Cardamom and Rosewater Love Tarts

The first time I made these little gems it was to celebrate love. Two beautiful friends of mine were getting married in an old church and I wanted to give a gift in the form of dessert. A dessert that was a little indulgent, romantic and a delight for the senses. With a vague idea to make something with exotic flavours I narrowed it down to Indian and Persian influenced flavours and finally found the perfect 'love' dessert of Cardamom and Rosewater Tarts.

Common to both Indian and Persian cooking, cardamom and rosewater have been used for centuries, and have a sweet and heavenly scent that is quite distinct.  If you've ever had the pleasure of visiting an Indian Sweet cafe you'll know the warm and heavenly scent I'm talking about and the power  those endless rows of soft fudge like desserts have over you.

This really is a recipe to save for when you can set some time aside to lovingly prepare the tarts. The tarts are both delicate in taste and in preparation. They need your attention and patience and most importantly your love.  Raw cashews are a great non dairy cream alternative. They are full of fat,  have no strong taste, and thus perfect for a non dairy cream base. Use organic ingredients where possible, medjool dates (they are softer and moister that 'regular' dates),  raw (not processed) honey and fresh vanilla beans.

Enjoy and share the love. x

updated (P.s I've entered this recipe in a competition at these newish night food markets. Competition closes this Friday 21st June. If you like why not head to Miami Marketta's Facebook page, scroll down, keep scrolling and find my picture entry of the tarts and hit like. I'd love it if you did. thanks.)

Cardamom and Rosewater Love Tarts

for the tart base

1 cup raw pecans soaked, drained and rinsed or 1 cup raw dry pecan nuts
3/4 cup medjool dates
1 inch strip vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp coconut oil
4cm base; 2.5cm height silicone cupcake liners (optional)

for the cashew filling

1 cup raw cashews soaked, drained and rinsed
3 tbsp coconut oil
3/4 cardamom powder
1/2 inch strip vanilla bean or 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tsp rosewater
3 tbsp raw honey
1/8 cup water

to dress your tarts

handful of pistachio nuts
cardamom pods
food grade dried rose petals (I used rose petals from a T2 loose tea mix I had in the cupboard)

Preheat oven to 175C. Blend all tart base ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth. This next step takes practice and patience. Spoon a few tablespoons of nut mixture into silicone cupcake liners and press lightly to form a thin case. If you spread the mixture to thin it will break, the trick is to try and spread it evenly over the cups. Place on a flat tray in oven and bake for 7-10 minutes or until darkened and firm- keep an eye on them. (I burnt my first batch!)  If you want to keep the recipe raw skip the oven and chill them in the fridge until firm, approx 1 hour. I'd love to hear your results with this as I tried the raw method but they didn't firm up enough for me.

Remove from liners, place on plate or base you are going to serve on (the less transferring from dish to dish the less chance of the base breaking- yes they are delicate!) and fill with the cashew cream.

Cashew Filling

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Spoon into cashew tart bases.

And now for the fun part. Place a few cardamom pods in the centre of each tart. Roughly chop pistachio nuts into small pieces. Loosely sprinkle pistachio and rose petals over the top.

Makes:  8 small beautiful tarts.

Free of refined sugar, dairy, grain and egg (vegan if honey is replaced with agave, coconut sugar, rice malt syrup or sweetener of your choice).