After the Dinner Tart

“Why do people give dinner parties? Why did I/
say I’d come? I suppose no one there was entirely/
at ease. Again the flower leans this way:/
you know it’s impolite to stare. I’ll put/
out the light.... And there’s an end to it.”

— Kenyon's Collected Poems, "After the Dinner Party," page 157

As a fiction writer, I was always intimidated by poetry, but Jane Kenyon was one of the poets that made me change my mind. Naturally, I wanted to bake something based on her collection of poems. And, luckily for me, food plays a large part in her poems.

In her poem, "After Traveling," she talks about "tiers of sugared pastries: angel wings,/ cat tongues, and kiwi tarts" (134). While angel wings and cat tongues are delicious, I definitely wanted to do more, so I decided on the tart.

I knew I wanted the crust to be sweet... a cookie... but I wasn't sure what flavor I wanted it to be until I read the poem "Drink, Eat, Sleep" (72). The poem ends with the image of honey on a man's tongue. 

If I was going to do a sweet honey cookie, I didn't want the filling to be too sweet. A classic tart filling is vanilla pastry cream, something that isn't overwhelmingly sweet, and, in the poem "Song," "the chef sweetens cream for pastries" (121).

I didn't want to do the kiwi on top of the tart like it mentioned in the earlier poem. So then I just had to decide what kind of fruit I wanted to use.

The cover of the collection has a band of fruit on it. There are a lot of poems in this collection that mention fruit, too. While looking through the collection to try to make up my mind, I stumbled upon one of my favorite lines: "It happens subtly, as when a pear/ spoils from the inside out,/ and you may not be aware/ until things have gone too far" (150). It's a line I had forgotten about until then, in a poem called "The Pear." 

And with that last decision, I began baking.

Honey Cookie Crust

 -1 1/3 c  vegetable oil

-2 c  white sugar

-3/4 c  honey (the better the honey, the better the cookie)

-2 eggs

-3 tsp  vanilla

-4 c  all purpose flour

-4 tsp  baking soda

-1 tsp  salt

1. Whisk oil, sugar, and honey until completely combined.
2. Whisk in the egg and vanilla.
3. Add the salt and baking soda, and stir.
4. In sections, add the flour.
5. Spray cupcake tins with nonstick baking spray (I used the butter flavored Pam).
6. Scoop the batter into the tin, filling each cup 1/3 of the way. (You should get about 24 cookies)
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-24 minutes.
8. Remove the cookies from the oven and, using a spoon or the bottom of an ice cream scoop (or even a muddler), press the inside of the cookies down to create a well. 
9. Let the crusts cool for about 10 minutes, then, gently wiggle them loose and move to a cooling rack. 

Vanilla Pastry Cream

-2 c  milk (I used 2%)

-1/4 c  white sugar

-2 egg yolks

-1 egg

-1/4 c  corn starch

-1/3 c  white sugar

-2 1/2 tbsp  unsalted butter

-2 tsp  vanilla

1. Whisk the egg and the yolks together in a medium-sized bowl until completely combined.
2. Whisk in 1/3 c of sugar.
3. Sift the cornstarch then whisk into the egg mixture.
4. In a medium saucepan, add the remaining sugar and the milk, and whisk together over medium-high heat.
5. Bring the milk mixture to a boil.
6. As soon as the milk begins to boil, take a ladle of it and add it to the egg mixture, whisking immediately. This will temper the eggs, and prevent the eggs from scrambling.
7. Repeat step 6 twice more.
8. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the remaining milk in the saucepan, and bring it back up to a boil.
9. Stir constantly until the mixture is thick and has the texture of pudding.
10. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla.
11. Transfer to a heat-proof bowl and cover immediately in plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.
12. Let it cool completely.

Sautéed Pears

-2 Bartlett pears

-3 tbsp  unsalted butter

-1/4 c  light brown sugar

-pinch of salt

1. Peel the pears then halve them.
2. Halve them again, and cut away the seeds.
3. Cut into thin strips then cut them in half.
4. In a large skillet, add the pears, butter, and brown sugar.
5. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until boiling.
6. Add the salt and cook for around 8 more minutes, or until the pears are soft.
7. Let cool.

Then it's time to assemble!

Fill each of the crusts with the pastry cream. I thought it was easier to do this with a pastry bag, but you can definitely use a spoon if you don't have one. I filled each crust almost completely. Next, I fanned the pears out on the cream, and spooned some of the sauce on top.

Finally, I added a small drop of cream on the center of the pears, which made the tart look like a flower, and brought me back to the quote at the top of this page.