Tis the Season... to let us do the baking!

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Twas two nights before Christmas when all through the kitchen

Not a baker was still, not even the equipment.

The Bouche de Noel was crafted with care,

The cookies in sexy packaging, hanging out over there.

The customers were probably all snug in their beds,

While visions of Salty Tart danced in their heads.

And the lead baker at the ovens, and I at my station,

Had just begun baking with much jubilation.

When onto the platters were placed such delights,

I could hardly contain myself with the sweet pastry sights.

Away to the people they flew like a flash,

Purchased by Credit, Debit or our favorite, cash.

From our hands to the ovens to boxes and plates,

Magic was flowing at scandalous rates.

When what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a twinkle of ecstasy shown in a single tear!

As levels of adrenaline rose to the ceiling,

Fergie and the ‘Peas gave us that feeling,

Special orders are ready to pick up and ship,

We decide everyone who ordered Salty Tart is urban and hip.

And then in a moment observed at the counter,

Stupid questions and mirth and need of a bouncer.

As I reverted my gaze to the baking at hand,

I chose to be thankful for all our business, juvenile or grand.

We had been crisp and clean to start our day, white from head to foot,

And now our aprons were gently dusted colorful with cocoa to ginger root.

A towel, a project and a worker at each station,

The salty bunch of bakers functioning together, a smooth operation.

Their eyes how they twinkled, their smiles so merry,

Cheeks were like roses, and noses like cherry.

The friends and the families pausing to watch the show,

Drinking hot Lavazza, warming from the hearty snow.

With final flurries of activity, we swooped buttercream and mousse

What time is it, are we almost there? Heres the gin, wheres the juice?

We ate extra meringue mushrooms and sniffed candy cane dust

Getting ready to go, quickly deep clean the kitchen, this is a must!

Michelle was dancing, hardly causing a scene,

I guess the Christmas spirit got her, like a Mexican dancing-bean.

Everyone is excited to satisfy the ticket board,

We’ll be closed for the weekend, make sure everything is properly stored!

We sprang to our cars, brushing off white accumulation

Thankful for the hours we spent, our hands crafting each creation.

With much love and thanks from Michelle and the Team,

A sweet, not salty Christmas and another day, livin’ the dream.

________________

Holiday Pre-Order Menu

Pre-order any of these special holiday menu treats or any of your personal Salty Tart favorites by Tuesday, December 22^nd for pick-up on Thursday, December 24^th.

Chocolate Chiffon Pie

A Rich, Creamy Chiffon Pie with Chocolate Cookie Crust, Topped with Bits of Peppermint.

Serves 8-10 $25.00

Eggnog Cheesecake Tart

Our Classic Cheesecake with House-Made Eggnog, Baked in a Gingerbread Tart Shell

Serves 8-10 $25.00

Buche de Noel

A Traditional Yule Log with Salty Tart Flair! Chocolate Cake rolled with Chocolate Buttercream, Covered in Chocolate Ganache and Adorned with Meringue Mushrooms.

Serves 10-12 $38.00

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes filled with Peppermint Ganache, Topped with Buttercream and Crushed Candy Canes

$2.50 each or $28.00/dozen

Holiday Cookie Platters

An Assortment of Holiday Cookie Favorites.

Small (15) $15.00 Large (30) $28.00

Fresh Bread

Rosemary Brioche Wreath $8.00/serves 12

Milk Bread Rolls $6.00/dozen

Baguette $2.50 each

Whole Wheat Loaf $4.50 each

Sourdough Loaf $4.50 each

Salty Jacks and Java Tarts.

• We are now providing South Minneapolis Coffee Shop, Java Jacks, with delicious pastries fresh every day!
• “On the other side of the river, the Salty Tart (920 E. Lake St., Mpls.,www.saltytart.com) is filling the void left at Java Jacks (818 W. 46th St., Mpls.) by the recently vacated Rustica (which is up and running at 3220 W. Lake St., Mpls., www.rusticabakery.com). The coffeehouse is now featuring owner Michelle Gayer's scones, croissants, cookies, cupcakes, galettes and more. "Now we are reaching this whole new audience that doesn't make it to the Midtown Global Market," she said.”

• Rick Nelson pretty much summed it up,(he's good at that) thanks Rick. You can read the full article here!

• If you read the full article you'll see that Minneapolis has many options in the bakery category, some have been around for years upon years, some are still babies like us, and some we are just learning of. I would say we are all pretty lucky to have such a great food scene!

• Tis the Season, and it is marked brilliantly every year by the Holidazzle parade! If you are going to venture out be sure to go hungry! Look for our friends Chef Shack - The ladies are serving up a whole bunch of delicous! Follow them on Twitter for up to date information on their exact location, and become a fan on Facebook (rumor has it that Fan #1,000 gets a bottle of Surly Darkness..im just sayin')

Its time to support Street Food in Minneapolis!

• No Coast Craft-o-Rama starts tomorrow, Friday 12/4 ! Get down to the Midtown Global Market for a crazy fun time. We'll be pumping out the pastries all weekend and a few hundred others are providing the crafty business. For more information: www.nocoastcraft.com

• Coming Soon on the zee blogg: Christmas Menu!

Get Your Own Free Hypster.com Playlist.

A bunch of little big things

• Hello Everyone.

I've been waiting and waiting for this moment-

Our fabulous new website is up and running!

Its too bad marriage to inanimate objects isn't legal yet

Sure there are a few tweaks here and there, but you get the gist of it's sexiness. I mean, just look at the new logo! *swoon*

• In other Salty News, we made it through Thanksgiving with a couple of pies leftover but none the worse for the wear(i enjoyed my chiffon pie for breakfast today anyways)- big thanks to everyone who ordered something from us, we appreciate you so much we just want to squeeze your little cheeks!

<--Breakfast! Pumpkin Chiffon Pie with Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream adorned with Dancing Candied Pepitas! and they say I have a bad diet!

• Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine chose our Triple Ginger cookie as one of the best cookies around this town. Look for it in the December issue or just take everyones word for it and come to the Salty Tart and get one already!

• Michelle and I were talking about how it is reeaalllllyy hard to translate our jokes and funny faces and silly stories into facebook status's and tweets, so I thought maybe with enough room for explanation and pictures, we could try to share the joy here. When you come upon something that seems dumb or confusing, just close your eyes really tight and pretend you were at the bakery.. hopefully you'll have one of those moments like on tv when you hear a twinkling noise and find yourself in someone else's scene. Give it a shot, if its just not working for you, leave a comment and I'll try not to waste anyones time anymore by dragging on and on about something that just not feasible, I would hate to be that person.

• Coming up is No Coast Craft O Rama! at

the market and we are psyched! Last year was so much fun, we were busy, people were enjoying pastries; it was good times. If you're into crafty things, are into buying things (Christmas!), or are into walking around and just checking stuff out, then you should probably come. If all else fails you c

an get a cupcake or feel sorry for yourself while you lick meringue off your fingers or whatever you crazy kids are into. We'll be ready for ya!

The event is going on Friday Dec. 4 from 3-8pm and Sat Dec. 5 , 9-5pm. As always there is a free parking ramp for easy breezy parking and plenty to see, do and eat at the MGM

• Last thing- Im thinking about making a new permenant addition to the blog; our current stuck-in-head song. This week it is a toss up between Lady GaGa 'Bad Romance' and Miley Cyrus 'Party In The U.S.A'

It doesn't play automatically, at least not yet because I haven't dedicated much time to geeking out on blogger, but please, take a moment and groove!

Get Your Own Free Hypster.com Playlist.

November, a traditionally voterific month

Everyone loves to vote in November, its in our blood.

If you haven't gotten the chance to get your vote on, here are a couple of things we think you'll dig.

JAMES BEARD. Maybe you've heard of him.. if you haven't, in short, he's kind of a big deal.

Every year at this time foodies around the country excitedly nominate their favorites in the food industry, from 'Best Chef: Pacific' to 'Best New

Restaurant', 'Outstanding

Wine&Spirits' to 'Rising Chef of the Year' there is a category for everyone, in every area. You can also vote for Books, Journalism, Broadcast Media, and Design.

With this in mind, please feel free to vote for whomever you wish to see nominated for a JB award. ...and here is the shameless plug-

There is a category titled "Outstanding Pastry Chef' and if you happen to think that maybe Michelle is worthy of the title, it would rule if you would vote for her! Being nominated for a JB award is a tremendous honor to anyone working hard in a kitchen.

you can vote until mid-December or mid-January, depending on the category.

EDIBLE TWIN CITIES.

is a quarterly publication highlighting some good eats, farms, and artisans, in and around Minneapolis and St. Paul. Currently they are looking for your vote for 'Local Food Heroes'

Broken down into 5 categories of 3 nominees each are 15 local persons/places wishing for your vote- Salty Tart has been nominated for 'Best Food Artisan' and golly we hope you'll agree!

Voting Ends on December 11th, and you can vote as many times as you wish.

Heavy Table.

We love those guys and gals over at Heavy Table.

James Norton, Susan Pagani, and Katie Cannon tell us all about the finalist for the highly anticipated 'Silver Whisk Awards!'

If you have an opinion, and I know you do, you can contact Heavy Table with your choices by writing to editor@heavytable.com

Winners are announced on December 16th, I can hardly wait!

Don't forget to call the Salty Tart with all your needs, we would love to hold your hand through the upcoming holidays. Don't you fret, we've got you covered. 612.874.9206

"Don't look at my beans!"...

..yelled Sam, as he rushed to remove his special chili ingredients from the public's eye.

But seriously, this really did happen as Sam is making chili today for the Third Annual Chili Cook-Off which is taking place here at the Global Market tomorrow. If any of the events taking place in the kitchen today hold any indication of the final standing of the chili tomorrow... I think we're in for a good time and a great position!

(*insider: the grass-fed flank was rubbed in numerous spicy spices before they went out for their smokey break.. then it was seared and boy was it upset! I would say that the meat itself is a fury of flavor anxious to donkey kick your tonsils right out of the ball park, but you didn't hear that from me*)

Anywho, for 3 dolla dolla bills, yo, you can participate in one of our favorite market

events! Just don't vote for Safari Express, they won the last two times. Its kind of like how the Yankees always win. all.the.time. its just not fun anymore! By the way, all the proceeds from this go to the Perspective Kids Cafe

Midtown Global Market has all sorts of fun stuff going on every weekend! November 14th from 12-2, 13 different vendors will try to win your vote for the bragging rights as

chili dominator and a very shiny ladle.

Thanksgiving Menu!

It’s Thanksgiving and, like Oprah,

there are a few things we know for sure at this time of the year…

• 1) Soggy bottom crusts = not delicious
• 2) Too many cooks in the kitchen is just unproductive and stressful
• 3) Everyone wants to contribute- why don’t you send those little helpers out to pick up your special orders?
• 4) We really like bakin' stuff
• 5) We have nothing better to do?
• 6) (this is the sappy one) we love you guys (we’re thankful for ya, ohhh there it is!)
• 7) Last year was a great test run, this year we are planning on running things a tad smoother.
• If you follow us on Twitter or Facebook you might have seen that we whipped up a test batch of Sweet Potato Rolls and they were delicious! (@ChefShack1, @ProduceExchange, and @Tastebudtart were all around to nod in agreement with us)

Along with the sweet potato rolls we are offering milk bread rolls, Baguettes, Whole Wheat Loaves and Sourdough are available as well- while we have those last three every day, it is definitely in your best interest to get your name on a few! For pies we will be making ‘The Classic’ Pumpkin Pie, you know the one. Rich and Dreamy Creamy Pumpkin Chiffon- this one has a graham cracker crust- ooh la la. What Holiday dinner would be complete without a Pecan Pie (my answer: all of them, I’m allergic to nuts anyways) For the rest of you however we have a pecan pie with yummy bourbon, maybe to take the edge off of all those family members if you know what I mean…

Okay, I’m losing interest cause I’m totally ADD- the rest of the yummy stuff special for thanksgiving is a pear and candied ginger crisp (grab some ice cream from Grand Italian Ice right next door!), a chocolate salted caramel tart (trying sharing that bad boy!) and Maple Cookies in cute autumn shapes!

Pre-order any of these special Thanksgiving treats or whichever other favorite Salty Tart pastries, cookies or cakes you have a taste for! 612.874.9206

Sweet Potato Rolls $6/dz

Milk Bread Rolls $6/dz

Baguette $2.50/e

Whole Wheat $4.50/e

Sourdough $4.50/e

Classic Pumpkin Pie serves 8-10 $19

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie serves 8-10 $ 22

Pecan Pie serves 8-10 $24

Pear Ginger Crisp serves 4-6 $17

Chocolate Salted Caramel Tart serves 8-10 $25

Maple Cookies one dozen $10

numero dos

Faithful Readers! Wait, can I say that on post number two? Sure.

Faithful Readers! I want to know what you want to know...

A picture documentary of brown butter tarts? We can manage that.

An instructional series of…whatever? Lets hook it up!

How to make your pies for the coming holidays a success? I think we can share some tips. (for one, skip the hassle and call us 612.874.9206)

Do you have questions? Michelle LOVES questions- and that’s not sarcasm, that’s a true fact.

In the meantime I thought I would let everyone know a few of the things that we currently are using that are local/organic.

Ames Honey

~ oh, happy chicken, not silly chickens!~

Happy Chicken from... I cannot remember for the life of me... it starts with a 'C' and its in Minnesota...

Thousand Hills Flat Iron Steak from Cannon Falls MN

Hope Creamery Butter from Hope, MN

Organic Valley Milk, from LaFarge, WI

Schroeder Heavy Cream from Maplewood, MN

Phil’s Fresh Eggs from Forreston, IL

Earthbound Organic Field Greens and Garlic from San Juan Bautista, CA

Mirabella Ingredients- Terra Spices, Chocovic and Callebaut chocolates

Penzeys spices Minneapolis

And always MN grown and local (midwest) produce such as apples, squash, greens, herbs and other great product from the Midtown Produce Exchange!

***Stay Tuned! The next post is about our seasonal menu and Thanksgiving offerings!***

(it will be exciting, cross my heart and hope to die)

The Nitty Gritty

~A special spooky treat for Halloween~

Hey! Welcome to the Salty Tarts Blogspot! We are finally taking a breather from the kitchen to really advance into the 21st century here. For the first post I think an introduction is in order.

The Salty Tart Bakery opened in the spring of 2008 by Michelle Gayer, an exquisite lady with a great palate and many years of Pastry Cheffin' 'sperience. Out of Michelles pretty little dreams and visions for her first business venture come:

• Rustic pastries, enjoyed the way they come out of the oven, without fuss and sprinkles.
• Artisan breads- hand shaped and allowed to ferment their way to better flavor then baked fresh each morning on the stone bottom of the sexy Danish bread oven. Speaking of Danish, you won’t find a cream cheese Danish here, that’s for sure.
• Cakes and cupcakes that taste home-made because the actually do have a lot of love and time put into them (no weird box mixes here).
• Excellence. Charm. Timelessness. Oh, sass.

But back to Michelle herself, she is one hell of a plucky lady and she knows what’s up!

Michelle was born and raised in Iowa, and thank god she left cornyville, she attended Kendall College in Illinois and landed a sweet gig at Charlie Trotters in Chicago. Later Charlie Trotters to-go in viva Las Vegas! Fiddled around (deeply) at the infamous La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles as well as other notable places that shaped her style and gave stage to her creativity; Franklin Street Bakery, the restaurants La Belle Vie and Solera. Best mind-molding and whip-cracking awards go to her stint at Le Cordon Bleu, as a pretty great instructor.

Here at the Salty Tart, our wish is to present to our consumers pastries and desserts that are so simply delicious, not too sugary and over played. All it takes is a very few flavors put together by some talented hands to create something knock-you-socks-off good. If you’re in the mood for something savory, and we always are, we have a couple of options for you everyday; pastries to sandwiches to soup.

Michelle’s motto is: “Cooking with Integrity” For the ST that means we use the best local and organic ingredients whenever possible! We believe in being good stewards of the land available to us, and raising happy animals as nature intended- naturally! We choose to support our economy by selecting what is available to us locally and seasonally – there are no raspberries in Minnesota in January, sorry!

Thanks for taking a few minutes to learn about our mission, stay tuned for sporadic and salty posts regarding what’s going on down at the S.T.!

Be in the know! Please come visit, there is nothing like a fresh sustainable pastry and a cup of java!

p.s. become a fan on facbook or follow us on twitter! (bear with us on this educational road to the great wide interweb and other technological business!)