No bake apple walnut tart (Serves 6)

Deb May 25, 2011

Crust:

  • 1 ¼ cups crispy walnuts
  • ½ cup desiccated coconut
  • 3 oz coconut oil
  • 2 oz (4 Tbs) raw honey
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

Filling:

  • 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled*, cored & chopped roughly (*optional, unpeeled is fine too)
  • 1 red apple, peeled*, cored & chopped roughly
  • 2 Tbs raw honey
  • ¼ tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 fresh medjool dates, pitted (or used dried dates, soaked for 1 hour and drained)
  • ½ tsp vanilla essence
  • ½ cup sultanas or raisins
  • 1 Tbs flaxseed, ground fine

Put walnuts into food processor and process till chopped quite small. Add the other crust ingredients and process till well combined.

Now comes the slightly tricky part. We want the crust to “set” into a pie-shell that we can then lift onto a serving plate, and fill. If you fill it and serve it still in the pie plate, it’s messy to get out and you can’t serve it in nice pieces. If it’s cold, it will stick to the bottom, but once it warms up, the crust will fall apart. But there is a way to do it….

Line the bottom of an 8” (20cm) pie plate with baking paper, and grease the sides with butter or coconut oil. Press the crust evenly over the bottom and sides of the plate. Refrigerate till set hard – an hour or so. While the crust is setting, prepare the filling. Process the first 7 ingredients till mixed well. Add the sultanas and ground flaxseed, and leave in a warm place till the crust is ready.

When the crust has set hard, fill your kitchen sink with about an inch of hot water. Have a tray lined with baking paper and a fish slice or spatula of some kind on the bench nearby. Dip the pie plate into the hot water just long enough for it to soften the outside of the crust – maybe 5-10 seconds. Take out and put it on the bench. Gently slide the fish slice underneath, lift it out and place carefully on the lined tray. Put back in the fridge. When it’s set hard again, you can peel off the paper and put it onto a serving plate. Take out of the fridge about 10 minutes before serving, and fill. Don’t leave at room temperature too long or the shell will get too soft.

Serving suggestions:

Optional:

Variations:

  • Individual apple pies – Make 6-8 mini pies by lining the inside of 6-8 bowls (depending on the size). Don’t worry about trying to take the crust out of the bowl, as you’ll serve it in the bowl anyway. Take out of the fridge and fill about 10 mins before, and the crust will soften enough so that it can be spooned out nicely.
  • Make the crust with macadamias or almonds for a milder flavour and play with different fillings such as banana and pineapple with coconut custard