SUMMER BERRY VANILLA CREAM TARTS

Yeah, desserts are back. Thought I'd left ya, huh? Nope. I was just a little burnt out after writing my first book which focused entirely on raw, vegan, gluten-free desserts... over 100 recipes invented, created and photographed in under 4 months... I needed a break. Plus, as you may have noticed in my previous posts recently; I'm going 80/10/10! This means I am choosing to get almost all my calories (80%) from carbs, and leaving the remaining 20% of my calories to fat and protein. My diet is almost exactly what it was before: giant fruit smoothies all day, then a huge bowl of steamed veggies and rice for dinner, and a raw sweet for dessert! The only change? I'm skipping the desserts, which are usually nut-based, and instead getting those extra calories from more fruit in the day time! However, I  know that nuts are definitely necessary in a healthy diet, as is fat in general, in whole food plant form. So of course my dessert recipes are good for you! But having said that, I am going to focus on lowering the nut and coconut oil content in them, so we can all eat even MORE tarts. Sound good? Good. 

These adorable babies are full of fruity goodness, and they had my girlfriends practically fighting over the last bites. You can make this recipe nut-free very easily, or you can leave the nuts in there if you want. It's all up to you! I heart cashews! (I had to say it, it rhymed). You can also use nut pulp for the crust, if you are often left wondering what to do with that extra stuff after making almond milk. Frugal vegans are happy vegans... happy vegans with delicious healthy tarts. Let's eat. 

P.S. I apologize for these weird-looking photos. I'm still getting used to the photo editor on my MacBook. (YES I GOT A MAC WOOO!)

SUMMER BERRY VANILLA CREAM TARTS

Crust:

1 cup oats, nuts or nut pulp leftover from nut milk

1 1/4 cup dates

Berry cream:

1 cup frozen or fresh berries

Water, as needed

Vanilla cream:

3/4 cup cashews or 3 frozen bananas

1/2 vanilla bean

1 tablespoon coconut nectar

Water, as needed

Note: if you use cashews, you'll have lots of cashew vanilla cream leftover. I ask for 3/4 cup because you need to use at least that much to blend them into a cream in a blender, otherwise you just get cashew crumbs flying around the blades for infinity. 

Make the crust: pulse the oats or nuts into flour in a food processor. Add the dates and process it all until it sticks together. Press into lined tart tins. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes. 

Make the cream: for each one, just blend all the ingredients until smooth. Fill your tart crusts with your berry and vanilla creams, and decorate with chia seeds, dried berries, coconut shreds and whatever else you like! x

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