rhubarb and honey tart

Last month, I went to the dentist three times.  There was a checkup visit, a second visit to replace two cracked fillings (during which I endured 3 painful shots to numb me which did not work), which led to a third visit to actually replace the fillings (this time I got numb after 4 painful shots, yay!).  As you can see from my Instagram picture, I wore my favorite Hello Kitty shoes to cheer myself up ... I was really nervous!

The day after my fillings were finally replaced, I announced out loud that I was going to make a rhubarb tart, to which my husband promptly reminded me, "Think of all the trips to the dentist you just had!"  But, fueled by my recent revisit to baking with rhubarb, I insisted that I must do it while rhubarb was still in season!  Although, I compromised with him - based on my husband's theory that honey doesn't give you cavities (question for you dentists out there - is this true?), I decided to try making this rhubarb tart with honey instead of sugar.

Usually I make my rhubarb tarts in this round tart pan with removeable bottom, but this time I chose to use my new rectangular tart pan (similar to this one).  So I made my favorite all-butter pie crust, and carefully rolled and lined my tart pan with the dough.

Then I sliced my rhubarb and mixed it with honey (about a half cup), a pinch of salt, and a couple of tablespoons of flour.

Then came the fun part - arranging it in the tart pan!  I've tried arranging it in a vertical pattern as seen here, as well as a horizontal pattern as seen here, but this time since I was using a rectangular tart pan I decided to make two long rows of rhubarb.

Then I brushed the exposed pie crust with egg wash, and sprinkled on a bit of sanding sugar before popping it in the oven.

After about 50 minutes in the oven, it was done!  By this time the whole house smelled delicious.

When I first sliced it, I didn't love the way the rectangular piece looked.  I was starting to think I should have made it in the round tart pan after all.

But then I realized that I could still slice it into triangular pieces.  In love with rectangular tart pan once more.

It's even better with a scoop of ice cream.  For breakfast.

With a cup of coffee to top it all off.  The end.

lavender honey ice cream

I've been wanting to make lavender ice cream for a while now, but I was never able to find edible lavender at any stores.  Until... we were recently on a road trip in Oregon, and we found a beautiful lavender farm!

We met Deborah, owner of the Applegate Valley Lavender Farm, who was kind enough to let us take a look even though they weren't open for tours that day!  She showed us around, explained the different types of lavender and how to grow and take care of them, and let us pick a huge bunch for only $5!  We talked about baking with lavender, bought a variety of lavender products, and took some pictures at the lovely farm.

I excitedly brought my lavender home from the trip, and dried the flowers according to Deborah's instructions - tied in bunches and hung upside down in a dark room (to preserve the vivid color of the lavender).  After they had dried for a week or so, I hand-plucked all the buds from the stems, and stored them in glass jars.

And then, I could finally make lavender ice cream!  Once again I used a recipe from David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop".  The recipe calls for infusing lavender into honey for an hour or so, then adding that (strained) honey to the ice cream base.  It also called for adding more lavender into the custard at this point and letting that infuse in the fridge before churning, but when I tasted it at this point I thought it already had enough lavender flavor, so I skipped that last step.

I loved the resulting ice cream - it was creamy, refreshing, and reminded me of being at the spa.  My husband, on the other hand, commented that the ice cream reminded him of soap!  Oh well, that just means there's more for me! :)