STARBOARDPORT

Putting off writing and poking around Etsy.com recently, I redirected to the web page of that day’s featured seller. There I found a recipe that tugged at my fall harvest baker delusions. I don’t know if this is common, but autumn gives me urges that I don’t fully trust or understand. Kitchen urges.

I know how to cook … some things: eggs, sandwiches, tortilla-based meals, veggie Thai curries, salads. But rare is the day I venture into the complex chemistry of baking. It’s easy to mess up, and it’s time consuming, meaning it’s best left to professionals (like my former housemates in Portland). Fall emboldens me. It makes me think about cupcakes, cookies and yes, even pies.

Ginger honey pears and mapley cinnamony apples

Some blame also may lie with the “Pushing Daisies” DVDs that keep showing up from Netflix. I was unsure of the show at first, but by the end of the first disc, I just wanted the big bright pictures to keep on coming. And I had more strange pie-baking desires.

Mini pies; beer bottle rolling pin

I don’t have a pie plate or a rolling pin or a very long attention span, but I persevered with this (easy) recipe and made a decidedly edible mini pie tart thing. The recipe lives here (Mini Fall Galettes) where it is beautifully explained and executed.

Ta-daaaah!

I succeeded with a couple of lessons learned: The cupcake pan needs liners or they’re a bitch to get out (also I just reread the original recipe, and it says to use a cookie sheet). Second, the TeeVee ain’t always wrong. Freestyling from an idea in the pretty shiny pie show mentioned above, I put some sharp cheddar crumbles on my mini pear pie, and hot damn, if it wasn’t a tasty little tart.

Perhaps this means the fall harvest baker is satisfied and will hibernate until next season, or perhaps I will go on a multi-day baking rampage which can only end in high fructose fruit cake. For now, I’ll just eat my tarty pie and hope someone in this house gets an uncontrollable urge to wash dishes.