For the pastry shy, this tart is salvation. It looks like jewels set in amber, with its candy bar mosaic of five kinds of nuts embedded in buttery caramel slicked over a tender crust, which is where salvation comes in. There is no rolling pin in sight. You pat the crust into the tart tin with your fingers.
While writing this book, my family and I moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I had great fun exploring a new place and its cuisine. The inspiration for this recipe came late one night when sleep would not. In my mind, it seemed that rich pine nuts and spicy ground chiles would be a fantastic combination in a pound cake. I was right.