Sweet and Salty Cream Cheese Tart by Alison Roman

Wow, the final dessert. It’s hard to wrap my head around it all. My first dessert of the project was Alison’s Cocoa Banana Bread. I chose it because it sounded familiar and safe. Obviously, Alison wouldn’t include an ordinary banana bread in her cookbook; it had plenty of flare like crystallized Demerara sugar and mascarpone. It was delicious and I felt really proud of crossing it off the list. 

33 desserts later and I’ve felt great moments of pride — like when my upside-down apricot tart held perfectly together when I flipped it onto a plate, or when my salted-butter chocolate chip cookies looked just like the picture in the book. I’ve failed too — my coconut banana pudding took multiple tries to become pudding and I was certainly too hasty about the task of cutting out circles of dough for the top of my cherry and sesame galette. I am still nowhere near any sort of expert-level baker, but I’m more confident than before. 

The cream cheese tart is as close as I’ve ever been to baking a cheesecake (which I know little to nothing about). It starts with assembling and baking the crust. Given the option of Nilla Wafers and Ritz Crackers, I went with the Ritz. My reason being that I assumed that the filling would lean more heavily on the “sweet” than the “salty,” and I was really craving a 50/50 split. 

I chose to break up the crackers by hand instead of with a food processor, but it didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped. I got the crumbs down to a small size just fine, but some of them were just a bit too big — like the size of a pea — and it was difficult to break them down further. These slightly larger crumbs didn’t absorb the melted butter as easily, which meant the crust resisted staying together in some places. If you can tolerate the task of washing your food processor bowl and blade, then take it from me — use it with gusto. (But not too much gusto; you don’t want the crackers to become a powder either.) 

As the crust baked in the oven, I prepared the filling with my food processor by blending cream cheese, Greek yogurt, and sugar. Going against instructions, I chose almond milk cream cheese instead of full-fat, and frankly didn’t notice a possible difference in richness or quality. Then I added the eggs and grapefruit juice, forgoing the pinch of salt because I was starting to catch onto the fact that the filling might already taste saltier than I anticipated. 

I poured the filling into the crust and very slowly transferred it to the oven. After my first key lime pie experience, I knew to let the “jiggle test” not completely determine when the tart is ready to leave the oven. There’s liquid in the middle. Of course it’s going to have the slightest jiggle when you rattle it. But if it just barely moves when you give the tart tin a solid tap, then it’s ready to go. I followed Alison’s advice, turned off the oven and opened the door a bit in order to cool the tart more slowly. The point is to avoid any cracks forming on the filling’s surface. I’d never heard of this technique before. I bet it works if you are in a more temperature controlled environment than a Chicago apartment kitchen in the dead of winter. Cracks showed up sure enough — especially after the first 5 minutes passed. I’m not sure how else to avoid this. 

Once my tart was fully cooled and ready to eat, I sprinkled it with a bit of flaky salt and a slice of grapefruit (really just for the pictures, to be honest). The tart sure is tasty, but more of a 60/40 salt to sugar ratio. If I make this again, I’ll definitely go for Nilla wafers, or even a mix of Ritz and Nilla in the crust. The texture of the filling was so smooth and the structure held pretty well. Overall, I was pleased with the outcome. 

Soon I’ll post a ranking of my favorite Alison desserts — the ones I’ve dreamt about since eating then.

224 recipes cooked, 1 to go.

Casual Apple Tart with Caramelized Buttermilk by Alison Roman

I grew up feeling rather ambivalent about apples. Apples and peanut butter, apples and caramel, or even just a plain apple - I wasn’t jazzed about apples. I did love to sing about them, though. My sweet grandmother who is now 92 years old, used to write original songs for her grandchildren to teach us important things. For example, she wrote a song about my home address and phone number so I could remember where I lived. She wrote a song about tomatoes and how delicious they are, which I credit as the main reason I’ve loved all things tomato from a very early age. She also wrote a song about how “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” and yeah, I believed it. So I ate my apples, despite my lack of desire for them. 

When I came to college in the Midwest, I was exposed to the wonder that is the Honeycrisp apple. Which changed everything. Sophomore year, I started dating a boy (who is now a man and also my husband) from Minnesota. He wanted me to know that scientists at the University of Minnesota actually created the first Honeycrisp apple. He raved about them, like all proud Minnesotans do, and convinced me to not only eat apples, but to enjoy them. You see, a Honeycrisp is the perfect, and I mean perfect, balance of tart and sweet. It’s the juiciest of all the apples. It has the prettiest color. It is, no doubt, the most superior apple. 

Honeycrisps are the reason I was so excited to make this tart. Finally, an Alison dessert that could feature this most excellent fruit. Not to mention, it was another opportunity to try my hand at pie crust. Making pie crust is a true art form, and I find that I get better at it every time I do it. While I’m sure Alison’s “The Only Pie Crust” adds an even butterier element to this lovely tart, I chose to stick with King Arthur’s gluten-free pie crust recipe for personal reasons. I must also note that this was by far my most successful time making pie crust. The butter was the right amount of cold when I rolled the dough out, and none of it stuck to my rolling pin. A true win. 

A few more notes on the tart… This apple dessert - drizzled with butter, sugar, cinnamon, and ground ginger - was like an apple pie, but differently shaped and less fussy. I left it in the oven a touch too long, so the apples were nicely softened but the crust got a little too browned. I think the buttermilk coating on the crust added a nice touch (but it didn’t make or break the dessert). I sliced two pounds of apples, per Alison’s instructions, but could only fit 1 pound on the dough. I squeezed lemon juice over the unused slices, and ate them at work throughout the rest of the week. Finally, when Alison instructs you to sprinkle the tart with flaky salt and pepper, just do it. I hesitated, particularly over the pepper, but I admit it added a subtle, smoky nuance that only enhanced the final flavor. 

165 recipes cooked, 60 to go.

Upside-Down Apricot Tart by Alison Roman

I love when a dessert makes me look a more skilled baker than I really am. Puff pastry will do that for you. It’s a store-bought, frozen sheet of thinly layered pastry dough. Painstakingly simple to use, but boy, does it look sophisticated. Puff pastry covers the bottom of this tart. The other side is half-cut apricots covering the bottom of a cake pan filled with a simple honey caramel. Looks like a mosaic, but requires far less finesse. 

I started by prepping the apricots, cutting them in half length-wise, so they were ready to place in the caramel as soon as it was ready. Alison says to use “1lb. apricots (5-6 apricots),” but I ended up needing about 1.15 lbs (10-12 apricots) to fill my cake pan. Alison must have access to really big apricots. 

The caramel made me a little nervous. I don’t have a ton of experience making it, so I’m not the best judge of color and viscosity. Thankfully, I was on the phone with my pal Margaret while I made it, and she coached me on what to look for. My caramel was taking longer than Alison’s instructions, but Margaret assured me that working towards the dark amber color is more important than the amount of time it takes to get there. Once the caramel seemed thick enough and gave off an amber hue, I poured it to cover the bottom of a 10-inch cake pan. You can use a 9-inch pan, too. 

I quickly placed the apricots, cut-side down, over the caramel. Then I loosely covered them in the puff pastry sheet. I trimmed the edges so it came up about an inch on the inside of the pan. According to Margaret, the key here is a loose draping of the pastry, as if it were a blanket and you were tucking the apricots in for a nap. Let the blanket lightly rest over the fruit. Tucking them in too tight will only make ‘em uncomfortable and want to burst out of bed. 

The pan bakes for about an hour total at two different temps – the higher one to bake the pastry, the lower one to bake the fruit. I made this tart a few hours ahead of serving so the caramel hardened in the pan before I could flip it over. To remedy, I stuck the pan back in the oven at 375 for 5 minutes. The caramel loosened and the tart became easy to flip onto a plate. I covered the top with toasted, chopped pistachios and served it on its own. Ice cream or whip cream would have done nicely, but I didn’t have the energy. Plus, the tart on its own is perfectly wonderful. 

Just a friendly reminder that June is apricot season. Trader Joe’s sells them by the pound for $3.29! If you’re planning to make this recipe too, may I suggest you make it in the next two weeks? 

Oh, and feel free to call me if you want to chat about the color of your caramel! 

86 recipes cooked, 139 to go.

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Lemon Shaker Tart by Alison Roman

This lemon tart is like a giant circle of lemon bars, with a shortbread crust and a custardy lemon filling. If that interests you, read on, friend. 

Some lemon bars err on the sweet side, and others on the tart end. This dessert really straddles that line, but slightly errs on the tart side. However, that may differ if you use Meyer lemons. Alison says that either Meyer or regular lemons work here. I could not find any Meyer lemons, so opted for regular. But I am now quite convinced that the slight sour edge to this dessert would have been fixed if I had used Meyer lemons (which are really a hybrid of lemon and mandarin/pomelo, making them sweeter). 

Before preparing anything else, I sliced a lemon very thinly, and marinated the slices in a cup of sugar and lemon juice. These need to sit for at least an hour to soften and sweeten before baking.

The shortbread crust is simple - flour, confectioner’s sugar, salt and melted butter, all mixed to a greasy Play-doh consistency and spread out in the tart pan to bake. I swapped GF flour for regular all-purpose here, with no issues. Xanthan gum, which is used in GF baking to help form structure, is not needed here, since the crust doesn’t really need to rise. The crust bakes first in the oven, until a light golden brown. 

Once the slices finished marinating, I made the filling. Egg yolks, whole eggs, and a bit of flour and salt combine to form a smooth yellow mixture, to which I added the lemons slices, juice and sugar. I mixed it all by hand, then poured the filling into the crust and put it in the oven to bake until it didn’t jiggle in the middle. 

There seemed to be an odd ratio mix-up, and I’m not sure if it’s me or the recipe. I used a 9-inch tart pan as instructed (this is also my only tart pan). But once I filled the crust, there was about 20% of filling still leftover. It posed a bit of a mess since I wasn’t expecting it. I’m curious if others have had the same issue. If you make this recipe, my advice is to pour slowly and cautiously. 

I shared this tart with Jordan, Gina, Madeline and Sam, and all of us agreed that the crust was excellent, the filling a nice blend of sour and sweet, but the lemon slices were too sour all together. Again, I think this was an issue of not using Meyer lemons. So word to the wise, hold out until you can find Meyer lemons for this lovely tart. 

72 recipes cooked, 153 to go.

Chocolate-Tahini Tart with Crunchy Salt by Alison Roman

Laundry is a Monday rhythm for me. I descend 29 floors down the elevator, carrying the overflowing basket of clothes and dish towels on my hip. Our laundry room connects to our apartment lobby, and it’s usually quiet on Mondays. 

“I’m calling it ‘Trouble,’” I heard as I walked toward the laundry room door. I turned around to see Gina, the lobby receptionist peering at me with wide eyes over her mask. “Pam agreed it was Trouble. I found myself licking my hands.” After a few seconds of trying to figure out exactly what she was referring to, I remembered the Chocolate-Tahini Tart. I had given her four slices to share with the other staff on Friday, but hadn’t heard a report back. Apparently this one was her favorite Alison dessert so far. 

It’s mine and Jordan’s favorite so far, too. My mother-in-law took one bite of it and said, “I want this on my birthday.”

A brief description is in order. The tart’s crust is a chocolate shortbread. Dry ingredients such as flour and cocoa powder are mixed together with a stick of melted butter and pressed into the tart pan to bake. This was my first time using my own tart pan, which I received as a birthday present last month. I love the clean lines of the fluted crust exterior. The pan’s shape makes me feel like a more experienced baker. The crust is baked and set aside to cool for at least an hour. The filling is also simple – chocolate and tahini melted by simmering honey and heavy cream, stirred together and poured into the crust. Top the crust with a generous sprinkle of flaky sea salt (Maldon is the way to go here) and set aside to cool and set. It can be kept on the counter, wrapped tightly, for a few days. 

I used bittersweet Pound Plus chocolate from TJ’s. The bitter chocolate combined with the subtly nutty tahini kept the filling from being too sweet, which could have been the tart’s downfall. Instead it was just the right amount of rich, the right amount of sweet, the right amount of salt. A balanced, delicate yet substantial, dessert that makes it impossible to avoid seconds. I wonder if it can be beat?

61 recipes cooked, 164 to go.