This tart tastes like a guilty pleasure. It is healthy (I promise) and a few key ingredients make the flavor is out of this world, for both healthy and non-healthy standards.
This recipe also has quite a few steps. I am usually all about quick, easy and healthy dishes, but every once in a while it feels good to spend some time in the kitchen making something a little bit more intricate. So please, bear with me on this one. I promise it’s so good you will want to run in the kitchen to make another one!
This crust uses dates as a sweetener and a binder to make a better crust. I don’t use very many dates in cooking because they are 99% fructose and act as a sugar in our body. The thing that makes dates better than table sugar is the composition of sugar. Table sugar is processed and is made up of only sucrose. Dates are a whole food and they are natural. They contain fructose, like in fruits, and eating a fruit doesn’t have the same reaction within our bodies as sucrose does. Plus, dates contain a host of vitamins and minerals and are a whole food. I would rather have you eat a few dates in recipes than throw healthy eating out the window and open up a pack of store bought cookies. If your body can’t handle any sugar at this time (including honey or dates) please exclude them from the recipe. Use 1/3 cup of xylitol or an additional 1/2 teaspoon stevia as a replacement. Your crust won’t be as thick, but will still turn out well. The custard has 1/4 cup of honey, so you can substitute that for an additional 1/2 teaspoon of stevia also.
The other secret ingredient in this recipe is all of the eggs. There’s actually no secret to eggs, but the custard recipe is full of eggs and lemon flavor, which a traditional custard also contains. I just don’t use traditional sweeteners. To make it into a pie filling, I used canned coconut milk. The sweetness of the coconut and the tartness of the lemons will your pallet with an array of different flavors!
This tart freezes very well, so you can make it ahead of time. Or, if you just want to save more for yourself, cut it into slices first before freezing the tart. It will make it so much easier when thawing.
Ingredients and Directions
Crust
1 cup raw cashews (raw, not roasted, is important in this recipe)
1 cup raw almonds, blanched whole or slivered
8 dates, seeded
1/2 stick of butter, cold
1/2 teaspoon Stevita stevia
dash of salt
- In a food processor, add the cashews and almonds and lightly pulse to break up the nuts
- Add the dates, butter, stevia and salt
- Turn the food processor on until a dough forms. At first it will be chunky, but as it continues it will form a ball and the ball of dough will start to spin around in the bowl of the food processor. Stop the food processor at this time and using a spatula, scrape the back into the bowl evenly. Turn back on to continue to mix it so it gets very fine and combined. When you are done the ball of dough will be formed again
- Put the dough in a springform pan and pat even with your hand
- Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. The crust will still be soft and that’s what you want because it will continue to cook once you bake the custard.
Custard
6 Tablespoons butter
1 cup canned coconut milk
zest of 2 lemons
juice of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon stevia
1/4 cup honey
4 egg yolks
1 whole egg
3 Tablespoons arrowroot powder
- In a medium saucepan add the butter and coconut milk and turn the heat to medium high. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, honey and stevia. You will want to get this mixture to a boil, which will take about 2 minutes, and stir for 30 seconds while it is boiling
- Take the lemon mixture off of the heat so it stops steaming and is warm
- In a medium bowl add the egg yolks, whole egg and arrowroot powder. The arrowroot powder is used as a thickener. Beat the eggs with a hand mixer. This step is very important or you will have chunks or arrowroot powder and chunky cooked egg pieces in your custard too. Don’t use a whisk because you can’t beat it well enough
- Next you are going to add the coconut lemon mixture with the egg mixture. To do that, turn on the hand mixer in the egg mixture and add 1/4 of the warm coconut lemon sauce. Once mixed, add the remaining in 1/4 increments.
- Pour the custard mixture back into the saucepan and put on the stove on medium heat. Whisk constantly until it starts to thicken. Do not overheat this mixture because that will cause the arrowroot powder to breakdown and lose its thickening ability.
- Once the mixture doubles in thickness (not volume) take off the heat and whisk about 10 more times
- Pour into your crust and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes
- The lemon custard will get golden brown
- Refrigerate until ready to serve and serve cold
Enjoy!
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