isn't that just like true love?

When you really love someone their inner beauty begins to shine so brightly that it diffuses the inevitable flaws the person has...  And aren't we all glad when someone has loved us all enough to view us through the diffused lenses?

No, I am not talking about Brandon, although sometimes I think he's practically blind to my flaws.  {sighs and "aw" etc.}  And you all know I think he's pretty perfect as well...  enough of that sappiness. 

I was actually talking about my tarte.  I came home tonight after babysitting James and Paul and a lovely play date at Liz's (with of course Sarah Ann and Thomas) and Claire (with Zoe.)  We had lots of fun!  Anyway, I came home and really wanted to bake. I was really uninspired.  I knew I wanted something chocolate.  It seems appropriate to make chocolate desserts during Valentine's week. 

After much consideration, I recalled buying an extra can of almond paste when I made the almond and pear tarte.  I came up with the idea to make a chocolate almond tarte.  Doesn't that sound wonderful?

Oh it was, and for once I penned my recipe as I created.  Lucky you.  The filling was delicious, nutty, sweet and sort of custardy.  I love a chocolate chess pie, but this tarte, although it appears like a custard pie, is not.  It's much more substantial.  

But every great love has to have a flaw... yes the flaw.

I retract my self-righteous rantings from this post.  Tonight I made my crust from scratch, sans recipe.  I know what to do but I was lazy.  I didn't use enough butter and made a sort of doughy crust, and it was disastrous.  I know how to remedy the problem.  It didn't have to be that bad.  I blended the ice cold butter and flour in my food processor, and I knew what the mixture should look like, but I had already put the butter away and moved straight into the ice water phase, and it just made a butter dough.  I know what I did wrong, so all is not lost for my crust theory.  It can be done relying on technique and without a recipe, just don't be lazy like me. 

Back to my love affair.  

Here's how to create the tarte filling...

Chocolate Almond Tarte

Ingredients:

2 T butter

3/4 C milk

1/3 C cocoa powder

1 can almond paste

1 egg

Melt butter in a saucepan.  Heat the milk, remove from heat add cocoa powder and wisk until all lumps are obliterated.  Then add the almond paste and egg.  Wisk until all ingredients are combined.  Pour into the tarte shell of your choice.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  

Just use your favorite crust.  Mine was so bad it almost ruined the whole thing.  It wasn't even very pretty because the crust never browned, a direct result of the butter deficiency (I'll spare you the photo.) But the filling is so delightful it outshines the toughness of the crust.

Isn't that just like true love?