A Berry Vegan Tart

It’s almost the end of August - where does the time go? Parts of the garden are flourishing and other parts - meh. I harvested about 2 pounds of black turtle beans, zucchini is still producing, summer squash is picking up steam, tomatoes are now ripening, chard, kale, and collards holding their own and we ate our first midget melon - it was sweet and delicious. 

What’s not so great - green beans, cucumbers, and peppers. I think I mentioned that I planted what the package said were bush beans but turned out they were pole beans. I have lots of flowers and bees but no beans - ugh. The cucumbers never really got started, I got maybe 5 and then pulled the plant - something was having a field day. And the green peppers, well they never even flowered. Go figure. 

We were heading to a friend's house for a pool party and dinner - what a great combination. I’m normally the salad, appetizer, side dish person but this time I brought a dessert. We had a great evening; good food, good conversation, and great company. 

Ingredients - Crust

1.5 cups oats

3/4 c pecans

1/4 c coconut oil, melted

3T maple syrup

1/4 t salt

Ingredients - custard

1 - 13.5 ounce can of full-fat coconut milk

3/4 c unsweetened vegan milk

2/3 c sugar

1.5 t vanilla

1/4 cup plus 2T corn starch

1/4t salt

1/4t turmeric

Ingredients - topping

strawberries

raspberries

blueberries

Instructions - crust

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a tart pan and set aside. 

In a food processor, place oats and process for about 1 minute or until ground into flour. Add pecans, and pulse a few times until finely ground but not oily. Add coconut oil, maple syrup, and salt and pulse again until the mixture holds together. 

Put the pecan mixture into the tart pan and use your fingers to spread evenly across the bottom and sides, pressing firmly. Poke crust evenly with a fork, then place in the oven and bake for 10 - 15 minutes until lightly browned. Set aside to cool

For the custard

Combine coconut milk, vegan milk, sugar, vanilla, cornstarch, salt, and vanilla in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, whisking to combine. Use a rubber spatula to stir the mixture slowly and evenly as it cooks to prevent scorching. Cook until custard is thick and bubbling - @ 7 minutes. Remove from heat, pour the custard into a bowl, and cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a film from forming. Chill until cold - at least 2 hours. 

To assemble the tart:

Whisk chilled custard to smooth, adding 1T milk at a time if the custard is too thick to spread. Spoon into cooled crust and spread evenly with a spatula. Arrange fruit across the top of the custard. For best results, serve within a few hours. 

Thanks for stopping by!