Recipe: Fig-a-licious Vegan Tart (Gluten and Sugar Free)

5th December 2014

By  Trinity Bourne

Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

I love dispelling the myth that healthy food can’t be absolutely delicious.

There’s something really satiating about eating a dessert that not only tastes scrumptious, but is also full of healthy ingredients.

My ‘Fig-a-licious Vegan Tart’ is free from diary, egg, wheat, gluten, refined sugar and it STILL tastes delectable. We absolutely love this one here, so I felt to share it for anyone else looking for a tasty, gluten-free, vegan treat.

Serves: 4 – 6

Baking: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

– 250g (9 oz) figs, plus water to soak

– 1 heaped teaspoon of orange or lemon rind

– 75g (2 ½ oz) rice flour (brown or white)

– 75g (2 ½ oz) tapioca flour (also known as tapioca starch)

– 1 heaped tablespoon ground flax seed

– 3 tablespoons brown rice syrup

– 3 tablespoons coconut oil

– 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

– Extra dash of oil (to oil the tin)

– Extra rice flour (for rolling on)

You will also need:

• A round baking tin with pop out bottom (12cm/8 inches in diameter) or something similar  (The pop out bottom is not essential, although it will help you get the tart out when it has baked)
• A fine grater (for orange/lemon rind)
• Blender
• Rolling pin
• Sharp knife to cut the top pastry layer

Directions

1. Soak figs in water overnight (or at least 3 hours) to soften for blending.
2. Finely grate orange peel (or lemon rind).
3. Drain figs and blend together with the grated orange peel. Put this to the side whilst you prepare the gluten-free pastry.
4. Briefly mix rice flour, tapioca flour, ground flax seed together in a mixing bowl.
5. Mix in coconut oil, rice syrup and vanilla essence with a spoon. Once it has started to combine together nicely, use the back of your spoon to ‘press’ it all together until you have one large ball of pastry.
6. Lightly oil the cake tin.
7. Take about half of the pastry ball/lump, place it in the middle of the tin and press downward in all directions until it is evenly spread all over. This should create a layer about   ½ cm ( ¼ inch) thick. If it’s a bit too thick in one place and lacking in another, then just press & push (a bit like being a pastry massage therapist) until it’s sort of even. Doesn’t have to be perfect.
8. Create a fig layer on top of the pastry by spreading your blended fig mixture evenly all over. Spoon it on and then spread with a blunt knife.
   

   Fig-a-licious Tart’ straight out of the oven

9. Take the remaining pastry from the mixing bowl and roll into a thick cylindrical shape (doesn’t have to be perfect). Lightly flour your kitchen counter top and begin to roll until the pastry is approximately ¼ cm (â…› inch) thick. This can be a little fiddly, but get’s much easier with practice.
10. Use a sharp knife to cut your rolled pastry into strips of approximately 1cm width ( ½ inch) wide. Carefully lift strips (using a cake slice/sp
    atula if you have one) and form a lattice pattern on top. There is a bit of an art to creating a lattice pattern and, honestly, the best way to learn is just to make it up as you go a long. If you don’t want to create a lattice then use your creativity to   do what ever you feel like on top instead.
11. Bake in a pre-heated oven at gas mark 6 (200ËšC/400ËšF) for approximately 25 minutes or until the pastry begins to tan on top.
12. Serve warm, right away or allow to cool. They should keep nicely for a few days in a sealed container.

For more information on the health benefits and history of figs, visit the Worlds healthiest Foods website ‘fig page’ here:  All about figs

More  articles by Trinity Bourne:

• Trinity’s Carob and Coconut Cake Recipe (Gluten Free, Sugar Free & Vegan)
• Top Tips for Making Deliciously Healthy Salads
• No-Bake Carrot Cake Recipe (Gluten Free & Vegan)
• The Health Benefits of Beetroot – Recipes Included
• Chickpea & Mushroom Burger Recipe (Vegan & Gluten-Free)
• Global Animal Industries – the Ghosts in Our Machine
• All About Avocados – Health Benefits, Tips and Recipes
• Foraging Guide – with 12 Nutritious Wild Plants That Anyone Can Find
• Keeping Slugs & Snails Off Your Veggies – Compassionately
• The Benefits of Lemon Balm – a Must in Any Garden
• Chocolate Paradise Coconut Bar Recipe – Vegan, Raw, Absolutely Delicious!
• Rosemary’s Amazing Health Benefits
• The Superfood Health Benefits of Celery (with Recipes!)

About the author:

Trinity is an experienced, empathic energy worker and the author of ‘Trinity’s Conscious Kitchen’, a recipe book designed to inspire the soul through conscious vegan, wheat-free cuisine.

Around 18 years ago, during a profound spiritual awakening, the world around her shattered. She became engulfed in a white, universal, timeless, formless light until nothing else existed – other than the nameless truth at the core of all sentient beings. During this life-changing experience Trinity experienced the soul of all other sentient beings, trees, creatures, people as one pulsating energy. Transcending her into a higher realm of unity and oneness, this experience imparted a divine energy that she has been sharing through spiritual work ever since.

Understanding that the energy of our food directly impacts sentient life on all levels, Trinity founded  Trinity’s Conscious Kitchen, a website devoted to inspiring the soul through conscious vegan cuisine.  She is the co-founder of Openhand  Foundation, an organisation dedicated to the evolution of humankind. She works as the divine complement to her soul mate  Open  to help facilitate the global Ascension process and feels incredibly blessed to be of divine service.