"A healthier version of the date tart with a Lebanese twist. A buttery rich but oil-free crust with a creamy refined sugar-free filling.
Impress your guests on your next occasion with this marvelous date tart. That it's sure to go down a treat with everyone because it is vegan, gluten-free, grain-free, refined sugar-free and full of natural wholesome ingredients".
Servings 4tarts
Ingredients
FOR THE CRUST:
2cupsalmond floursee notes
1cuppistachio, finely grounded see notes
1tspcardamom
½tsporange zest
Pinchof salt
3tbsp.carob molassessee notes
½tsporange blossom water
3 to 4tbspwater
FOR THE FILLING:
4pitted dates
1cuppitted dates to make paste
1cupunsweetened almond milk
½tsporange blossom water
1 ½tbspcornstarch
Pinchof salt
FOR THE GARNISH:
Some grounded pistachio
Whole pistachio
Almond flakes
Dates
Instructions
STEP 01: warm-up your almond milk till steaming and soak the 1 cup of dates in it. Set aside.
STEP 02: In a deep bowl mix almond flour with grounded pistachio, salt, orange zest and cardamom powder.
Add the molasses and orange blossom water and mix it all together till you have some sort of crumble.
STEP 03: Start adding the water 1 tbsp at the time until the texture is clumpy and hold together when you squeeze it in your hands, and you can form a sort of a sticky dough.
STEP 04: divide your dough into 4 equals pieces if you are using the small tart tray (see notes). And start by pressing the dough inside each mold in the bottom and the edges to make the base of your tart. Cut the 4 pitted dates into cubes and spread into each mold 1 cubed date. Set the base aside.
STEP 05: preheat your oven on 180 C◦
STEP 06: pour in your blender or food processor, the soaked dates with the almond milk add all the remaining filling ingredients and blend until you have a smooth thick mixture.
STEP 07: poor the filling equally into the 4 tarts base. And bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven. remove from oven and let it cool down completely on your kitchen counter top before storing overnight in the fridge to firm up.
STEP 08: Garnish to your liking fresh before serving. You can store these small tarts up to 5 days in the fridge. enjoy!
Notes
Almond flour: is basically almond grounded into a very thin flour-like mixture. You can find it in all the grocery stores and you can make it at home by grinding blanched or silvered almonds or even almond flakes. just add the almonds to the food processor/blender and pulse for 10 sec than scrape the edges, keep doing that until you have a fine almond flour. The important thing is not to over blend so you don’t end up with almond butter, pulse 10 sec and scrape is the key! Pistachio flour or grounded pistachio: pistachio flour is harder to find in grocery store but still you may find it in some. But in case you don’t just use the same concept of the almond flour above with whole pistachio nuts without the hard shell of course! Carob molasses: (دبس الخروب) is my must favorite natural sweetener of all time it like any other molasses but with a much deeper fruity chocolate-like taste coming from the carob. It is made by soaking milled carob pods in water and reducing the extracted liquid till you have a thick syrup. I highly recommend using it in this recipe to maintain its deep authentic taste, but if you can get your hand on some carob molasses you can easily replace it with the same amount of normal molasses that you have in hand. Tart tray: in this recipe I used small (⌀=12 cm) tart tray but you can totally use any size of tart tray you like. With the same amount of ingredients, you use a big tart tray of (⌀=20cm) or 6 of the smaller tart trays