20 May Vegan Rooibos Coconut Custard Tart

When you cut out dairy, so many treats get pushed to the side too because of their milk content. But fret not! These deliciously creamy custard tarts taste just the same (if not, better) than their dairy counterparts.

Ingredients

For the pastry

• 2 cups dessicated coconut
• 1 cup ground almonds (or use almond flour)
• ½ cup coconut or brown rice flour
• 1 Tbsp loose leaf rooibos
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10 medjool dates
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil

For the filling

• 2 rooibos tea bags
• 1 cup cashews, soaked overnight
• 5 1/2 cups water
• 3 cups flaked coconut
• 2 teaspoons agar agar
• 1/4 cup maple or ½ cup brown rice syrup
• 2 teaspoons arrowroot powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• Cheese cloth or nut milk bag

Method

Pastry

Preheat oven to 150ºC. Line the bottom of the spring form cake pan with baking paper and grease the sides with coconut oil.

1. Combine all the ingredients except the coconut oil and vanilla in a food processor or high speed blender (like an Omniblend) until finely ground – it should resemble rough sand.
2. Then add in the coconut oil and vanilla and mix through. The pastry will be dry but moist enough to press down into the cake tin.
3. Carefully press the pastry into the tin, making sure you push the crust up all around the sides of the tin.
4. Prick the bottom (very important) and bake for 20-25min or until golden brown.
5. Leave it in the tin and allow to cool completely before adding the filling.

Filling:

1. Add the cashews, flaked coconut and water to a blender and blend for 1-2min until very well blended. You may have to do this in stages as it’s a lot of liquid.
2. Pour through a nut milk bag (Tip – you can make the filling first and dehydrate the coconut and cashew pulp to replace the coconut flour and almond flour needed for the crust). 
3. You should have approximately 1.4 liters of cashew-coconut milk.
4. In a large pot, bring the milk, rooibos tea bags, vanilla, agar agar, maple syrup and salt to boil.
5. Whisk continuously, reduce the heat and simmer for about 15min.
6. In a separate bowl, dissolve the arrowroot with 1 tablespoon of water.
7. Add to the milk and continue whisking. Once it starts to thicken, remove it from the heat and let it cool for 10-15min.
8. Remove the tea bags and whisk through before pouring into the cooled crust (make sure it is still in your cake tin).
9. Leave it to cool completely before refrigerating for 3-5 hours to set. Remove from the tin before serving.

Serve with fresh fruit, warm tea and good company!