So a few weeks ago I receive an email from Isabelle at Quick Label saying my Printing Specialist, Becky Swartz suggested T’ART would be a great feature for their newsletter.
I was very honored and really enjoyed talking to Isabelle and love what she wrote in her blog The Art of the T’ART.
Take a read and let me know what you think.
Molly wrote such a fabulous article. I am so pleased as she really captured the human interest story and my passion for baking. Thank you Molly and Jewish Boston for telling my story and featuring T’ART.
And drum roll and big shout out to Nancy and Matt at Whole Foods, Portland, Maine who placed an order immediately after they read this article. Your support of local, small business owners is tremendous and I am so excited to visit and share my samples later this month.
The support and inspiration from the Whole Foods team is incredibly amazing. I am in 8 local stores and 4 of the Demo Food coordinators have made T’ART and featured it in their Facebook Pages or blogs. I am so touched, flattered and encouraged! THANK YOU ALL FOR CARING!
By Whole Foods Local Forager – Kate Shannon: April 27, 2012
At the Brighton store, we’re lucky to have some truly excellent team members. They work hard to make the store a great place to shop, but they also make the store a better place to work. And Lara Diaz is one of the best of the best.
Lara is the store’s Culinary Demo Specialist. It’s a big job, but Lara shines at it. In addition to coordinating the in-store demos with area vendors, she develops recipes and conducts demos of her own. She often cooks things up from scratch, but she does some more straight-forward demos of products that require little or no cooking. (She’s realistic. Her cassoulets and stews are crazy good, but sometime’s a girl’s gotta eat some chips or have a bowl of cereal.)
This afternoon, Lara whipped up a batch of T’ART from Amour Creations and passed out samples for customers and team members. As someone who loves to bake, I was skeptical of a dessert mix. But this tasted homemade– a crumbly, cake-like tart base with just the right amount of sweetness. All you need is some eggs and butter and the fruit of your choice. (Lara used frozen strawberries and fresh rhubarb). And as the Local Forager, I was particularly excited to discover that it’s produced right down the road in Brookline. If you use local eggs, local butter, and some fresh Massachusetts fruit– all of which are available in our store on a daily basis– you’ll have an almost-homemade, all-hometown dessert. It just doesn’t get better than that.
I have been doing T’ART tastings for over a year now and have met many interesting (and some weird) people.
But last month, I did a T’ART debut at the Whole Foods in Jamaica Plains – it was local vendor night and towards the end of the evening, I met a lovely woman. She asked me
if I knew Whitney Johnson – or the dare to dream blog. I was not familiar with either but followed the suggestion to reach out to her.
Whitney’s forum daretodream.typepad.com (and new book of same name) is about stories like T’ART..check out her blog and also my story
I received such an inspiring note this morning and I hope it inspires you too to let the creativity flow with T’ART.
“I love the mix – it really simplifies the process, and lets you be so much more creative! With all that’s going on for getting ready for the holidays, T’ART is such a huge help!! Made a batch of T’ART MUFFINS in different “flavors”
I tried my Pannetone inspired – dried fruit and chocolate chip I tried a Nutella and Chocolate Chip (Make a hole and stuff Nutella after baking) I tried a Blueberry with dried, fresh and frozen blueberries (the combo makes for interesting texture) and I tried a Peanut Butter and “Jelly”
I am also attempting spinach and goat cheese for Christmas Day.”
*used fresh blueberries which cook down*
Wow – I can’t believe it..just a shy 10 months ago – I was planning my trip to my first Fancy Food Show in San Francisco to explore, evaluate and make my decision regarding the pursuit of T’ART. I was working through my label print options and packaging and today, I reached several milestones- shelf space in about 20 fabulous grocery markets in Boston and its surrounds, my first article and pick of the week by the nibble’s on line gourmet newsletter (oct 4) and yesterday – T’ART was the featured short order in the food section of Boston’s major newspaper, The Boston Globe. The food contributor reached out to me in mid September – she had bought T’ART in Russo’s- made it- liked it and got permission from the food editor to write about T’ART . We spoke for a few minutes and voila..her article is titled “Start with a mix, end with a quick clafoutis describes T’ART as a fast elegant dessert- a crustless fruit pie, like a French clafoutis, with a cake-like texture and no one will guess you started with a mix”. Sentiments I have heard before. Thank you Ann Trieger Kurland for finding and trying “T’ART”!! It feels good to be recognized.
Now, what’s my next milestone??
I love this- back in July, I wrote a blog about helping my friend Candice with her fundraising efforts for her Susan G. Komen 3-Day Race for the Cure by baking and selling bags of T’ARTs at her annual yard sale. Today, she wrote me the following note which I am so pleased to share..
‘Just wanted to let you know that I’ve recently held three Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure fundraiser — two “Pink Ribbon Painting Party” events at The Paint Bar in Newtonville and “Pink Ribbon ZUMBA and Spin” at my gym (BSC Lexington) last Friday night — and that at each event I created a “Bake for the Cure” basket with a bag of T’ART mix, Komen pink ribbon apron, tartlette pans, pink ribbon cookie cutter, etc. I listed Amour Creations as a sponsor of the event for T’ART mix donations and provided your website — I hope this will help to give you further exposure and to increase sales! I am still so very, very grateful for your having donated your time and ALL of the proceeds of T’ART to our yard sale — truly one of the highlights of my year that you would be so very kind!!!
The “Bake for the Cure” basket was a very popular raffle item at each of the three events! We raised $3,440 all in! Thank you once more for your kindness and generosity in supporting the world-changing work of Susan G. Komen for the Cure — I am truly grateful!
Wanted to let you know, too, that my mom, sister, and I are still enjoying tarts now in the fall! The last tart my mom made we tried using 3/4 cup of unsweetened apple sauce instead of butter (as you’d suggested we could) and the tart came out beautifully! I think I am going to head to Russo’s this weekend for more T’ART mix as I am really looking forward to making a “seasonally appropriate” apple and pear tart – ha ha! Am sure it will also be absolutely yummy!!”
Ok – Susan G Komen – we’re ready to take “Bake for the Cure” featuring T’ART in pink NATIONAL!!
T’ART is for all seasons and it is now apples are in season..
Simply chop 2.5 medium size UNPEELED apples – a mix is good.
Add a touch of cinnamon, brown sugar and squirt of lemon juice and microwave for 1 minute and mix.
If you like, throw in nuts OR choc chips OR white choc chip OR
I like mixing in frozen cranberries and or blueberries
Make T’ART mix and add apple mixture right on top. No need to mix in. Just one good solid layer- don’t pile high
Chick chack – easy peasy – no fuss no muss
Bake in oven at 350 for 45 – 60 minutes..and you got a great apple treat.
It freezes really well too!
Now my family loves apple crisp – we’re not pie folks–
but they are realll happy when I make this – which really is faster and easier!
Enjoy,
What a thrilling moment – after 10 months of doing it all – from making the powder pillows, to labeling to packaging, to selling, to marketing, to demo tasting, to delivery, to baking, to doing store demos, it was validating and surreal when I read the words from The Nibble (online gourmet food magazine) editor Karen Hochman “You have to bake our Top Pick of the Week,T’ART baking mix with your favorite fruit, to appreciate how delicious it is.”
I didn’t realize or appreciate the impact of Karen’s endorsement until I started getting online orders from as far west as California and as far south as Kentucky and far north as Iowa and several requests from specialty food stores!
Tues night was a WOW moment for Amour Creations - I would never have believed that T’ART would reach this milestone so soon. I am honored and inspired.
Thank you Karen for your closing words..”It took no garnishing whatsoever for us to demolish the entire T’ART. Moist and luscious, the lily needed no gilding.”
Look what else you can do with T’ART- thanks JS- a former schoolmates’ mom of my son- who caught up with me at one of my Volante tastings – J put 2 large tablespoons of batter in each, then 2 large tablespoons of
berries, then topped with 1 tablespoon of batter and some cinnamon and
sugar. Used a large form muffin tin.
Made 6 muffins. YUMMMMM – love the creativity – ART with T’ART
Thank you JS for shari
ng..