TARTLETS

Tart crusts are becoming one of the new staple foods in my kitchen.  They are easy to make, and after dehydrating, you can keep them stored in the freezer for at least a month.

A few extra Tartlet Cases are something worth storing in your freezer when ever you make some as they are so handy to draw on when you wish to create a simple & delicious meal or desert at a moment's notice.

I really love being able to share some useful recipes with you and to show you how to create components, so that you can piece together your own recipe creations.

So how does a savory tart crust become a staple?  Suppose you made a sundried tomato hummus a few days ago and you have some leftovers of the recipe sitting in the fridge.  Remove a tart crust from the freezer, cover the bottom of the tart with the spread, top with some fresh cherry tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, perhaps some fresh cracked black pepper & voila....dinner with a delicious side salad!  A new exciting creation just took place in your very own kitchen in a couple of minutes!

To create a variety of unique tart crust flavors… make a few out of some of your different cracker batters when you make crackers or play with this more comprehensive sundried tomato recipe below (which is great for crackers too) It is easy to create several different flavors substituting some ingredients from the same recipe.You can always add another selection of herbs rather than the sundried tomatoes & basil purely as an example, or let your creative juices flow in another direction of choice.....perhaps use figs as the sweetener, leave out the tomatoes & basil & fill with a fruit compote topped with coconut or almond cream! The possibilities are endless.......
A really, really simple crust is to simply pulse in the food processor 4 cups of mixed soaked nuts of choice, some salt & 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil, add some nutritional yeast if you like or some herbs; you know it is the right consistency when it holds together when forming it into a tartlet, add more nuts if it is too wet, more oil if too dry & crumbly; set in the refrigerator after forming into tartlets, allowing the coconut oil to firm up. ( keep in mind these bases will soften & not hold their shape as well on a hot day, if left out of the refrigerator for a long period, so eat soon as possible after serving ) Another idea & a very simple sweet base is to pulse some raw cashews with a little agave, enough to hold it together but leaving it chunky, this makes a great base for an instant desert with a filling of choice; set in the freezer for 15 mins if necessary......As you can see it doesn't have to be complicated!

Ingredients for Sundried Tomato Tartlets: This recipe involves more work!

 yields 4 cups = 9 tart crusts( roughly 5 1/2 Tbsp batter each)

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup ground flax (could also use chia)
• 3 Tbsp coconut flour or could use spelt or another of choice
• 1 Tbsp dried minced onion
• 1 tsp sea salt

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 large (2 cup diced) zucchini, peeled
• 2 Tbsp water
• 1 Tbsp cold-pressed olive
• 1/4 cup raw agave nectar
• 1 Tbsp Tamari
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Hand mix in:

• 2 cups packed, moist almond pulp ( left over from making your own almond milk)
• 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds, soaked
• 1/2 cup diced, sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 tsp dried basil or 1 1/2 Tbsp fresh

Preparation:

1. Rehydrate the sun-dried tomatoes by covering them with enough hot water to cover them.  Soak for at least 15 minutes. After soaking, drain the soak water and hand squeeze the excess water out of them.
2. In the food processor fitted with the “S” blade, place the almond flour, ground flax, coconut flour, minced onion and salt.  Pulse together until combined. Place the dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.
3. In the same food processor place the zucchini, water, olive oil, agave, Tamari and lemon juice.  Process till everything is well incorporated. Pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients.  Mix together.
4. Add the almond pulp, sunflower seeds, sun-dried tomatoes and basil. With your hands, mix everything together really well.
5. Press the batter into a number of tartlet shapes or into a Kitchen tartlet case,equally covering the bottom and edges of the tartlets.
6. Dehydrate at 145 (F) degrees for 1 hour, then decrease the temperature to 115 (F) degrees and continue to dehydrate 6-8 hours or until dry. The crusts will shrink some during the dehydration process.
7. Shelf life and storage:  My personal recommendation would be to store this in an air-tight container, in the fridge, for 3-5 days.  Or, wrap individually and freeze for at least a month, to have on hand for quick meals in the future.