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.

BAKE MY DAY: some like it hot

spiced apple cake with chili de arbol caramel

cayenne persimmon tart

sugar-free chocolate chili truffles

chocolate chili truffles

anaheim lime coconut pie

poblano almond chocolate cupcakes

For this week's BAKE MY DAY* I decided to use chilis to heat things up a bit. I wanted to try to use a variety of peppers from the Capsicum genus to provide different flavors and different levels of heat.

*BAKE MY DAY is a weekly event I host where I choose an ingredient or a theme and try to make several baked goods, accordingly. It gives me a great excuse to try a lot of new things!


Spiced Apple Cake with Chili de Arbol Caramel Sauce:I started off with this Holiday Bundt Apple Cake from Dessert, Diet and Dogs. I was happy to find a recipe that was using whole grain flours and agave and brown rice syrup for most of the sweetness. Unfortunately, I didn't have barley flour, so I substituted with whole wheat flour. The only other difference was that I added 1/4 teaspoon cayenne to the apples. When I mixed up the batter, it seemed a bit dry, but I baked it anyway. Perhaps I messed up somewhere (but I really couldn't figure out how), or perhaps I just slightly overbaked the cake, but it seemed the slightest bit dry. I'm taking full responsibility for that, though, and, otherwise, it was such a lovely cake, that I still recommend it.

I only added 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne because I didn't want the cake to be too spicy (only some like it hot, and I wanted to make sure everyone could enjoy the desserts). So, I chose to put most of the spice in the caramel sauce.

For the caramel sauce, I used this recipe because I wanted to use up my maple syrup. It tasted good, but it wasn't quite like caramel. I've used another recipe in the past that looked much more like caramel, although now I can't remember what recipe that was. (Does anyone have a caramel sauce recipe that you absolutely love?) I did add 2 dried chili de arbols (stems removed, but I added the seeds), chopped into little pieces. The sauce was spicy and delicious, and poured over lightly toasted spiced walnuts, it really made the cake (and totally made up for any dryness).

Cayenne Persimmon Tart:
When I was thinking about foods that chilis would go well with, one of the first things that came to my mind was mangoes. I love a mango with a little kick. Unfortunately, the mangoes this time of year just aren't good enough to cut it, so I decided to try something with persimmons, which have a similar flavor and happen to be in season now. I found Delicious Coma's recipe for a persimmon tart and decided to give it a try.

I used cold shortening in place of the butter and added cayenne to the spices to be sprinkled on top of the persimmons. The crust turned out quite good; however, the persimmons were not so good. My persimmons weren't ripe enough (and if you've ever had an unripe persimmon, you know how bad they are). I thought they might take on a sweet flavor when baked (much like a quince), but they remained incredibly astringent. But, the tart looked lovely and it would have been great had my fruit been better (and that's the easiest thing to fix, so I'm alright with that).

Chocolate Chili Truffles & Sugar-free Truffles:
recipe here

Anaheim Lime Coconut Pie:
recipe coming soon

Poblano Almond Chocolate Cupcakes:
recipe coming soon