Chocolate and Banana Caramel Tarts

*Alert!* *Alert!* I probably need to give all of you a heads-up, a warning of sorts. Evidently, when 2a hits, I become philosophical. Thoughts fly through my head, that rationality filter stops (oh yeah, I've got tons of filters - you don't want to see the clusterf*** that is my brain), and I begin having dreams again. Aspirations, unrealistic and fantastical, absurd and impossible. Sometimes I wonder if it's just my mind's way of getting over that exceedingly left-brained way I go about my days at work. Like sometimes, it just needs to get out of the box it's been hemmed into.


I wasn't a terribly creative child. Or teen. Or adult, for that matter. I avoided art classes like the plague (haven't had one since 8th grade!) and hate hate spending more than an hour in an art museum. They make my brain hurt. The one exception is the Chicago Art Institute, because they always have super-awesome photography exhibits in the basement. I spent one summer in Northlake, outside of Chicago, and went into downtown every weekend. And every weekend, I'd go into the Art Institute and ogle the photographs. But modern art? Meh. Renaissance art? Double meh with a cherry on top.


So it's sort of odd that I then let irrationality run amuck. It's like this little right-brained mini-Caitlin just skips out and begins throwing buckets of paint all over. Freaking weird, right? But it's fun too, in a slightly uncomfortable-this-isn't-really-me sort of way. And thus, I find an outlet. Not paint, because my super uptight apartment manager would probably kick me out if I decided to make my living room wall into a mural. Nope, I become predictable - I bake. But it's the drag-down-knock-out sort of project that appeals to me at these times. Multi-step, multi-component, how-in-hell-did-I-use-all-my-bowls-and-pots-already. Enter this tart. Chocolate tart crust (I <3 style="font-weight: bold;">HELL. YES.


And luckily, I had a good morning last weekend to do all of this, because soon after, I got stuck going to Centerville, IA for work. And let me tell you, chocolate + banana + caramel + peanuts is waaaaay better than Centerville, IA. You can find the recipe at Cannelle et Vanille. I've had it bookmarked all these months since Aran posted it, and the only change I made was to halve everything and bake 6 2.5" tartlets (with lots of each filling left over).