serves
12
prep
1 hour
cook
2 hours
difficulty
Mid
serves
12
people
preparation
1
hour
cooking
2
hours
difficulty
Mid
level
Ingredients
Base
- ½ cup almonds
- ½ cup macadamia nuts (or cashews, pecans, walnuts)
- ½ cup pumpkin seeds
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds
- 1 cup tapioca flour (or arrowroot)
- 1 egg
- ½ cup coconut oil - preferably still hard, not liquid (if it’s liquid due to warm weather, just pop it into the fridge for a half hour) – plus extra for greasing
- pinch of sea salt
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp rice malt syrup (or maple syrup, honey or rapadura sugar)
Toffee
- 600 ml coconut cream (see notes)
- 250 g rice malt syrup
- 1 tsp turmeric, ground
- 1 tbsp cinnamon, ground
- 2 vanilla beans, seeds scraped or 1 tsp vanilla bean powder or 3 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 30 g butter (optional, only if you’re not dairy intolerant)
- 1 pinch of sea salt
Cream
- cold coconut cream ‘tops’ from 3 cans (see Note)
- 1 lime, juiced
- 2 tbsp rice malt syrup (or honey or maple syrup)
- 1 tsp vanilla powder or 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
To serve
- 2-3 bananas, sliced
- chopped activated almonds, to scatter over the top of the tart for some crunch (optional)
Chilling time 1 hour
Cooling time 1 hour
Instructions
Base
Preheat oven to 180˚C.
In a food processor, break down nuts and seeds into a rough meal. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until well combined. Roll into a ball, place in a bowl and pop in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Roll pastry between two greased pieces of parchment paper (or baking paper) so it doesn’t stick, until it’s about 5 mm thick.
Grease your tins (2 x 20 cm round quiche or tart tins; or 1 x 20 cm round tin plus 30 mini muffin moulds to make bite-sized pies) with a little coconut oil and gently place the rolled out pastry on top. Press gently into the sides.
If making mini pies, roll pastry into walnut-sized balls and then press the balls into the mini muffin tins until they resemble a shell.
Bake large pies for 30 minutes, mini pies for 20 – 25 minutes. If you have a fan-forced oven they might be done sooner, just keep an eye on them from 20 minutes onwards to be safe.
Once they’ve darkened a little around the edges, then you’re done. Let cool for 30 minutes and then remove from tins. Let them completely cool before filling, about 45 minutes—1 hour by an open window.
Toffee
Place all ingredients into a medium saucepan on low-medium heat for 2-3 hours until it becomes thick. Once it’s dark brown in colour, cool and pour into a large 500 ml glass jar. You can store this in the fridge for a month.
Cream
Take the coconut cream out of the fridge, open and skim off the thick tops. Place in a blender (or use jug and stick blender), add lime juice, rice malt syrup, vanilla, and blend on high for 1 minute to aerate and thicken. Refrigerate before using for about 15 minutes to let it set.
Assembly
Once your cooked tart shells have cooled, pile a few generous spoons of the toffee onto the bases (half of what you want to use) and smooth to the sides. Then scoop half of the cream on top of that, smooth all over. Pile a generous amount of banana slices on top of that, then more toffee, the rest of the cream and a flourish of bananas and crushed nuts if you wish.
Note
• Cook the toffee first and keep an eye on it while making the base, then the rest of the pie. If your toffee doesn’t thicken, add another 50–80 g rice malt syrup and boil a further 30 minutes on the stove.
• For the coconut cream, I use Ayam or Spiral brand as they’re full-fat and additive free, which is necessary for this recipe. It won’t work with low or reduced-fat brands or those with additives. The additives (gums) often used in coconut cream will stop the coconut cream from separating, and that’s what we want — separation.
• To get the cocont cream 'tops', place a can of coconut cream in the fridge for 1 hour and it will separate beautifully, so you can just scrape off the thick top. You can use the rest of the can for smoothies, porridge or hot chocolate.
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
