Creamy Orange Chocolate Tarts
Orange and Christmas ... the aroma coming from zesting an orange is a most beautiful scent. And Chef Hana loves to add orange zest to as many of her gluten free, vegan, nut free Christmas creations as possible.
The tarts shell she made is a raw based nut-free dough made with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, dates, cacao, cinnamon and orange zest.
To make the ganache she used a vegan creme fraiche that gives them little more cheesecake flavour and together with the orange zest creates a divine combination. It is very simple, delicious filling. If you have problems finding vegan creme fraiche you can use a vegan creme of your choice to make the chocolate ganache.
This recipe can be used for petite party sized, individual servings, as an 8″ cheesecake or 10" tart size.
The decoration on these are very simple, and as the recipe is one that you can enjoy any time of the year, you can choose decorations to suit the mood of the season.
To add a festive feel, Hana sprinkled the tarts pictured with a little bit of edible gold dust. We are hoping that they will stir some joyous memories and inspire you to say .. "oh yes, I’m making these!"
Serves: 6 tarts
Ingredients:
Crust layer:
120g sunflower seeds (1 cup)
60g pumpkin seeds (1/2 cup)
2tbsp raw cacao powder
1tsp cinnamon
pinch sea salt
6 medjool dates, pitted
zest of ½ orange
1tsp maple syrup
Chocolate ganache:
350g dark vegan chocolate (12.3oz) I've used Amore di Mona chocolate
400ml vegan creme fraiche (1 and ⅔ cup)
2tbsp powdered sugar of your choice
1tsp cinnamon
pinch cloves
pinch allspice
zest of 1 orange
Topping:
edible gold dust
Instructions:
Place sunflower and pumpkin seeds into a food processor and pulse few times until they are coarsely ground. Add cacao, cinnamon, sea salt, pitted dates and orange zest and blend until the mixture starts coming together when pressed. Add maple syrup if needed and blend until the mixture sticks together.
Lightly grease 6 tart tins. You can also line the base for an easy removal.
Spoon the mix evenly into each, press tightly onto the base and the sides to form a crust. Set aside.
Roughly chop the chocolate, place into heatproof bowl and gently melt over a pot of simmering water. Stir until smooth.
In a medium bowl mix together creme fraiche, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, all spice and orange zest. If your mixture is not at room temperature once the chocolate has melted place it above the pot with the simmering water until it reaches room temperature.
Now fold the melted chocolate into the creme fraiche mixture and stir until smooth.
Pour or spoon the ganache onto the crust of each tart and place into fridge to set overnight.
Place the leftover ganache into fridge to set overnight.
Once set, gently remove from the tart tins.
Fill a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle with the leftover ganache and decorate your tarts. Sprinkle with a little gold dust.
Best served chilled.
Enjoy!
Notes: Hana used 6 small 10cm tart tins with removable base in this recipe.You can make this recipe as 8" round cake or large tart.If you can't find vegan creme fraiche you can replace it with vegan cream.You can replace the sugar with 1tbsp of maple syrup, but the sugar makes the filling little more dense.