Mud Pie: Gluten-Free Chocolate Tart Topped With Almond Pastry Cream

Have I mentioned how much I love the Whole Foods recipe iPhone app? My most recent experiment was based on the Apricot Tart in Quinoa-Almond Crust recipe I found on there, which is also available on the website.

I had some leftover quinoa flour I needed to use up, so this seemed like a good recipe to try. Of course, I was missing a few of the key ingredients, namely evaporated cane juice and apricots, so instead I made some ganache with coconut milk and dark chocolate for the tart filling and used the pastry cream as a topping. I'm always in the mood for chocolate.

It worked out pretty well, except I used Rapadura to make the pastry cream in lieu of evaporated cane juice, and it gave the pastry cream a horrible greenish-brown mud color. So I called it a mud pie. I don't have step-by-step photos for this recipe because I made the ganache and pastry cream after dark, ad you guys already know about the lighting issues in my kitchen. Plus, how the heck am I supposed to take pictures while making pastry cream? That stuff requires both hands and due attention. Anyway, here is the recipe as I made it.

For the crust:
1 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup almond flour (I used Honeyville)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into small pieces
1 egg yolk

Place quinoa flour, almond flour, sugar, xanthan gum, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Add butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds.

 

At which point, mine looked like the photo on the left, so I processed it  a few more seconds, until it looked like the picture on the right.

  

Add egg yolk and pulse until dough holds together, without being wet or sticky. That's what the recipe says, anyway, but mine stayed a little sticky.

  

Flatten dough into a disk on a sheet of wax paper, then wrap it up and let it chill for at least an hour.

 

When well chilled, roll dough into a 12-inch round on a lightly floured surface (I used what little quinoa flour I had left for this). The dough was still a bit sticky and tricky to work with, and I had trouble with it falling apart as I tried to put it in my 9-inch loose-bottomed tart pan, so I ended up pressing it in the pan. It then needs to chill for another 30 minutes before baking at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until bottom is dry and tart shell is golden brown. The recipe says to prick the bottom with a fork, which I did, but I didn't use any pie weights. Allow crust to cool completely before adding filling.

While it's cooling, you can make the ganache and pastry cream. The ganache is easy, just melt a bag of dark chocolate chips, I used Ghirardelli 60%, add a can of coconut milk, and stir until smooth. Let it chill in the refrigerator, and it will thicken up nicely.

The pastry cream is a little more involved, but well worth the effort. I used:
1 cup almond milk
1/4 cup Rapadura
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon butter

Over medium heat, stir almond milk and 2 tablespoons of the Rapadura in a small saucepan until it starts to simmer. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks, remaining Rapadura, and cornstarch until pale yellow. Slowly add half of almond milk to egg-yolks, whisking constantly. This tempers the egg yolks so they won't curdle. Pour everything back into the saucepan. Still working over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil while whisking constantly. Once the mixture comes to a boil, continue whisking vigorously until it thickens, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat and stir in almond extract and butter. Allow it to cool completely. Like I said, my pastry cream isn't the most appetizing color, so I think next time I may try making this recipe with maple syrup instead of the Rapadura.

When everything is cooked, baked, and cooled--in my case the following morning so I could have enough light to take photos--then fillings can be added to the tart crust. Since the chocolate was a lot thicker and heavier than the pastry cream, I spread that on the shell first, then added the pastry cream as a topping. Yum.

  

Here are more photos of the crust and filling once the tart had chilled for a while after the final assembly. Apart from the odd color of the pastry cream, I'm really happy with how this recipe came out. The crust is more like a cookie base than a flaky pastry, as one would expect with a fruit tart, which this was intended to be. The pastry cream is light and sweet, very similar in consistency to pudding, and the chocolate is awesome.

  

I won't lie, the quinoa flour does leave a bit of its flavor behind. It's not so much an aftertaste as more of a flavor undertone, but if you didn't know the quinoa flour was in there you might not even notice it. I'm glad I tried this recipe, as I think the crust could be used with a variety of sweet fillings. I may try it again with a different flour and see how it does.

Raw Chocolate Bomb

This is actually an Italian Chocalate Almond Zucotto, but I'm calling it Raw Chocolate Bomb instead. I was trolling around different websites looking for a recipe that was gluten-free, preferably raw because I had dates in my pantry that needed to be used, and it HAD to involve chocolate. I decided to make this because of the enticing picture, knowing that mine most likely wouldn't turn out that pretty, and it didn't.

I use my iPhone to take photos for this blog. There's no flash, so lighting can be a challenge. I always try to do my baking and picture taking during the daytime, but on the day I made my chocolate bomb it was really dark and rainy outside. The lights in my kitchen can make weird glares and orangish hues, so please forgive the poor quality of the photography. I took the above photo this morning because there was some decent sunlight coming into the kitchen, so it's a little better than the rest.

Another reason my chocolate bomb didn't turn out looking like the original zucotto is because I didn't bother dusting it with carob powder and garnishing with almonds. I don't have any carob powder (I used all cocoa powder instead), and I didn't have any whole almonds left.

This recipe has three components: the cake, almond cream, and chocolate cream. They're layered inside a bowl or pudding basin and then chilled in the refrigerator or freezer to set. Once firmed up, you then place the bowl upside-down on a plate, and remove the bowl to unmold the the chocolate bomb. That's simple enough. Everything is made using either a food processor or a blender, so measuring out the ingredients and washing up the utensils takes longer than actually assembling the dessert.

I have to confess that my version isn't truly raw, as the chopped almonds I used were toasted. Also, the recipe calls for melted coconut oil. I'm not sure how else to melt coconut oil besides heating it, which is cooking, right? That part kind of confuses me, but since coconut oil has a pretty low melting point, maybe it's not heated enough to be considered cooked.

The recipe description mentions a "hint of orange" in the cake. Rather than actually measure out 1/2 teaspoon of orange zest, I just took the zest off of an orange. I think that was too much. My cake has way more than just a hint of orange in it.

Also, I made the almond cream in the blender, and I think next time I'll use my food processor, at least a first. My blender had difficulty mixing the ingredients as the mixture was pretty thick, so I found myself adding more almond milk than I should have, and it came out too runny. I fixed this by putting it in the freezer to chill, and as it thickened I was able to spread the almond cream up along the sides of the bowl more. But I'm going to quit rambling now and get on with the recipe and pictures.

The first thing you want to do is line a 1 quart bowl with cling film (aka plastic wrap). This makes it easy later.

For the cake:
1 cup walnuts
2/3 cup almonds
1 cup pitted dates, packed
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a food processor, grind the almonds to a fine powder and set aside in a separate bowl. Then process the walnuts into small, crumb-like pieces and add them to the almonds.

  

Next, process dates, orange zest, and pure vanilla extract until smooth.

  

Add in the nuts and mix until it's dough-like. Press the mixture into and up the sides of the lined bowl and chill in refrigerator while you make the almond cream.

 

For the Almond Cream:
1 cup cashews
1/3 cup almond milk
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
2 tablespoons chopped almonds

The maple syrup is missing from the photo, but don't worry, I remembered to add it!

Blend all but the chopped almonds until smooth, then fold in the chopped almonds and spread the mixture evenly on top of the cake layer.

  

Mine was way too thin to do this at first because I added extra almond milk, so I just poured it into the center and as it chilled and firmed up I was able to spread it up and along the sides.

 

Once the almond cream layer has chilled and is set, then it's ready for the final component.

For the chocolate cream:
3/4 cup almond milk
1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup walnuts
3-4 tablespoons cocoa powder (original recipe uses "cacao" and carob powder)
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (original recipe calls for 1/2 of a vanilla bean)
pinch of sea salt
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted (original recipe also uses cacao butter)

In blender, combine all ingredients except the coconut oil and mix until smooth and creamy. Add coconut oil and blend until thoroughly combined. It will be similar in consistency to chocolate pudding. Pour mixture over almond cream to fill in the center of the bowl.

 

Allow to chill in the freezer for a few hours or the refrigerator overnight. When ready to eat, just turn the bowl upside down on a plate and remove.

  

Then peel off the plastic wrap, slice, and serve. I've been keeping mine in the refrigerator, but I think it would do equally well in the freezer if you prefer a frozen, ice cream cake type dessert.