I created this beautiful, fruity, citrus dessert for one of my summer day yoga retreats. I made 10 individual tarts but you can also make it as a whole large tart! Guests LOVED it and couldn’t believe it was VEGAN, GLUTEN-FREE and DELICIOUSLY HEALTHY!
This dessert does have quite a few steps but TRUST ME, totally WORTH IT!
Makes 1 whole tart or 8-10 small tarts
Crust:
1.5 cup almonds, soaked for 2 hours and peeled (discard peel and water)
8 medjool dates
½ tsp pink Himalayan salt
Instructions:
In a food processor, pulse almonds until crumbly (don’t blend as they will turn into butter and develop too much oil). Add dates in small pieces. Blend into a “doughy” ball. Take 3-4 tablespoons of dough and press into muffin tin lined with paper muffin cups. If choosing to do 1 whole tart, press whole dough ball with a wet spoon in a tart pan that you can easily remove outer ring. Freeze for 1 hour.
Mousse:
1 large ripe avocado
1 can full fat coconut milk (my preference because its organic, fair trade and their cans are BPA free) https://chasorganics.com/
Rind from 2 limes
Juice from 2-3 limes, depends how tart (pun intended) you like it!
1/4 cup organic agave, maple syrup or unpasteurized, raw honey (my preference) https://beekeepersnaturals.com/
Instructions:
Place all ingredients for the mousse in a powerful blender, blend until smooth and place mousse in a piping bag. Place in fridge for 15-20 minutes.
Take out tart shells from freezer and remove from paper liner. Place on tray and pipe mousse in tarts. Place back in the fridge while you prepare your fruit of choice to place on top of tarts and whipped cream.
Whipped Cream:
1 can 400ml Organic Coconut Cream, https://chasorganics.com and place in fridge for at least 1 hour
1/2 cup cashews, soaked in water for 1 hour, then drained, discard water
1-2 tbsp maple syrup or raw, unpasteurized honey https://beekeepersnaturals.com
1/2 tsp Ceylon cinnamon, much sweeter and delicate taste than Cassia
beans from 1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (non-alcohol)
Instructions:
In the same powerful blender that you just rinsed with water (one of the benefits of making vegan desserts is that you don’t need to use dishing washing soap!), place just the coconut cream (do NOT shake the can as you will mix the liquid and pulp and you want to keep the liquid for later), cashews, sweetener, cinnamon and vanilla. Blend until smooth and place in a piping bag in fridge for 1 hour.
Take tart/tarts out of fridge and place fresh fruit* on top in your own creative pattern. Pipe whipped cream around fruit and serve or place back in fridge until ready to serve.
*I used mango, peaches, blueberries and raspberries because these are my favorite and because most of them were in season in the Niagara Region (with the exception of the mango, of course!)