Bar craze

So this post is not about something I've made recently. It's about this craze I'm on right now - BARS! and it's not those bars that we go get drunk and silly at. It's a much healthier addiction. I'm talking about fruit and nut bars, granola bars, health bars.. chewy or crunchy, it's my new favorite snack.

So here's my mission - go out and find / try as many different bars I can get my hands on in the Bay Area. They have to be healthy, little saturated fat and (wishful thinking) almost all natural ingredients. So far I'm eating these: Nature Valley Sweet and Salty Nut, the crunchy Nature Valley ones in brown sugar maple, peanut butter and honey oats, Odwalla Chewy Nut bars and the Luna bars. I also tried this other one from New Zealand (which I forgot what theyre called) that my cousins gave me on their second round-the-world mega trip.

It's interesting to note that in the US, we use a lot of corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup in the bars, but in Australia and New Zealand they use rice syrup instead. Which one's better, I have no clue. I'm just looking at fat content! hahhahaa.. well, we'll see how long this craze will last.. maybe I'll just go back to homemade granola and yogurt.

I'm done hibernating...

So it's finally Spring and I've been on this hiatus for so long that it seems like I've been hibernating for the Winter. Things have been different lately. I've become a caterer and my cookie shop has been slightly busy. I've also been baking more at home for my sweetie, and with all the fresh berries that have been popping up at my local grocery store, I've been inspired to bake something with yummy berries.

I found this fruity blueberry tart on the cover of this month's Martha Stewart Living and I just had to try it. The crust is a cornmeal pate brisee, which is a just a French version of a classic pie or tart crust. I love the cornmeal in the crust as it gives the tart a little more crunch. The crust is topped with some boysenberry jam and then packed with blueberries and blackberries and sprinkled with almond slivers and then baked. I probably should have used dry toasted unsalted sliced almonds but I didnt have any on hand. This tart is so versatile that you can use any kind of jam and your favorite berries.

The cornmeal crust is fantabulous and baking the berries in the oven for an additional couple minutes brings out the sugars in them and makes it even sweeter. serve warm!