blueberry tarts for two

Guess who's back! Me. I am basically done all the dirty work for the book ("WOW EMILY YOU ARE SO AMAZING HOW DID YOU CREATE AND PHOTOGRAPH ALMOST 100 RECIPES IN JUST 3 MONTHS!?") Okay I am kidding but in all seriousness I am not ashamed to say that I am proud of myself. This summer has been crazy; mind and body completely devoted to thinking of, creating, photographing and typing up raw vegan dessert recipes. Oh, and always cleaning my messes up. Every. Day. 

Well now I am rambling. Point of this all is: with the hard work for my book (out March 2014) outta the way, I now am free to go back to focusing on my one true love. That'd be you. I miss you! I miss giving you recipes and hearing your feed back! So here is a recipe; and I demand feed back. 

These tarts are super simple to make (what else is new...) and equally delicious (I am officially a broken record). Most of my recipes leave you with several servings and that's all fine and dandy but what if you just want enough for two people? Or, one hungry person? Then you use this recipe. Whip these tarts up in a few minutes and surprise your friend or lover when they walk in the door, fort entrance, or whatever opening you have in your habitat.

Oh, I have more space to write than I thought I did. Okay. What shall I talk about? I got it. Berries and the Divine. In this recipe I used blueberries straight from our front yard, where they bloom in abundance for 3 glorious months each summer. These months give my life meaning: I live for these berries. Anyways, I have had many an epiphany whilst picking blueberries; my mind wanders to a peaceful, still place where the world is simple and I am but a humble human foraging for food. It's cathartic, to be perfectly honest. A few weeks ago while I was snacking on berries from the bushes, I realized that this was the original day job! Our ancestors spent their entire days - when they weren't running from giant cats or pro-creating - simply finding fruits and other edibles, picking them, and later eating them.

This gave me such a sense of oneness within and of the world. Truly, we have hardly changed a bit since our early days of hunting and gathering. What has changed is our surroundings, but that is virtually all. I enjoy participating in this majestic and intrinsically-connected universe and it's very much a reassuring feeling knowing that I am the same as those who came before me, and those who are yet to come. We are all the same. In our DNA, in our desires, in our perceived duties, there's hardly a difference among us when you get right down to our foundations. I am the blueberry and the blueberry is I.

Enough with the hippie talk, though. I know you just want dessert.

blueberry tarts for two:

crust:

1/2 cup almonds

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 tablespoon maple syrup 

filling:

1 cup blueberries

2 tablespoons coconut powder (dried coconut process into powder) 

To make the crust: process the almonds into powder in a food processor. Add the the coconut oil and maple syrup and process until it all sticks together in a ball. Press into two single-serving lined tart tins. Put in the fridge for 30-60 minutes or until solid. Fill with blueberries and sprinkle with coconut powder.