Raw Chocolate Orange Tartlets

Raw pies are a favorite dessert around here. They are easy to prepare, they taste delicious, they are good for you, and you won’t feel guilty about eating them for breakfast the next morning. Why are they good for you? The ones that we make always contain raw nuts, usually contain raw fruit, and they never contain refined sugar.

Are you sold yet?

My general guidelines for raw pies go something like this:

Crust: Process together nuts, a few dates, and a wee bit of agave in a food processor. The dates and agave sweeten it up a bit and make it all stick together. You can get creative with add-ins such as coconut, citrus zest, spices, etc. Once you’ve got your crust dough prepared, press into your pie or tart pan.

Filling: This can be whatever you want, really. Sometimes I puree fruit, pour it into the crust, and then freeze it for a bit. Sometimes I slice up fruit, season it, and pour it into the crust. Sometimes I try something a little different, and that’s exactly what I did with this recipe.

Cashews play a starring role in many raw recipes because of their creaminess when processed in a food processor with a few supporting characters. Soaking them for a few hours beforehand makes them even creamier. For the “cream” filling in this particular pie, I soaked the cashews in water for 2 hours and then mixed in orange and carob for flavor, agave for sweetness, and a touch of salt to help deepen the sweetness of the filling. I used carob powder because I like the toasted caramel flavor of it, but feel free to substitute cocoa powder instead.

Chocolate Orange Tartlets
Makes 4 small tartlets

Coconut Crust
2 cups dried coconut
¼ cup almonds
¼ cup walnuts
2 dates
1 ½ tbsp agave

Chocolate Orange Cream
2 cups cashews, soaked for 2 hours
3 tbsp agave
2 tbsp carob powder
Juice from one orange (I used one very juicy orange – use 2, if necessary!)
Pinch of salt

To Make Crust:
Process all ingredients in a food process until they get good and sticky and start to ball up. Press into tartlet molds and freeze for 20-30 minutes before filling.

To Make Cream Filling:
Place all ingredients in a food process and process until very smooth.

Spoon filling into tartlets, garnish with coconut flakes and mint leaves, and serve.

Enjoy!

While we’re on the subject of raw food, please check out Raw Epicurean. It’s a wonderful site, and I promise that I am not biased due to the fact that I won a copy of Matthew Kenney’s Everyday Raw in last week’s book giveaway. 😀

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Raw Burgers with Mango Salsa

I have often extolled the virtues and benefits of eating as many foods in as close to their natural state as possible. Avoid processed foods, eat whole foods, eat organic, eat local, yada yada … you’ve heard it all before, probably from people who have put it more compellingly than I ever could, so I’ll just proceed as if we already all agree on this point 🙂

We eat a lot of raw food here at the Outpost, through no concerted efforts other than we really love fruits and vegetables, and we happen to be fortunate enough to live in a place where terrific produce is available year round. The thing, is, though, that most of our raw cuisine consists of smoothies, salads, nuts, and crudités. Not exactly blog worthy cuisine, eh?

From time to time, however, I do like to concoct more elaborate raw dishes. I have a few favorite raw recipe books that I turn to when the urge to go all-out raw strikes:

Raw Food Real World by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis
Rawvolution by Matt Amsden
Living Cuisine by Renee Loux Underkoffler
I am Grateful by Terces Engelhart

There are also some really great raw food blogs out there.

I happen to have a few of the items that make the more involved raw food recipes easier to prepare: a food processor, a blender, and a food dehydrator. (If you do not have a dehydrator, you can still make lots of the recipes that require one by using your oven on a low temperature. I would not recommend this for the recipes that require long hours in the dehydrator, but for shorter drying times – such as the burger recipe below – I think it would be just fine.) I do not have the other appliance that would round out the-well stocked raw kitchen: a juicer. When necessary, I get around that by purchasing fresh juice from one of our island natural food stores when a recipe requires it.

Earlier this week I was reading The Sunny Raw Kitchen and was intrigued by Carmella’s post about some jalapeño burgers she recently made. The recipe was originally posted here. I made some modifications to the recipe and my modifications to the recipe are posted below. She had paired her burgers with these avocado fries and I did not see reason to mess with a formula that seemed pretty sure-fire (and I happen to love avocado), so I made those, as well, and followed the recipe with no modifications.

To top off the burgers and avo fries, I made a simple mango salsa, which was absolutely delicious, and the recipe is also posted below.

Raw food is fresh, delicious, and great for you. I am impressed by raw foodists and chefs who do it so well because I think they exhibit a wonderful creativity and imagination in the kitchen. I am not going to be giving up my baked cupcakes or tofu anytime soon, but it’s all about a healthy balance, no?

For those of you who need further convincing on this whole raw food thing, just scroll down to see the raw carrot cake I made from Living Cuisine … absolutely divine, I tell you …..

Raw Burgers

2 cup walnuts, soaked for 4 hours
1/2 cup smoky sun-dried tomatoes, soaked until very soft, reserve 1/8 cup soaking water
1 small poblano pepper, finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp Tandoori seasonings
Salt & pepper to taste

In a food processor, combine all ingredients and process until you achieve a thick, paste-like consistency. Be sure to scrape down the sides during processing to ensure that all ingredients are well incorporated. Remove from processor.

Shape into small patties. Place patties onto a teflex-lined dehydrator tray. Dehydrate at 115F for 2 hours. Flip the patties onto the dehydrator screen for an additional 2 hours.

Salsa

2 tomatoes, diced
1 mango, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
¼ cup cilantro

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

And dessert … delicious carrot cake:

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Raw Parfait

I must apologize for my long absence from the blog.  My job has seemingly swallowed me whole recently, but I am coming up for air and with me I am bringing one of our favorite dessert recipes (as a peace offering, of course!).

I try to assimilate as many foods in their natural state as possible into our diet.  I don’t track percentages like many people who partake in a raw diet do – I just try to use lots of plant based foods like fruits, vegetables, and nuts because they are so good for us, particularly in their natural, uncooked state.  I have to admit, though, that I am a frequent victim of salad burnout.  This is a good, thing, though, because this blockage against the usual plate of greens and veggies leads to creativity in the kitchen.  There are many raw “uncook” books that I particularly like and often look to for inspiration: RAWvolution, Raw food/Real World,  and I am Grateful.  The recipes in these books are creative, delicious, and most definitely help me to avoid the ever dreaded salad burnout all the while getting my full dose of nutritional goodness from foods in their raw state.

My favorite category of raw cuisine is, hands down, dessert (well, that’s true about all food, raw or not …) I mean, I could eat raw dessert all day and be super healthy!  I would admittedly have to throw some veggies and greens around in there, but what a nice thought that is:  all day desserts.  Yum!  This dessert that I am sharing with you today was heavily inspired by Juliano’s “Whip Cream” recipe, but this is a sweeter version that I like to layer with berries to create an all raw, all delicious, all guilt-free dessert.  I’ll even admit to eating this dessert for breakfast and not feeling the least bit bad about it.

Raw Parfait
Serves 3-4

1 cup cashews
1 cup walnuts
½ cup coconut water
2 dates
1 tbsp agave
1 tsp vanilla

Sliced berries

1.    Soak nuts in water for 2 hours.  Drain well.
2.    Add all ingredients, except berries, to a food processor and process until smooth.
3.    Layer nut mixture and berries in a glass, garnish with a mint leaves (if desired), and serve.

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Raw Papaya-Banana Pie

This is one of our all time favorite desserts, hands down. It’s raw, contains no refined sugar, and is just nuts and fruits. This is a pie that we have one night for dessert and then again the next morning for breakfast. Consider this one guilt free dessert whose secret identity is power food.

Raw Papaya-Banana Pie

Crust:
1 ½ cups raw almonds
1 ½ cups raw walnuts
3 pitted medjool dates
1 tablespoon agave nectar

Filling:
2 papayas (mangos also make an awesome filling)
2 bananas
1 ½ tbsp lime juice

1. Process nuts, dates, and agave in a food processor until well combined. The nut mixture should stick together when pinched. Dump mixture into a pie or a tart pan and press into place.  (I use a 9 1/2″ tart pan)

2. Process fruits and lime juice in food processor until smooth. Pour into prepared crust.

3. Freeze tart for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Slice and serve.

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