Black Cherry Freezer Tart with a Hazelnut-Chocolate Crust
This one is an absolute winner, on every level. It is easy to make. No oven needed: just a blender and a freezer. And it’s DEEEE-licious, at a very high level. Impressive enough for guests, and nourishing enough for breakfast. 100% plant-based, and almost entirely raw. It’s packed with phytonutrients from hazelnuts, raw cacao, orange peel, and dark cherries. No refined starches, and almost no refined sweeteners.
It’s thin, like a pizza. And like pizza, you can eat a slice with your hands.
I make sure to use sweet black (not tart red) cherries. I use the Cadia brand of frozen cherries, because they’re always in season, and I don’t have to put them. I also use the Bono brand of organic Italian blood orange marmalade, which adds a deeper flavor than a generic orange-orange.
Makes ~150 square inches of tart (That’s one 14-inch round, 2 10-inch rounds, or 8 2½-inch tartlets).
for the CRUST
- 2 C hazelnut meal
- ½ C raw nut butter. I used Brazil nut.
- ½ C maple syrup
- ¾ C raw cacao powder
- fat pinch salt
for the FILLING
- 10 oz pitted cherries (frozen is fine)
- ¾ C coconut manna
- ½ C orange marmalade
- ½ Tbsp vanilla extract
- optional pomegranate molasses
- In a bowl, combine crust ingredients with your hands. Using your fingers and palms, press crust into your dish(es), with outer ridges about a quarter-inch high. (You can line your dishes with parchment paper, to remove the tart intact. Or just struggle, like I do).
- Blenderize the filling. The filling is thick, so you want a strong blender. And you want your ingredients close to room temp, so they don’t thicken up too much. If you want more tartness and oomph, add pomegranate molasses to taste. Spread filling into crust with a spatula.
- Freeze. Serve frozen, or very slightly thawed.
- You can garnish with very thinly sliced stone fruit, crystallized ginger, chopped nuts, cacao nibs, edible flowers… or nothing at all. In the pic, I used sliced fresh cherries & chopped red walnuts