Another week begins! This weekend was so busy for me. As Benzo and I ran from this activity to that activity, I found myself longing for Unplugged Weekend.
One fun thing we did yesterday was a BBQ get together with Do-Dad’s side of the family. My aunt and uncle hosted and everyone brought something to share. I was debating what to bring all week until Friday when this post with a recipe for a Fresh Fruit Tart popped up in my Google Reader over at No Meat Athlete. I was sold instantly by the pictures and how easy the recipe looked. Here’s a preview of the finished product:
The recipe is from Clean Food
First you start with the crust. It was so simple! Almonds, oats, maple syrup = delicious. Here’s a close-up shot:
When the crust is finished, you chop up the fruit and lay it on top in whatever design you choose. I used kiwis, peaches and strawberries for mine. No blueberries since they were quite expensive.
Then you make the sauce for the top. The sauce calls for Agar Agar, which is a vegetarian form of gelatin. I’ve been wanting to get some for awhile to do some experimenting. If you didn’t know, gelatin is definitely not a vegetarian food. Click here to see why.
The sauce also calls for arrowroot powder, which acts as a thickener similar to cornstarch. See this page for more information on arrowroot.
The sauce was easy to make though I added the vanilla at the beginning on accident and it was a little hard to tell when it thickened. It didn’t get as thick as I thought it would so after awhile of heating I just decided it would probably thicken as it cooled and went ahead and removed it from the heat.
After reading the above link on arrowroot I now realize that arrowroot thickens at lower temperatures than cornstarch. I may have had the heat too high and that could by why it didn’t get as thick as I thought it would.
It didn’t really matter though. After allowing the sauce to cool I spooned it over the fruit and ended up with this fabulous, glossy-looking tart. It almost looked professional!
I was super excited to use my tart pan too.
I made my whole family admire my creation before I served it up. They did the appropriate “ooh” and “ahh” which was nice. And even nicer was they all liked the taste! I loved it too.
This recipe was a big WIN for me. I will definitely be making it again. It was very easy and I like that it is entirely plant-based without any refined sugar. I especially liked the crust and could see making the crust with all kinds of different fillings (raw cheesecake anyone?).
You can view the recipe over at No Meat Athlete. Thanks to Christine for posting!
Everything Is Homemade 