Day Two Hundred Nineteen: Everything's Coming Up Roses Tart

Sometimes good things are born from necessity.

Yesterday, as I was performing my daily search of Something-Martha-To-Do, Martha's website was down. :curses:  It forced me to try the old-fashioned method and look in one of her books.  I found her recipe for a gorgeous Nectarine Tart (MS Baking Handbook, p. 256) and couldn't resist the potential train wreck.  I wish I could post her photo as it looks amazing....and amazingly hard.

To begin, make the tart dough, chill, then roll and shape into a tart tin.  Blind bake using beans or handy pie weights like so:

After the crust has baked to a golden brown, let it cool.  While you are waiting, cut a million eight nectarines into thin slices.  Overlapping the pieces, shape each into a rose.   Like so:

No really, those are sliced nectarines.  Amazed yet?  :you are looking at a goddess:

Continue to fill the inside of the tart with roses....

...Until the tart is full:

 It's gorgeous isn't it?  I'm not ashamed to say I was pretty proud of myself at this point.

Fill the tart with a sugar-brandy-egg mixture and cook for about forty minutes.  In the end, you have this:  

This is such a gorgeous tart....and super-good.  I've been passing this tart up for years, thinking I could never get the roses to look like Martha's.   Truthfully, it wasn't hard. I made it after dinner and didn't have to stay up all night to finish.  All it took was a little patience...and a sweet husband who is handy with a knife.  (Love you, honey.)