Hello, hello, hello! This recipe was inspired by this photo. I've been getting a lot of my recipe ideas from very unhealthy food porn lately, and the challenge for me is to make them raw and vegan. I think I'm doin' alright. So in keeping with that pattern, if any of you awesome folks want me to rawify and veganize your fave recipes - send me an email, or comment on this post! Let's make this holiday season 100% happy and healthy! No body needs to get hurt just so we can have dinner or dessert! Heh heh... see what I did there. I rhymed.
These are actually freaking unbelievable. It's not too surprising though, because as you're making each component, you'll be blown away by the deliciousness, so when you throw them all together you should expect them to taste as good as they do. You've got a chocolate crust encasing raw vegan chocolate mousse topped off with sweet lemony cashew cream and cacao powder. Even each ingredient on its own is yummy! How many of us can say that about white flour or baking soda? Have you ever eaten baking soda? What we've got in these tarts are whole foods like dates, avocado and cashews. Yes-siree, these guys will make your skin glow, teeth gleam, and body sing!
The fact that the mousse and cream are already blended up and smooth makes digestion even easier. Seriously, these are GOOD FOR YOU. Share them with your romantic partner(s), friends, family... not your dog though! (Cacao and avocado are apparently quite dangerous for canines to eat. Dang.) You will probably have left over chocolate mousse and cashew cream so you can either 1) live with the extras... oh man how troublesome... not. Or 2) make more crust and thus more tarts. Life's toughest decisions, eh?
Enough about food. I need to rave about my new iPod. Well, new to me; I got it off good ole craigslist for a decent price. It's a black iPod Classic and it has... wait for it... 160 GB. *Enthusiastic punch dancing*. Guys. The biggest iPod I have ever owned in all my years has been 4 GB, okay? Four. Gigabytes. I had to make special playlists of my top rated songs so my faves could fit onto my old iPod. With this new iPod I can fit my ENTIRE MUSIC LIBRARY onto it and it does not even take up half the space. *Joyous fainting*. Rant over. Let's eat chocolate mousse tarts.
CHOCOLATE MOUSSE TARTS with LEMON CASHEW CREAM
Crust:
3/4 cup oats, buckwheat groats or nuts
3/4 cup raisins
1 heaping tablespoon cacao powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
Lemon cashew cream:
1 cup soaked cashews
Juice from 1 lemon
1-2 tablespoons coconut nectar
Pinch of Himalayan pink salt
Chocolate mousse:
1 avocado
1 cup dates
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons cacao powder
1 cup water, more or less as needed
1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
Note: I bet these would be even better if you added banana slices in between the mousse and cream.
To make the crust: pulse the oats, buckwheat groats or nuts in a food processor until they turn into crumbs. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until it all sticks together. Press into two lined tart tins and put in the fridge.
To make the cashew cream: blend all the ingredients until smooth. Set in the fridge.
To make the mousse: blend all the ingredients until smooth. Spread into the bottom of your tart crusts and cover with the cashew cream. Put back in the fridge overnight or for at least a couple hours. Dust with cacao and serve!
