First posted: Apr 1, 2016

Millionaire’s Shortbread Tart (Gluten and Refined Sugar Free)

In case you didn’t already know, I’ve been beavering away happily at my next book for the last few months. It’s my usual unfussy style, but it’s completely refined sugar and refined carb conscious, and it’s packed full of beautiful, healthy recipes that I hope you’ll love, and that will see you eating whole and living well. It’ll be on shelves early next year, and this is one of my favourite recipes so far, so I thought I’d give you a sneak peek – it’s so delicious I couldn’t keep it from you for a minute longer, it just wouldn’t have been fair or kind. The gluten free pastry has taken a lot of trialing and tweaking, but I’m really happy with where we’ve ended up. And top the coconut-almond pastry base with raw and refined sugar free ‘caramel’ (made with dates, maple syrup and coconut cream) and top that with a silky, salted chocolate ganache, and you end up somewhere pretty magical.

I did say it’s refined sugar free, but I didn’t say it’s all together ‘sugar free’ and it does have a reasonable amount of fructose from the dates and the maple syrup, so we still need to proceed with caution. But it’s really decadent and really rich, so if you eat small portions (which is really all you need) and are generally following a low-sugar diet then having this as a treat is all good.

Also, there are a few ingredients here that are not necessarily pantry staples to all of you. And you might even need to pop to your nearest health food shop. But it’s so worth it, because we should all be eating less refined sugar (read this article or this, or this, for a little more info, it’s one of thousands out there), and there are a lot more of these kind of recipes coming your way.

Ingredients

Cooks in:30 minutes Serves:6

Gluten and Refined Sugar Free Tart Pastry

100g almond flour
50g coconut flour
100g cold butter or coconut oil
1 egg
1 Tbsp coconut sugar (or alternative sweetener of your choice)
Pinch salt
You will also need a 20cm loose-bottomed tart tin, or just a fluted tart dish

For the Caramel Layer

1/2 cup pitted dates, soaked in 1 cup hot water for about 10 minutes
¼ cup coconut cream
¼ cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid
¼ cup nut butter (I use macadamia or cashew)
¼ cup maple syrup (or rice malt syrup)
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Salted Dark Chocolate Layer

¼ cup raw cacao powder
¼ cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid
¼ cup coconut cream
2 Tbsp maple syrup or rice malt syrup
½ tsp sea salt flakes

What to do

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180C

2. Prepare your pastry by blitzing the ingredients together in a food processor (or mixing by hand) until it comes together in a rough ball.

3. Press the pastry into your lightly greased tart shell, prick a few times with a fork and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Remove and set aside to cool.

4. While the pastry bakes, prepare your fillings. For the caramel layer, soak your dates in boiled water for 5-10 minutes until softened. Drain, reserving ¼ cup of the liquid. Add the dates and the remaining ingredients to a food processor and blitz until smooth (add in a little of the reserved liquid to loosen further if needed, it does need to be quite thick though, otherwise it won’t set).

5. To make the chocolate layer, heat all of the ingredients except the salt together on the stovetop until the chocolate and coconut oil have melted and the mixture is silky smooth. Remove and set aside to cool.

6. Add the caramel filling to your cooked tart shell, and place in the fridge for 10 minutes to set.

7. Pour over the chocolate filling, sprinkle over the sea salt flakes and refrigerate again until set, or until just before serving.

Photo Credit: Curtis Gallon