The Hilltop Hearth & Tart

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Morgan Hill, CA
The Hilltop Hearth & Tart

Artisanal bakery in Morgan Hill. Health-conscious breads & pastries. Local ingredients, big flavors!

06/11/2026

We’re in Hawaii for a few days and tried Pateles for the first time, and there’s actually a whole story there. Pateles are originally Puerto Rican, but when Puerto Ricans immigrated to Hawaii in the early 1900s to work the sugar plantations, they brought the recipe with them. Over generations it got adopted into local Hawaiian food culture and today it’s genuinely a beloved comfort food here. Masa parcels made with green banana and root vegetables, stuffed and steamed in banana leaves. Simple, filling, and really good.

Trying them got us thinking about how pateles are a cousin to hallacas – the Venezuelan version made with corn masa, slow-braised chicken, pork, and beef, green olives, capers, raisins, and roasted peppers. These foods share the same basic idea across different cultures: take masa, wrap something delicious inside it, steam it in leaves. The leaf does real work (It’s not just packaging, it perfumes the whole thing.)

So we decided to make hallacas here, with local ingredients. Banana leaves are everywhere, but ti leaves (used often in Hawaiian cuisine) were right in the yard and we got curious. Same technique, Hawaii grown.

The filling smells exactly right. The masa feels good. The leaves are beautiful. We’re optimistic. (Edit: spoiler alert, they were good!)

Back home soon, and we’ll see you at Andy’s Orchard next weekend for the Father’s Day tasting event. Come find us.

05/28/2026

Some goals for next year.
Let’s make it happen, friends! ❤️ 🥐 🥮

05/27/2026

If you’ve never had a Kouign-Amann (pronounced “queen ah-mahn”), here’s what you’ve been missing.

It’s a pastry from Brittany, on the rough northwestern coast of France. A baker in the town of Douarnenez came up with it in 1860 during a flour shortage. He had bread dough, butter, and sugar on hand, so he folded them all together. The result eventually picked up a reputation as the fattiest pastry in Europe, which tells you something about what you’re getting into.

Imagine something between a croissant and a caramel candy. The dough is laminated, meaning butter is folded into it over and over, the same way you’d build a croissant. But sugar goes in too. As it bakes, that sugar melts and caramelizes against the pan, forming a crackly amber shell on the outside. Inside, the layers stay buttery and soft, with a chewiness that catches you off guard.

Ours are made the long way: bread dough, hand-laminated with European butter, finished with sugar on the pan so the bottoms caramelize the way they’re supposed to. Salty and sweet, flaky and chewy, all in one bite.

These are coming soon in June. Check out the rest of the menu at HearthAndTart.com. Sign up there and we’ll ping you the moment it goes live, before these run out.

05/24/2026

Hi Friends! This week's drop is loaded, and it includes a new bake plus one we've been wanting to put out for a while.

We have two breads this week:
The Venezuelan Piñitas are one we're particularly excited about.They're a soft, slightly sweet pan dulce you'd find in any panadería in Caracas. The name comes from how the tops are scored before baking, so they puff up looking like little pineapples. People eat them with coffee in the morning or hot chocolate in the afternoon. They mean home to a lot of Venezuelans, and we think more people should get to know them.

On the savory side, our Pan de Mie is back. Same tight crumb, with garlic, onion, and sesame baked into the dough. The sandwich bread to end all sandwich breads.

Our new bake: Double Chocolate Banana Bread. Perfectly ripe bananas, dark cocoa, and Guittard chocolate chips folded through, dark and moist like you have no idea.

On the sweets side:
Hand-piped shortbread cookies. Buttery and almost airy, with a nice dollop of Andy's Orchard apricot jam in the middle. The jam does most of the talking and we're fine with that.

Brownies are in the mix again. Ours are on the fudgy side with a quiet hit of cinnamon you wouldn't pick out by name but you'd notice if we left it out.

And for our Gluten-free friends, we've got Almond Biscotti this round. Plain, or dipped in dark chocolate if you want it sweeter.

Menu's live now at HearthAndTart.com. Drops sell out fast, so if you're not on the notification list yet, fix that while you're there.

05/23/2026

Fresh batch headed to Andy's Orchard today!
Two favorites are back: the apricot tart with almond cream, and our hand-piped shortbread cookies sandwiched with a dollop of Andy's Orchard apricot jam. Both sold out last week, so come early if you want them.
New this drop is a double chocolate banana bread. Mini loaf size, made with properly ripe bananas and a heavy hand of dark chocolate. Seriously moist, the fudgy kind. One slice in and you'll want another.

Order directly with us and check out our full menu at http://hearthandtart.com

Full weekly menu drops later today, so keep an eye out!

05/21/2026

Anyone want to guess what we’re getting ready to make next week?

05/17/2026

Let’s talk chocolate. Specifically the ones we use in our baking.

The bag is Guittard, a 61% dark couverture from a family chocolate maker just up the peninsula in Burlingame. It carries a more complex flavor instead of just “sweet”. The can is Ghirardelli’s Majestic cocoa, made with a high percentage of cocoa butter. That extra cocoa butter is the reason our brownies come out dark and glossy with real chocolate flavor instead of a flat, dusty one.
Cheaper chocolate exists. Plenty of bakeries use it, and you can taste the difference. We don’t, because I bake for you the same way I bake for my own family. No swapping in something close enough when no one is looking. No shortcuts.
Good chocolate costs more, and it tastes like it.

That has always been the deal here.

05/14/2026

Apricot season is here, and this is the early summer bake we’ve been waiting for!

It’s a classic French apricot tart. A buttery, flaky crust, a layer of almond cream, and roasted apricots across the top, glazed with apricot jam. What we love about it is the balance. It isn’t too sweet. The almond cream is rich, the apricots turn soft and a little tangy in the oven, and the crust keeps everything grounded. Nothing overpowers anything else.
We’re excited to be partnering with Andy's Orchard for this one. Their country store opens for the season tomorrow, May 15th, and that’s where you’ll be able to find these tarts. (Along with some amazing shortbread cookies )

While you’re thinking about it, take a look at our full menu on our website: http://hearthandtart.com

There’s a lot coming out of the oven right now, and we just added in-town delivery, so we can bring it right to your door 😀 follow our page so you don’t miss anything!

05/13/2026

Really, the hardest thing about running a bakery is resisting the temptation to eat ALL your own product.

If you’re a chocolate fiend like us, you should really check out our double chocolate fudgy brownies. Orders close today!

11/12/2025

Summer is pretty much in the rear view mirror, but that doesn't mean it's the end of fruit season. Now we get to enjoy Persimmons and Pomegranates, which make for lovely tarts.

This one has an almond pâte sucrée shell with a soft almond cream filling. The persimmons are lightly baked to soften and bring our their full flavor. Garnished with pomegranate for a nice tart hint.

( Don't forget to support Andy's Orchard. They have the absolute best Persimmons this year! )

Address

Morgan Hill, CA
95037

Telephone

(512)2214428

Website

http://hearthandtart.com/

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