Chocolate Pomegranate Tart

December is riddled with dinner parties and friend and family get-togethers. While I love a good reason to eat great food and spend time with loved ones, there is always pressure on me to bring a fabulous dessert. Truth be told, the largest contributor to the pressure is myself. I want to find a way to outdo myself, to wow the guests with unexpected flavor combinations or an elaborate dish. The baker inside me wants to be a bit of a show-off. However, as time has shown me again and again, the pressure I place on myself to perform tends to backfire.

For Thanksgiving a couple years ago, I created a wonderful caramel pumpkin bread pudding. It took me two attempts to get it right, once because I burned the pudding in the oven and the second because I burned the caramel on the stove. Pressure, it seems, brings about rookie mistakes. One year I attempted to create a meringue cake to share with you on my blog's first birthday. A year and a half later, I haven't recovered from the misfortune that happened in my kitchen (contrary to what my mother may believe, I'm still not ready to discuss it).

This year, I've decided to learn from my past mistakes. While I can't erase the small part of me that wants to create brilliant, impressive desserts, I want to avoid disaster, disappointment, and rushing to the grocery store to grab more ingredients an hour before the event takes place (no one needs that kind of stress). This year, I am planning ahead. It seem like an obvious decision, but I've always been a last minute kind of girl, making the desserts the day or morning ahead and panicking if something goes awry.

I've gotten too good at panicking.

A month ago, my boyfriend convinced me we needed to buy pomegranates. After bringing them home and prying them open, I quickly decided they would be heavenly with a bit of chocolate. It took a bit of convincing for my skeptical boyfriend (and a mouth full of chocolate chips and pomegranate seeds to prove my point), but he ultimately came to the same conclusion. I put this idea on the back burner for the last month, mulling it over and trying to figure out the best presentation. I've always thought pomegranates looked like gems so the last thing I wanted to do was hide them in a dessert.

This Chocolate Pomegranate Tart is the result of all the reflection and, well, reflect it does.

A slice of this Chocolate Pomegranate Tart brings a hint of pomegranate to a decadent chocolate tart. The crust is made with ground almonds, reminding me a bit of sugar cookies. A rich chocolate truffle filling is baked in, setting like a thick custard. The finished tart is glazed with pomegranate juice (thickened to a syrup to strengthen the flavor) and dotted with pomegranate arils. The pomegranate seeds catch the light just so, making this a lovely tart to impress guests.

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Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Every so often, I crave a warm cookie fresh from the oven. Crisp edges and a soft center can take me away to a special place I like to call cookie heaven. I love the simplicity of a cookie; it may not be as beautiful as a tiered cake or as fancy as a crème brûlée, but it doesn't have to be to leave an impression. Cookies are the everyday dessert—for afternoon snacks and evening treats.

It's hard to beat the simplicity of a good cookie.

As I was growing up, my mother had a rule that my sister and I were never allowed more than two cookies in one sitting. The size of the cookie never mattered—two was the limit. Even though the rule was a simple one, with our best interests at heart, it quickly turned into a rule my sister and I heeded with a religious fervor. For the most part, the rule was easy to follow; easy, that is, until a box of Oreos was placed in front of me.

It is very difficult to eat only two Oreos in one sitting.

Yet, the rule was followed faithfully for years. Even when I wasn't in the house, the rule was so ingrained within me I didn't dare break it. It wasn't until my teenage years that I took my first rebellious step against the cookie regulation. After school, with a house to myself, I ate four Oreos for an afternoon snack. Once the last bite was taken, I immediately felt guilty. Though no one had seen the crime, I was certain my mother would somehow find out about it. I drank a glass of milk to wash out the evidence between my teeth. I rearranged the Oreos left in the bag to try to cover up the scandal. So great was my guilt that I didn't eat a single cookie after dinner that evening.

Looking back, the fact that my rebellious stage involved eating too many cookies in one sitting seems fitting. Even if my mother had found out about my minor rule-breaking at the time, I can't imagine she would have done anything but laugh at me. In fact, since I've kept my cookie secret until now, I can only imagine she's doing the same, shaking her head at the lengths I went to hide my cookie shame.

For the record, I now eat three Oreos in one sitting. I make my own rules now.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies are the ideal accompaniment to a glass of cold milk. Both the chocolate and peanut butter are in balanced proportion, with neither flavor trespassing over the other. The cookies bake up crisp on the outside, but soft in the center. I love to eat these warm, when the peanut butter is gooey and the chocolate is runny, but they are equally delicious after resting for a few hours (or days).

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Brown Butter Pear Muffins

Pears are easily one of the most delicate fruits. The elegant teardrop shape bruises with the push of a thumb. A ripe pear is elusive; always too firm or over ripe, it can make finding a beautifully ripened pear feel like winning a small lottery. The juice is sweet, the flesh is soft, and the subtle fruit, once dangling from a branch in an orchard, is suddenly capable of stealing a moment.

In the fall, I love to fill my grocery basket with apples and pears. The two fruits contrast nicely against one another—one fruit firm, the other one soft, one sweet, one tart—but it is the pear I look forward to most. Cut into at just the right moment, it can taste like a work of art.

Pears, chocolate, and brown butter is a flavor combination I've visited before. In the early years of this blog, when the photography was embarrassing and my ability to weave a story was just developing, I made a Bittersweet Chocolate Pear Cake for one. I had just moved to a new country on my own, in a city where I didn't speak the language. Settling into my new apartment, I started by emptying my suitcases, assembling the new furniture delivered from IKEA, and purchasing a gallon of gray paint to cover the orange on my bedroom walls.

Before popping open the lid on the paint can, I went to the kitchen and turned on the oven.

As I spent the next few days locked up in my room with a paintbrush in hand, I alternated between listening to music and the rhythmic French voices in the apartment below mine. The cake I had made just for myself was eaten in slivers, with a fork to carve out the pieces instead of a knife. Over the course of painting and unpacking, I created a new beginning for myself, starting a new chapter to fill out the pages of my new life.

Though the cake was a simple cake with sincere flavors, the cake intertwined itself into the memories of those early moments of a life on my own. I can only look back on those days fondly, remembering the forkfuls stolen as the sun was rising and my neighbor's voices drifted in through the open windows.

Brown Butter Pear Muffins are a healthier take on a memorable cake. The depth of flavor comes from the browned butter, which has a rich nuttiness and complexity. Freshly diced pears are added to the batter along with enough miniature chocolate chips to bring in a subtle chocolate flavor without becoming overwhelming. I left the skins on the pears as a personal preference, but you can easily peel them if you choose. The muffins hold more flavor than they appear, rounding out any breakfast or afternoon snack.

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