keeping cool with raw dessert

raw fig tart with candied walnuts and lavender ice cream

Before the first wave of heat rolls through North Texas, I've already began to anticipate summer:

• Sunburn
• Mosquito Bites
• Shorts (ugh...I just want to wear leggings and a big shirt every day)
• No more summer vacation (as Bryan pointed out, summer vacation in school just sets you up for loads of disappointment later on in life)

But summer also means a lot of other things, things that make me happy, like:

• Figs (my favorite fruit)
• Farmer's Markets
• Figs!
• Cookouts in backyards
• Figs!!
• Tomatoes (finally more than two varieties)
• Figs!!!

Did I mention figs? They really are my favorite fruit. In my pre-vegan days I loved eating them with a rich yogurt and honey, but now I've found another way to enjoy them (other than just eating them plain). The combination of the creaminess from the cashew cream and the ice cream along with the sweet crunch of candied walnuts and little bursts of lavender compliment the figs so well that I'll never miss yogurt or honey again.

A few notes about this recipe:

• I had a bit of trouble with the tart shells. It could have been because I just winged it with the ingredients I had available, or maybe I dehydrated the shells too long or at too high a temperature, but they came out quite a bit cracked. Does anyone have any suggestions?
• Although this recipe only makes 2 tart shells, it makes more than enough ice ceam and candied walnuts for more than two servings. And although this recipe has quite a few components, it's mostly advance prep work, so serving it isn't too difficult.
  
• I'm writing the recipe as I made it, but I think the amount of agave in the ice cream could be reduced by 1 or 2 tablespoons and it would still be sufficiently sweet.
  

Raw Fig Tart with Candied Walnuts and Lavender Ice Cream:
serves 2

Candied Walnuts:
1/2 cup soaked, strained raw walnuts
1 Tablespoon raw agave

Combine the agave and the walnuts and dehydrate on teflex sheets at 115F for 24 hours.

Lavender Brazil Nut Ice Cream:
2 cups raw brazil nuts
3 cups water
1/2 cup raw agave
1 Tablespoon fresh lavender flowers or 1 teaspoon dried lavender flowers
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soy lecithin*

Combine brazil nuts and water and blend on high until smooth. Strain this mixture through a nutmilk bag, keeping the liquid for the ice cream base and saving the pulp for the tart shell. Combine the strained liquid with the rest of the ingredients and blend again. Process through an ice cream machine according to directions.

Brazil Nut Tart Shell:
Pulp strained from ice cream mixture
2 1/2 Tablespoons raw agave
1 Tablespoon raw mesquite meal
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
large pinch of salt

Combine all of ingredients and press into 2 4-inch tart shells. Dehydrate at 115 F for about 12 hours.

Cashew Cream:
Make a thick cream with cashews and water. Add a pinch of salt and a bit of lemon zest.

Figs:
2 black mission figs
1 Tablespoon agave
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Cut figs into 8 slices each. Combine agave and lemon juice and lightly coat figs. Dehydrate figs for just 20-30 minutes, just to help warm them a bit.

Final Assembly:
Remove tart shells from dehydrator and spread a layer of cashew cream over the bottom. Arrange sliced figs neatly on top. Serve with lavender ice cream and top with candied walnuts.

*soy lecithin will help give your ice cream a better texure, but you can definitely omit it or substitute with guar gum, etc.

another day, another blog

the new blog

As much as I enjoy using this space to write about clover & clutch, I've decided it's probably best to set up a separate place to do that. So, I've created a new blog for all my truffles, bonbons, and raw confections. Check it out to find out about everything happening in my chocolate world, and keep checking back here for more on non-chocolate food.

chocolate is raw (or at least it can be)

raw caramel & sea salt truffles

raw cayenne & cinnamon truffles

raw sesame orange truffles

raw ginger bonbon

Finally, clover&clutch's online shop is back up, and now we're shipping with ice packs to protect the chocolates. But, it's even better than ever because now we've got a more complete line of raw chocolates!

That's right, raw chocolates. Each of these delicious confections is made using only raw ingredients such as raw cacao, raw agave, raw nuts and nut butters and fresh raw juices. Of course, the ingredients are never heated above 110 F to preserve all their nutritious benefits. And, oh, are they delicious! In fact, I think I prefer the raw ones to the regular ones. Check out the full line here.

when allergies attack

my new/old tea set

The title sounds like the beginning of a commercial, but really this is is just a simple post celebrating the joy of tea, and good friends who help you out when you're feeling a bit under the weather.  I'm trying to get in the habit of writing more, and here is a start. Thank you, Bryan, for making me better (and for pretty lemon curls).

lemon curls in hibiscus tea

spiral diner + clover&clutch = love

earl grey & lemon truffle

I'm taking a break from selling my truffles online as I'm starting to sell them out of Spiral Diner in Fort Worth. Once I get into the groove of making truffles regularly for Spiral (and figure out the best way to ship delicate chocolates in the Texas heat), hopefully my online shop will be back. Until then, clover&clutch will be rotating truffles with a few flavors available each week. So stop by Spiral and enjoy a little chocolate after your Bryan's Tacos or a Sweet Luv Us Wrap.

revelations & caramelizations

chocolate turtles

Caramelizations:
A couple weeks ago I asked my boyfriend what flavor truffles I could make his mom for Mother's Day. He thought about it for a minute and then asked if, instead, I could make chocolate turtles, which are one of his mom's favorite treats. "Absolutely," I said, feigning confidence. Later that day I searched for turtle recipes, but all I could find were ones that involved using store-bought caramel candies. I wanted a recipe that used a homemade caramel, since I'd be making my own and I was looking for guidance on getting the right consistency (recently I sampled a homemade vegan turtle with caramel so chewy that I thought I was about to pull out a tooth; I decided giving Bryan's mom a missing tooth might not be the best present).

The thing is, I've experimented some with making caramel and various confections using sugar, and the results have been varied. Maybe my candy thermometer is off, or maybe it's just a bit trickier than I realized. It just seems like such a fine line between something that is too hard or too chewy or not enough . . .

So for the next two weeks I periodically looked online, became bored after looking at a few unhelpful sites, and gave up. Finally, on about my fifth attempt, I found Do Life Right's recipe for vegan chocolate turtles and David Lebovitz's site, which were helpful, although they weren't exactly what I was looking for in terms of specific guidance for my specific purposes. So, what did I do? Well, I played around until I got something I liked. And I really liked it. And so did Bryan's mom.

Unfortunately, I still don't have enough information to give a really solid recipe, with lots of guidance and specific times or temperatures. But, I'll give what I have, at least, and hopefully someday I'll have the perfect, fool-proof formula for homemade vegan turtles. In the meantime, if you find anything helpful, send it my way.

Chocolate Turtles:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegan butter
1/4 cup vegan milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
about 75 pecans, or more if you prefer
good quality chocolate with high cocoa content
cocoa butter, if desired*

Lightly toast the pecans (Put on a lined baking sheet in the oven at 350 F for 5-10 minutes). Arrange pecans in clusters of 3 (or 4 or however-many-you-want) on nonstick sheets (I use something similar to silpat but if you don't have something like that, your best bet is probably wax paper. Parchment paper lightly sprayed with a nonstick spray may also work, although I haven't tried it. Once your pecans are ready, begin making the caramel. Have all your ingredients measured and ready to go.

In a large, heavy pot melt the sugar over medium/low heat. Once the sugar begins to melt, stir gently to keep it from burning.

[Here's where things got a bit fuzzy]

I took it off the heat whenever I felt like it should be about right (a little earlier, just incase. Most of my disasters have been from overheated sugar, so I wanted to be on the safe side). I added the butter and soymilk and vanilla extract and drizzled the resulting syrup over a couple clusters of pecans. It spread out a lot and, after waiting about 15 minutes (and then another 15 minutes), I realized it wasn't going to thicken up enough.

So, I put the pot back on the stove and brought the liquid to a simmer again for a few minutes. I removed it from the heat and dipped the bottom of the pan in cool water. I let the caramel sauce cool a bit in the pan to thicken up before spreading it ontop of the pecan clusters. The caramel, even when completely cooled, was still very gooey (but not too liquidy). Maybe that's "soft ball stage"? For me it was the perfect consistency to fill a chocolate turtle. The only trouble was figuring out how to coat it in chocolate. I finally succeeded by chilling the caramel pecans in the fridge until they were firm enough to be dipped in the tempered chocolate.

You don't have to temper your chocolate that you use for dipping, but it makes such a difference. Not only is the presentation much nicer, but your turtles will also have that lovely snap, and they'll keep longer.

*Using a little bit of additional cocoa butter when you are using temepered chocolate for dipping helps give the coating more of a luster and is a million, billion times better than using parafin or any of the other weird things some cheap chocolates use instead. Cocoa butter is natural, it tastes much better, and you can easily find fair trade cocoa butter online (look on amazon or at Chocolate Alchemy, which is where I buy mine pounds at a time).




Revelations:
Finally, I'm about to reveal that mystery food from my last post. There were some good guesses, but the photograph is actually of a clove of black garlic.


And now I'm afraid I'll have to finish this post some other time. More to come on black garlic!

Guessing Game

Can you name it?