Honey Nut Tart

July 24, 2007 at 12:57 pm | Posted in out of town, pies & tarts, sweet things | 9 Comments

I don’t think I mentioned this, but R and I made a weekend trip to Auckland, NZ back in early June. I was my first time in the country, and since it’s probably the closest “foreign land” (anywhere else seems to be at least a nine hour plane ride away), I’m sure we’ll be back. I’m dying to go to the South Island, home of the world’s best Sauvignon blanc…but I digress! We had great time in Auckland. It’s a nice small city with big city food. We had a beautiful dinner and way too much wine at The French Café. During a leisurely lunch at The Grove, we even got to chit-chat with one of the owners, an American who fell in love with the country while traveling years ago.

On Sunday afternoon, we took a short ferry ride from downtown Auckland over to Waiheke Island, where, thanks to the advice of a friend of a friend, we had made a lunch reservation at a vineyard called Te Whau. I very much enjoyed their signature house-smoked salmon, and then had john dory (my favorite fish–lucky for me it was a special that day). I’ve gotta draw the line somewhere, so I don’t normally go for dessert with lunch, but this was vacation. I wouldn’t beat myself up too much if we just shared one. Exercising my wifely right to make decisions for “the team,” I decided that we should try the honey pine nut tart with vanilla ice cream. It was delicious…lots of toasty pine nuts held together in a honey goo. Not that pecan pie can be improved upon in any way, IMO, but this was sort of like its fancy cousin.

After over a month of thinking about it and wanting to make it at home, I finally did a bit of research and found this recipe on Recipezaar. I apparently didn’t do a very thorough read-thru of it before I went grocery shopping, though, and wound up not buying nearly enough pine nuts. I had some walnuts in the fridge, so I used roughly a 50/50 combo instead. Oh well–just as tasty and cheaper, too, I imagine. The honey I have is one that I bought at a farmers’ market; it is quite floral and went nicely with the lemon in the recipe. I know that in the northern hemisphere right now everyone is enjoying peaches and berries, but in the cooler weather down here, when there isn’t a lot of good looking fruit around, a tasty nut tart is just the ticket.

Warning: If you open the recipe link, your eyes may want to wander over to a box on the right side of the webpage containing nutrition (or lack thereof) information. Don’t let your eyes do this, or you may never make the recipe.

9 Comments »

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This is so rich and probably not good for my diet… but I am going to make it. =D

It looks frickin’ awesome.

Comment by Michelle— July 24, 2007 #

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Your tart looks delicious! Very yummy!

Comment by Rosa— July 25, 2007 #

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I won’t look at anything but your photos – this is pure temptation!

Comment by Patricia Scarpin— July 25, 2007 #

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I love a nice decadent fattening dessert. Got to have a reason to go running.

Comment by Cheryl— July 26, 2007 #

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I gained a pound just looking at it, and it was totally worth it! Thanks for posting. :o)

Comment by Lori— July 26, 2007 #

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That is absolutely stunning! What a beautiful dessert. I just love the photos!

Comment by Truffle— July 26, 2007 #

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That looks delicious! I like that its not so thick – gives me the go ahead to and eat a little bigger piece! 🙂

Comment by Chris— July 27, 2007 #

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Wow! honey, pine nuts and lots of butter. So good.

Comment by Elle— July 28, 2007 #

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Looks rich and decadent. Perfect with a scoop of ice cream indeed!

Comment by Tartelette— August 9, 2007 #

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