Never garnish edibles with the inedible.

After much delay, the tart preview is scheduled for next week – exact date to be determined. I’m guardedly optimistic about the outcome. I’m including lemon, key lime, and coconut cream. I’m also presenting the apricot-almond tart. It’s off the mark from what was requested, but it remains my particular favorite. I intended to present bare bones, unadorned tartlets so the tasting could focus solely on flavor. Let the flavor come first and leave the presentation for later. But, that axiom, “you taste with your eyes first” keeps rolling around in my head. Flavor is paramount, but just as a little Lancôme ensures they stick around to discover your winning personality, a little culinary zhushing can’t hurt either. Why not make the book AND the cover praise-worthy?

The research begins. An image search for ‘Key Lime Tart” resulted in pages of whipped-cream and meringue topped sweets garishly garnished with a slice of fresh lime, zest and all. If a slice of pie was served to me so garnished, my reaction would involve yanking the bitter fiend from its whipped cream lair and tossing it to the side of the plate. What’s appealing about that?

Finally, I discovered this Fauchon lemon tart adorned simply with a thin square of mango gelée. Perfection.

Homework for this weekend: fruit gelée and other garnishes, cranberry tart, and faster assembly.