CARAMELISED APPLE TART | wholefood & stunning

I have been experimenting lately with more baked desserts, branching out from raw desserts. I love finding new ways to use whole food ingredients to create super easy and really tasty things. In this case, it was a nut-free, grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg free, completely plant-based and delicious caramelised apple tart! This was a bit of an experiment in making a pie or tart crust out of chickpea flour and the result, I think, is so good! Too good not to share….

Have a go and let me know what you think. I may or may not have eaten it for breakfast a few mornings in a row……

Cooks notes:

• I would definitely recommend using a non-stick tart case with a separate bottom. It makes it much easier to lift the tart out without damaging it.
• To slice the apple as finely as possible I used a mandoline. Some spiralizers have an attachment that can achieve a similar result. Or if you have mad chef skills you can probably do the whole lot manually. I definitely don’t.
• Make sure to buy medjool dates, NOT dried packaged dates! Medjool dates are the juicer, fresh dates that you find in a refrigerator section of the grocery store. This is what will give you the caramel quality you are after and help the tart crust to stick together.

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 25 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

TART CASE

1 cups (100g) chickpea (besan) flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla powder

¼ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons hulled tahini

6 medjool dates, pitted

FILLING

15 medjool dates, pitted

2 lemons, juiced

4 large apples, finely sliced

1 teaspoon vanilla powder

Pre-heat oven to 180°C/356°F fan forced.

Add chickpea flour, baking powder, vanilla powder and salt to your food processor. Pulse to combine.

Add tahini and dates, pulse to evenly combine and process until a crumbly dough is formed. Press into your tart tin to form a crust.

To make the filling, boil 1 cup of water and pour over the pitted dates. Leave to soak while you prepare the rest.

Finely slice apples and add to a bowl. Pour lemon juice over the top and gently mix to coat the apple slices.

Add the dates, vanilla powder and ½ of the soaking water to your food processor, pulse to combine and blend until well mixed and almost smooth.

Spread this mixture over your tart case.

Layer apple slices starting from the outside until all apple slices are used. Place in the oven to bake for about 25 minutes, keeping an eye on it to make sure the thin apple slices don’t burn.

Slice and enjoy!