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Let’s talk tarts! Oh yes, we all love a tart, no matter what the flavour (sweet or savoury) everyone is willing to try one, because they always taste so good right? A solid crispy base, a creamy delicious filling and not too many layers of pastry, bread or toppings. (Keep reading..... there's a video at the end! )
So, I decided to experiment with a few new flavours this week, combining the basics of what I have learnt already tastes great…..these include cinnamon, macadamia nuts and coconut milk with a couple different flavours, ust to see what might happen!. As I prefer to use low or no amounts of processed sugar in my cooking and baking, this then pushes me to venture out, to try something different, and in this case, one of these popular ingredients is sweet potato, because of its natural sweetness and irresistible creamy texture, added with another new ingredient, one many people haven’t heard too much of, but definitely worth trying out……this is carob powder, I source mine here at Buy Wholefoods Online.
cold, cozy nights, warm pies and wintery hot drinks....December has arrived!
I had such fun with these ingredients, and wow! Such a great combination they are, between the roasted macadamia nuts, nutty carob powder, and creamy sweet potatoes, creating an amazing and addicting texture, this recipe is so quick and easy. t requires no baking time, except pre-cooking the sweet potatoes. Then next steps are to combine all the base ingredients and flatten out into a lined tin, then scooping in the combined filling mixture, which has no dairy, eggs or heaps of added sugar (just a little maple syrup). Decorate the top as you please and leave in the ridge to set, and that’s it, delicious winter tart done!
One hint for this recipe though, people generally love it and are very intrigued, the sweetness, creaminess and exciting flavours, but hold off on telling them that it is sweet potato at first, because suddenly their mind is telling them it’s a savoury pie of some sort, and quite funny to see peoples reactions when they realise there is no flour and sugar in it.
So, enough of the fun talk, lets share a bit of background on carob powder as this is quite an interesting ingredient, and quite often can be chosen as a cocoa powder alternative, although it may look the same, it has quite different, more earthy taste, but still with a touch of sweetness. It’s made from dried roasted carob pods, which come from the carob tree, native to the Mediterranean and middle east countries, where using carob dates back 4000 years to ancient Greece, so it is not a new ingredient to them, but definitely new to me, and I love it!
A few fun facts about carob powder:
1. It is naturally sweet – helping you cut down on added sugars
2. Naturally caffeine free – great for an afternoon drink
3. High in antioxidants
4. High in fibre
5. This choice is a great dairy free alternative
Definitely give this tart a go and let me know how you get on, share your pictures and questions too! To try some delicious carob powder, I source mine here at Buy Wholefoods Online.
INGREDIENTS:
Filling:
· 2/3 cup coconut oil
· 3 tblsp maple syrup
· 1/3 cup coconut milk
· 2 tblsp carob powder
· ¼ tsp Himalayan pink salt
· 2 sweet potatoes
· ½ tsp cinnamon
· ½ tsp nutmeg
· 1 cup macadamia nuts
· 1 tsp vanilla extract
Base:
· 1 ¼ cup desiccated coconut
· 1 tblsp carob powder
· 3 tblsp coconut oil
· ½ cup almond flour
· 3 tblsp maple syrup
· ¼ cup rice flour
· 1/3 cup chopped dates
METHOD:
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and prepare a round 8in cake tin with greaseproof paper
2. Place the sweet potatoes in a medium sized pot with hot water and boil until soft and cooked, about 15 minutes. Next, drain the potatoes, peel the skins off and mash until very smooth and set aside in a bowl
3. Spread out the macadamia nuts on a large baking tray and bake for 5 minutes in the oven, they really don’t need long until they start to brown and smell really delicious, so don’t forget to watch them
4. Next, start preparing the base, add a little boiling water to the chopped dates, just enough for them to soak for one minute, melt the coconut oil and blitz with the soaked dates and maple syrup
5. Add to the rest of the base ingredients to the date mixture, mix really well until all combined, then spread out in the cake tin
6. Bake the base for 15 minutes so it is dry but not too crispy, and make sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn, set the base aside to chill completely while you make the filling
7. Mash the potatoes and set aside
8. In the bullet or processer blitz the macadamia nuts until mostly fine and broken into a into a nut powder, add the mashed potato and the rest of the cake ingredients, mix everything well and scoop/tip into the chilled cake tin, smooth out the top, decorate with chosen nuts and any other choices,
9. Place in the fridge and rest until fully cold and slices can hold their form, normally a minimum of 1 hour
10. Enjoy topped with coconut cream, a drizzle of honey and a hot cup of tea!
I would love for you to give it a go and let me know waht you all think, share you recipes and tag @hyperhealthnut so I can follow along!