As I was slicing each apricot and delicately placing one sliver on top of another, making sure that just the right portion of each segment was touching the other, a friend walked into my kitchen and sat down next to me at the table. After a few silent moments of watching, she asked how much I would charge for a tart like this. I thought about it, took a brief fantasy trip to the adorable bakery I own in my dreams, mentally crunched one or two numbers about ingredient food cost... and then returned to reality. "This is a pro bono kind of dessert," I concluded. "The kind I only make for family... or maybe a really good friend. It's not for sale." Between the organic blanched almond flour I biked 4 miles to retrieve for the crust, the homemade creme patisserie and nut butter I made and mixed together for a tasty filling, the slicing and painstaking arrangement of fruit on top of the tart, and the shiny glaze I apply to each piece of fruit with a little brush... there's just no possible way I could charge a price that anyone would pay to buy this tart. I'm sure I could cut some corners, be remarkably more practical (drive to the store instead of bike, perhaps), make the tarts en masse with the same design each time, and assemble the tarts like desserts instead of art projects. But... alas. These are sacrifices I don't want to make right now. So for now, it will remain the Pro-Bono Tart.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Pro Bono Tarts
As I was slicing each apricot and delicately placing one sliver on top of another, making sure that just the right portion of each segment was touching the other, a friend walked into my kitchen and sat down next to me at the table. After a few silent moments of watching, she asked how much I would charge for a tart like this. I thought about it, took a brief fantasy trip to the adorable bakery I own in my dreams, mentally crunched one or two numbers about ingredient food cost... and then returned to reality. "This is a pro bono kind of dessert," I concluded. "The kind I only make for family... or maybe a really good friend. It's not for sale." Between the organic blanched almond flour I biked 4 miles to retrieve for the crust, the homemade creme patisserie and nut butter I made and mixed together for a tasty filling, the slicing and painstaking arrangement of fruit on top of the tart, and the shiny glaze I apply to each piece of fruit with a little brush... there's just no possible way I could charge a price that anyone would pay to buy this tart. I'm sure I could cut some corners, be remarkably more practical (drive to the store instead of bike, perhaps), make the tarts en masse with the same design each time, and assemble the tarts like desserts instead of art projects. But... alas. These are sacrifices I don't want to make right now. So for now, it will remain the Pro-Bono Tart.
