.  I admit I was happy with my results from my afternoon of baking.

FILLED TARTS

And thanks, Baked boys, for creating an awesome recipe that makes my friends happy, that makes Hubby proud, and that is worthy of a special "meet the son-in-law" event...something this new couple will remember forever.

 

MINI TARTS  IN 3 SIZES WITH WHIPPED ORANGE CREAM SODA FLAVORED WHIPPED PASTRY CREAM

Stephy just phoned me and invited us to her house for dinner tomorrow.  I have extra filling and can bake more shells tomorrow. After giving away all of my first batch, I'll be happy to have more to enjoy.  Since Honey only tried the broken shells today, I'm sure she'll be happy that I'm bringing the good stuff as a sweet ending for her dinner.

Note to myself:  2X recipe makes 80 mini tart shells.  I have about 1/3 of the filling remaining.   I used 12 oz white chocolate for all these tarts.  

Note to my cyber friends:   Sorry I'm not commenting on your blogs this week...I'm out of town, and get just a few minutes of i-net per day.  I have, however,  been enjoying at your posts and am delighted to find so many wonderful projects and ideas.  I'll do better next time around.