Caramel Chocolate Pear Tartlettes with Ice Cream

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Juliane Porter in Desserts

Serves

Level

Hard

Ingredients

Ingreds.

Total

2hr

Serves

Level

Hard

Ingredients

Ingreds.

Total

2hr

These elegant raw chocolate pear tartlettes are winter festivity incarnated. Just seeing the pictures is enough to get jubilant holiday music stuck in your head. Combining cocoa, caramel, vanilla and the subtle sweetness of pear, these make for some truly delectable confections. As author Juliane Porter says of these decadent chocolate pear tartlettes “they sing holiday carols to our taste buds”.

The vanilla bean ice cream is, of course, optional, but I recommend it. These treats prove yet again that you don’t have to give up anything to gain the benefits of a raw diet. There’s nothing like a cold dollop of ice cream over a sweet and gooey tart to celebrate the winter. And really, there’s nothing like it in the summer or spring, either!

This recipe requires a bit of involvement, which makes it great for those special occasions that call for going above and beyond (Valentine’s day?). But when it’s winter time and it’s cold outside, it’s sometimes worth it to put in a bit of extra time in the kitchen. Especially if you’re making something as beautiful as these raw dark chocolate pear tartlettes. Your loved ones will surely appreciate it, and of course, chocolate has it’s benefits.

Ingredients

Raw Vegan Chocolate Pear Tartlettes, Crust & Crumb Topping

3 pears (peeled and thinly sliced 1/8)
1 1/4 cups flour (oat groat, measure the flour not the groats, grind groats in Vitamix to get flour)
3/4 cup dates (pitted)
1 tsp vanilla powder
2 Tbsp water
3 Tbsp virgin coconut oil
3 drops lemon (essential oil, edible grade only)
3/4 tsp salt (Himalayan)
1/4 cup walnuts (soaked, sprouted, dehydrated)
2 Tbsp coconut crystals (raw)

Raw Vegan Caramel Filling

1 cup cashews (raw, soaked overnight)
1/4 cup coconut nectar (raw)
1/4 cup coconut milk (full fat)
salt (pinch, Himalayan)
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
2 drops lemon essential oil, edible grade only)

Raw Vegan Dark Chocolate

1/4 cup cacao powder (raw)
1/4 cup virgin coconut oil (melted)
1/4 tsp Ceylon cinnamon
salt (pinch of Himalayan or Celtic sea salt)
stevia (to taste)

Raw Vegan Vanilla Bean Ice-Cream

2 cups coconut meat (frozen, raw, baby thai)
3 bananas (frozen, super ripe)
stevia (to taste)
1/2 tsp vanilla powder

Servings:

Units:

Directions

Prep

1 hr

Total

2 hr

Dried Pears

Assemble sliced pears on a teflex sheet of the dehydrator and dry at 115 for 2-3 hours. Alternatively, dry on lowest setting of your oven w/ oven door propped open an inch, for and hour.

Tartelette Crusts

Process Oat Groat flour, Dates and Vanilla Powder in a food processor until well incorporated and broken down. Add water, essential oil, coconut oil and salt and pulse until fully combined and dough sticks together when pinched between two fingers.
Take 1/3 of the above mixture and set it aside for latter use in crumb topping.
Press the remaining 2/3 into two 4″ diameter 3/4″ deep pie tart tins.
Place into the dehydrator at 135F for 1 1/2 hours. Turn down to 115 for another hour then remove and set in the freezer. Alternatively, use your oven on lowest setting w/ door propped open an inch for only 1 hour.

Crumb Topping

Toss the mixture set aside in step 2 above with 1/4 cup chopped walnuts and 2 Tbsp raw coconut crystals until crumb topping coated lumps are achieved. Set aside.

Caramel

Blend all the ingredients in a Vitamix until smooth and creamy adding extra coconut milk as necessary to thin. Place mixture in fridge where it will thicken slightly.

Dark Chocolate

Whisk together all ingredients until completely smooth.

Vanilla Bean Ice-Cream

Blend all ingredients in Vitamix, using the tamper, until super smooth and creamy. Scoop out into an air tight container and set aside. If storing in freezer, allow to come to room temperature for an hour to thaw and make scoopable, before serving. I actually prefer storing mine in the fridge where it retains a whipped ice-cream texture. This ice-cream does not melt away like traditional making it very nice for entertaining!

Tartelette assembly

Smear a thin layer of the caramel across the bottom of each tart shell.
Neatly layer the dried pears inside the two tartelette crusts, smearing a bit of the caramel over each layer, including the top, as you go.
Sprinkle crumb topping over top.
Set tartes in freezer for 20 minutes to set.
Remove from freezer and drizzle tartes with dark chocolate.
Optional: Drizzle a very TINY amount (1/2 to 1 teaspoon) of coconut nectar across the top for an extra caramel topping affect. Don’t go overboard or it will turn into a sticky ooey-gooey mess!
Place back in freezer for final set. Bring to room temperature for 1 hour before serving.
Tartelettes can be served whole or sliced into 4 – 6 pieces and topped with Vanilla Bean Ice-Cream. The Vanilla Bean Ice-Cream will not melt at room temperature making these perfect for entertaining!
Revel with pleasure on a cloud of Sweet Holiday Bliss!