Treat Your Mother

Last weekend was Mother's Day.  I worked until 4 on Sunday and was excited to make the trip to my hometown to surprise my mom and have dinner. I called my brother to finalize plans, let my dad know what we wanted to do, and we were ready for action.

It didn't work out.

My mom plays in the symphony orchestra in the city 15 minutes from where I live. Apparently there was a concert on Mother's Day. When my dad found out he uneasily said "Umm...You might want to call Annie about that...". After we finally took my mother's schedule into account (who would have thought of that...), we had a plan. She and my brother would come to me after her concert which would be right when I was getting off of work. Perfect.

We started the afternoon at the dog park so my pup could run around and we could get some fresh air. Then we headed to dinner at a new barbecue place in town (my mom loves barbecue ribs and is somewhat of a connoisseur). It was a good dinner made fabulous by the company of my mom and brother. We followed dinner with a walk to a big park a handful of blocks from my apartment to play Bocce Ball and eat a picnic dessert. "What was for dessert?" you ask? That was my Mother's Day gift to her.

Hint for what I made for dessert...

Gone are the days of making Mother's Day coupon books, paper flowers, cards, and other crafts guided by my elementary school teachers. But now are the days of being able to bake delicious things for the people I love. I spent my Saturday afternoon in the kitchen preparing for Sunday's dessert. I chose to make chocolate tarts for a few reasons, among them being the fact that I love them and they are a truly decadent and rich dessert that we don't get to have everyday, but mostly because my mom loves chocolate. There was a time, however when chocolate just didn't make her mouth dance like it always had.

Speaking of chocolate, here is a cake I made for a friend's bachelorette party a few weeks ago.
It has nothing to do with this post, other than chocolate...
Chocolate-Glazed Yogurt Chocolate Cake...darn was this good...

When my mom was in chemotherapy four years ago, her tastes changed quite a bit. Things she had loved before just didn't taste right to her, chocolate included. In the many gift and care packages my mom had received during her time in treatment, she never ate any of the many expensive chocolate bars that people gave her; they all went to me and the rest of my family. While this tasted awesome to us, it was hard to take something from my mother that she had once loved, but the side-effects of treatment for her illness had led her to dislike enough to completely pass it up.

This Mother's Day, I was going to give her all of that rich chocolate that she hadn't cared for when she was sick, but deserved now. This is a pretty standard French chocolate tart recipe, and I had a lot of fun making them, as I hadn't made them in a while.

Chocolate Tartlets

Pastry:

1 1/4c All-Purpose Flour

2TB Sugar

1/2tsp Salt

7TB Butter, chilled and cubed

3-6TB Water, ice cold

In a small bowl, whisk flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter until it resembles a coarse crumb and no pieces of butter are larger than pea-sized. Sprinkle in the cold water (start with 3 TB and add more as needed) and toss just until the dough sticks together. DO NOT OVER-WORK THE DOUGH. Divide into 6 equal portions, wrap each in plastic and press into round disks. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. 

Preheat oven to 375〫F. Roll and trim the dough pucks to fit 4" tartlet pans. Fill dough-lined pans with pie weights and par-bake shells for 15 min. Cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate Filling:

1 1/4c Heavy Cream

8oz Semi-Sweet or Bittersweet Chocolate, finely chopped (I used a combination of the two)

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Eggs, beaten

Beat eggs in a small bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan over low-medium heat, bring cream just to a simmer. Remove from the heat and whisk in the chopped chocolate and vanilla until smooth. Whisk a small amount of the chocolate mixture into the eggs, then whisk the tempered eggs into the pan with the rest of the chocolate mixture, whisking until smooth. 

Pour the chocolate filling into the pastry shells and bake for 13-15 minutes, until most of the filling is set and the center jiggles slightly. Cool on a rack. Chill and remove from tartlet pans before serving.

Absolutely Perfect.

I can't explain how much I love my family. In the past four years since my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, she has not only kicked it in the rear, but she has done so much more than most people can dream to do in their normal lives. She has traveled, lived, given, taught, and loved. I had more than enough to be thankful for this Mother's Day, and a day spent with my mom made me so unbelievably grateful to have such a spectacular woman in my life.