Yesterday I was working with Carolyn Cavanagh preparing for our upcoming Healthy Travel webinar and I mentioned to her that I needed a healthy dessert option to bring to a gathering I was attending that evening. Carolyn was so helpful and she immediately suggested I try her Raw Blueberry Tart recipe! She said it would be extra fun if I made mini individual sized tarts, and I LOVED that idea!
So I pulled up Carolyn’s recipe and realized pretty quickly I would have to improvise the nuts for the base (walnuts & macadamia) as I only had almonds and sunflower seeds, but I took the risk! I then added the lemon zest and coconut shreds and then UH OH I was OUT OF DATES!!! AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! So I looked at all the ingredients in my food processor and realized I couldn’t now take them out as they were all mixed together, so I had to think, and think fast! I quickly decided raw wildflower honey could work, so I kept adding it in until I was relieved to get it to a perfect consistency to mold into mini crusts! Phew ~ crisis averted…..or so I thought!
I then go to make the wild blueberry filling and like before, I pour the blueberries into the food processor and then OH NO, it requires DATES and I have NO DATES!!!! AAHHHH!!!! Time's a ticking and now I am fully invested in this recipe as I have 12 cute crusts waiting for a filling! So I added in half a mango and lemon juice and blended it together and, it was not working, it was too thick, so I added in some unsweetened coconut milk and uh oh - the consistency was now waaaay too thin! So I poured half of the filling into a glass container and now added to the remaining mixture, 2 bananas, 1 cup of raisins, and some raw honey. The experimentation took a long time, but it finally resulted in a winning combination! Woohoo!!
I then filled all the little cups with the thick blueberry fruit filling and froze for an hour!
I then decorated them with mini wild blueberries on top and a little shredded coconut!
I am happy to report they were a hit! Yay!!! In fact my hubby just ate all the leftover tarts for breakfast, so that is a good sign! :) So I decided this blog needed to happen as not only do I want to share Carolyn’s original Raw Blueberry Tart Recipe as it is amazing, I also want to share my hilarious improvised concoction recipe as well! This also is a great lesson on how important it is to exercise your creativity when it comes to these situations as you never know..... you might make something delicious! LOL!
I hope you enjoyed my little story, I just had to share!
Here is Carolyn’s Original Recipe:
Her is my improvised version of Carolyn's Recipe! Enjoy!
IMPROVISED RECIPE
*You will need a muffin tray
*Baking Cups (I use these, photo is an Amazon link :) )
Crust Ingredients:
*1 cup of organic almonds
*1 cup of organic sunflower seeds
*1 cup of raw organic flaked coconut
*1 tbsp of lemon zest
*1 pinch of sea salt
*Approximately 6 tablespoons of raw wildflower honey (add more if needed).
Directions for Crust:
*Line a muffin tin with 12 baking cups
*Put all the ingredients into a food processor and process on high until you have a nice thick and sticky consistency.
*Take approximately 2 -3 tablespoons of mixture and mold crusts into baking cup. (It will not fill the cup, it will be a little less than half full.)
Filling Ingredients:
*1 cup of frozen wild blueberries
*1 cup of organic raisins
*½ organic mango
*2 organic bananas
*1 tbsp of lemon juice
*2 tablespoons of raw honey
*If you need to thin the consistency you can use a splash of unsweetened organic coconut milk (water is fine too).
Directions for Filling:
*Process all the filling ingredients together until it becomes a nice thick consistency.
*Take a spoon and fill each crust with fruit filling, (put any leftovers in the fridge or freezer to enjoy later).
*Put in freezer to chill for at least 30 minutes to set.
* Then you can decorate by sprinkling some coconut flakes and by adding a wild blueberry to the top of each tart!
Wallah - Enjoy your delicious raw vegan fruit tarts!
The tarts are at their best after about 10 or 15 minutes after being removed from the freezer so they are still firm, but slightly soft in the center. At my guests house, we put them in the freezer and then took them out about 15 minutes before serving.
Please let me know if you tried either recipe and how it came out! Did you have to improvise anything? If so, what?
Happy & Healthy Eating My Friends!
With Love,
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