Fragrant Vanilla Cake

Tag: tarts

  • Blood Orange Dark Chocolate Tarts

    Blood Orange Dark Chocolate Tarts

        

    I love blood oranges!  Their sweet flavor, and lovely color are perfect, and they are only available for a short time usually around here, so I always get some when they are available! Surprisingly though, I had not bought any yet this year because I hadn’t seen them but when I came across some this week, I bought a bunch!  I couldn’t wait to snack on them, but also I wanted to make something with them. I thought a blood orange dark chocolate mousse would be good, but I decided to turn that into a tart filling.

    Back in the day I made this really good mousse recipe that was just chilled whipped cream that you folded melted chocolate into and it was the best thing ever. I have since veganized it and I now make it with chilled coconut cream and it turns out just as delicious! For the filling though, to make it blood orange flavored, I added both the juice and zest of blood orange plus a little vanilla and it was perfect!  I could not stop sampling it, it was like the best truffle ever!

    I made some of my classic coconut oil pie crusts, that have a buttery flakey texture and flavor and they were perfect with the filling! Yes I could have gone with a no bake crust but this would be so much better and worth the little bit extra effort, since the filling is so simple. I could not wait to try one! I topped them each off with a blood orange slice.

    They were heavenly!  The filling was rich and smooth and intensely chocolaty with the sweet scent of orange and vanilla, so good with the rich crust! If you wanted to tone down the intense chocolate you could top it off with some coconut whipped cream.  But I loved it as is!  If you are a chocolate fan, definitely give this a try!

     

    Blood Orange Dark Chocolate Tarts

    Makes 4 4 inch tarts

    Ingredients:

    Crust:

    • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
    • 2 Tbsp coconut sugar
    • 1/8 tsp sea salt
    • 1/3 cup coconut oil*
    • about 2 Tbsp cold water

     

    Filling:

    • 1 cup full fat organic coconut milk, chilled (the thick part from the top of the can)
    • 2 Tbsp blood orange juice and 1 Tbsp blood orange zest
    • 1 cups vegan dark chocolate chips
    • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

     

    Instructions:

    1. Preheat oven to 375F degrees.
    2. To make the crust, in a large bowl, mix together flour, cacao powder, sugar, and sea salt. Cut in coconut oil with a pastry blender or 2 knives until it is in pea sized pieces. Mix in  just enough water to create a smooth dough that holds together but isn’t too sticky. Add more water if needed, and knead slightly until a smooth dough is created.
    3. Divide the dough between 4 small 4 inch tart pans, and press it into the bottom and up the sides to form a crust.  Prick the bottom a few times with a fork, and cover with foil, snugly against the bottom.  Fill with pie weights or dried beans or rice.
    4. Place the tart shells on a sheet pan, then place the pan in the oven, and bake until set, about 15 minutes, then remove the foil and bake until more dry and starting to brown a little, about 20-25 minutes.
    5. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
    6. For the filling, melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler, then pour into a glass measuring cup with a spout.
    7. Place the coconut milk, orange zest and juice and vanilla in a food processor and blend until smooth.
    8. Turn the food processor on, and with the motor running, slowly pour the chocolate into it and blend until uniform in color.
    9. Pour the filling over the crust and spread evenly.  Place in the freezer to firm up if not already firm (it doesn’t take long usually just 10 minutes or so).
    10. Garnish the top of the tarts with blood orange slices.
    11. Enjoy!

      Tart keeps refrigerated for 1 week in an airtight container.

  • Vegan Lilac White Chocolate Mousse Tarts

    Vegan Lilac White Chocolate Mousse Tarts

    Lilacs are one of my favorite things about Spring. I mean yes, it is nice that the weather is warm again, or that I don’t have to wear a coat and the grass is green, but lilacs just make me so happy. I mean tulips are awesome, and pretty but lilacs have that heavenly aroma that is like no other.  It seriously motivates me on my run when I am half way though and running past a bunch of fragrant lilac bushes.  Last week one day it was raining in the morning but that didn’t stop me from going out for a run.  It is actually kind of peaceful when you have the roads and trails to yourself because all of the fair weather people are staying inside since they melt when they get wet.  That and there is a quiet stillness with just the sound of the gentle rain.

    I ran past a bunch of lilacs and they smelled so amazing that I wished I could bottle that smell and wear it as a perfume.  Then I began to think about how I could make a lilac dessert of some sort. I have seen other people make them, and they are edible so why not?!  Something with lilac cream sounded heavenly!  I was on it! I went biking later that day and picked a few. I wish I had lilacs in my yard but that isn’t the case.

     

    I decided to make some white chocolate lilac cream tartlettes. Raw Guru recently sent me some cacao butter and raw cashew butter both of which I use for my white chocolate desserts, so it was perfect!  I started out with a coconut cream base, added those in and a touch of vanilla and I had a nice base for the lilacs. I used a good amount of them in this, and the cream was heavenly!

    They deserved a buttery rich crust, so that is what I made, just my classic pie crust. I thought about making these no bake, but I prefer actual pastry sometimes instead of a press in raw type crust. Not that I don’t like those sometimes, because they have their place. But this time I wanted the rich style!  The tartlettes turned out sooo good!  The lilac cream was heavenly, rich and delicious with that creamy white chocolate flavor, the perfect thing to fill a buttery crust with!  If you are a big lilac lover like me, definitely give these a try!

    Vegan Lilac White Chocolate Mousse Tarts
    Makes four 4 inch tarts

    Crust:

    • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
    • 2 Tbsp coconut sugar
    • 1/8 tsp sea salt
    • 1/3 cup coconut oil*

     

    Filling:

    • 3/4 cup full fat coconut milk (the thick part from the top of the can)
    • 1/2 cup fresh lilac blossoms
    • 2 Tbsp Dastony raw cashew butter
    • 1/3 cup Raw Guru Cacao Butter, warmed to liquid
    • 2 Tbsp maple syrup
    • 1/4 tsp sea salt
    • a drop natural vegan purple food coloring (optional)

     

    Garnish:

    • lilac flowers

     

    Instructions:

    1. Preheat the oven to 375F degrees.
    2. To make the crusts, combine the flour, coconut sugar, sea salt and coconut oil in a bowl and scrunch together with your hands and fingers until the coconut oil is well distributed, but it is clumping up and smaller than pea sized chunks remain.  Add the water and mix together until it forms a ball (but you don’t want it too sticky).  If it happens to be too dry, add a touch more water. Divide dough into 4 balls.
    3. Oil four 4 inch tart pans, and press the dough balls into the bottoms of the pans and up the sides, trimming off any extra.
    4. Place the tart shells on a baking tray in the oven, and bake for about 30 minutes until lightly browned at the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
    5. To make the filling, place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.  Place in the freezer, until thick like whipped cream consistency, stirring every so often (about 30 minutes or so depending on how warm it was)  Once it has chilled, place it in a pasty bag and pipe into the tart shells.
    6. Arrange berries on top of the tarts, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

     

  • Vegan Summer Chocolate Berry Tartlettes

    Vegan Summer Chocolate Berry Tartlettes

    One of my favorite parts of Summer is the berries!  And, luckily the wild raspberries are growing like crazy around here this year!  Every time Eric and I go out for a walk practically we find more ripe ones to pick. I guess I consider berries special because it is only this time of the year that they taste the best, and are affordable to buy.  I always try to buy organic berries if I am buying them because they are a heavily sprayed crop, and in the off months (so October through end of April), I see raspberries being sold for $8.99/lb sometimes! Yikes, and they don’t even taste that good because they have to be shipped in from far away.  This is why it is important to eat in season fruits and enjoy them while you can!  So between the wild raspberries I have picked, and the good prices on berries lately I have been eating a lot of them.  Why not?  They are high in vitamins and antioxidants!

    I had 3 different kinds of berries in my fridge, and I said to myself, I need to make something pretty and delicious with some of these. Involving chocolate. Because chocolate is absolutely amazing with berries!  I did not want to spend a lot of time on it though because it was a work night, so I decided on some simple chocolate tarts. I had all of the ingredients on hand (mostly pantry items except the berries), and they took me about 30 minutes to make.  For the crust I used a mixture of  oats, nuts, and cacao powder.  Super easy, and all you do is press it into the pans, no baking required, which is always good on a 90F degree day, which it was!

    I made a luscious avocado mousse filling so good I could have eaten it with a spoon, but I saved it for the tarts.  They would have been good just like that of course if all you wanted was chocolate, but berries were to be the star of this show, so that is what I topped them off with.  They were so pretty!  Almost too pretty to eat, but that never stops me when I am hungry.  They were so good with the creamy rich chocolate filling, crunchy crust, and sweet jammy berries!  These are actually pretty healthy, so I wouldn’t judge if you decided to eat all three that the recipe makes instead of sharing them!

    Summer Chocolate Berry Tartlettes
    Makes 3 4 inch tartlettes

    Crust:

    • 1/2 cup organic gluten free rolled oats
    • 1/2 cup organic almond meal
    • 1/3 cup soft, pitted medjool dates
    • 2 Tbsp raw cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
    • 1 Tbsp almond butter
    • 1/4 tsp sea salt

     

    Filling:

    • 1 medium avocado
    • 2 Tbsp almond butter
    • 2 Tbsp raw cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
    • 2 Tbsp maple syrup
    • 1/4 tsp sea salt

     

    Topping:

    • about 1 cup mixed fresh organic berries (if they are strawberries, quarter them)

     

    Instructions:

    1. To make the crusts, combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until the mixture is the consistency of dough, and holds together when squeezed.
    2. Oil 3 4 inch tart pans, and press the mixture into the bottoms of the pans and up the sides.
    3. To make the filling, place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.  Spoon into the tart shells, and smooth the tops.
    4. Arrange berries on top of the tarts, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.