I’ve been dreaming about a multi-fruit tart. You’ve seen them at the bakery — made with a wheat based crust, sweetened with sugar and held together with a pectin glaze. I need to change all that and make it a really healthy treat. First things first, we start with a grain free crust, add a healthy filling that is sweetened with honey and stevia that also holds it all together without any other additives! Can you guess how I did it?
Gelatin
This gelatin is an important part of the daily diet because it supplies the important amino acids, proline and glycine — two amino acids that many people do not get enough of.
Gelatin is made from the bones and skins of animals and it contains collagen, which is a component of the connective tissue of animals and humans. This connective tissue is what holds your bones together in the form of tendons and ligaments and it is also part of the mucous membrane layer of the intestinal lining.
Collagen
Collagen is part of our very makeup. When the nutrition of a person is not supporting collagen, many digestive and joint problems can appear. Therefore, it is very important to supply your body with collagen in as natural a form as possible.
The best way to do this is with bone broths as the collagen and gelatin from the bones will be present in the broth in a very easy form for the body to assimilate. Sadly, most people do not drink homemade bone broth.
Another good way to get collagen and gelatin into your diet is by using gelatin from grassfed cows in recipes. This recipe is a fun way to get some gelatin into a meal along with other good foods like coconut milk and berries.
This is a fun dessert to make with the kids. Little do they know that it is also a way to get some important gelatin into their growing bodies. It has an interesting combination of textures from the crust, jello and fruit filling.
Coconut Multi-Fruit Tart
Ingredients for Filling
- 2 cups coconut milk or 1 can (where to buy)
- 3/4 cup water
- 2 Tbsp gelatin (where to buy)
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp stevia + 10 drops or to taste (where to buy)
- 2 kiwi
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1 cup raspberries and/or strawberries
Equipment
- 9″ round tart pan or similar size (where to buy)
- 1.5 quart pot (where to buy)
- Whisk
- Food processor (my favorite processor)
- Angled spatula (this one is good
- Parchment paper (where to buy unbleached parchment paper)
- Small bowl
Instructions for Filling
- Heat the coconut milk and water gently in a 2 quart pot until it is smooth and a little warm
- As the milk is heating, lightly sprinkle the gelatin over the coconut milk and constantly whisk it in
- Add in the vanilla and stevia and keep whisking until all the gelatin is combined
- Pour the milk into a bowl — if there are lumps of the gelatin use a sieve to strain it when pouring it in
- Place the bowl in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes until it starts to thicken
- Remove from refrigerator — you will use this to fill the crust when it is cool
Ingredients for crust
- 1 Tbsp gelatin + 2 Tbsp warm water or one medium egg
- 3 tablespoon raw honey (where to buy honey)
- 4 tablespoon butter or ghee — room temperature (how to make ghee)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups almond flour (where to buy almond flour) (how to make almond flour)
- 1/4 cup coconut flour plus 1 tablespoon if necessary (where to buy coconut flour)
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt (where to buy sea salt, spices and extracts)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions for crust
- In the food processor mix the almond flour, coconut flour, salt and baking soda
- In the bowl place two Tbsp warm water
- Sprinkle the one Tbsp of gelatin onto the water while whisking it together — skip step 2 and 3 if you are using an egg — simply use the egg instead.
- Add the honey to the mix and whisk
- Add the vanilla and whisk
- Add this into the processor and mix
- Next, while the food processor is running, drop in small pieces of the softened ghee or butter until the dough starts to make a ball
- (It may not form a perfect ball, but that is OK — if the dough looks too wet, add a little more flour one tablespoon at a time)
- Remove from processor and place in the well greased tart pan that is lined with parchment paper
- Work the dough into the pan and build up the and sides all around
- Pierce the dough with a fork all around the bottom
- Place in oven at 325 degrees F for 12 – 16 minutes or until browned
- Remove from oven and cool
- When cool, loosen the crust first by gently pushing up to remove the bottom piece out of wall piece of the tart pan
- With a thin spatula — inserted under the parchment paper — carefully slide the crust out of the bottom piece of the tart pan, onto a serving plate
- Place this in the freezer until ready to fill
Putting It Together
- Pour the thickened coconut milk into the crust
- Place the fruit in a decorative pattern in the coconut milk
- Carefully place back into the refrigerator for 2 hours before serving
- Prep Time: Crust — 10 minutes Filling — 10 minutes
- Cook Time: Crust — 15 minutes Filling — 1 hour in refrigerator