Salted Caramel Chocolate Crunch Tart

During the past couple of years, Robert and I have transformed the way we eat. Meat and fish rarely grace our kitchen nowadays. We eat an almost entirely vegetarian diet, and we love vegan plant-based options. Why have we made this choice? Initially, it was because we were so concerned about climate change and the mismanagement of earth’s incredible resources. But as we began to try vegetarian and vegan recipes, we just fell in love with the food we were eating.

You may see from my MENU that I have started to indicate which dishes are vegan. My favourite source of vegan recipes is the BOSH! cookbook by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby.

Some time ago, I realized that the Sweets/Dessert Menu on my blog was the least vegan selection. So I decided to call on the help of the BOSH! boys to correct that. Today I wanted to feature one of their very easy but nut-ouriosly delicious sweet recipes. Whenever we include this at garden parties, it disappears within minutes. Salted caramel, chocolate and nuts – very hard to resist.

INGREDIENTS

1 packet of ready-rolled dairy free short crust pastry
160g coconut cream
200g light brown sugar
2tsp sea salt
200g hazelnuts
100g pecans
100g dark chocolate
2 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD

Line a baking tray or brownie tin. Unroll the pastry onto the lined tray, making sure that the edges of the pastry fold up the sides of the tray. Press the pastry into the corners of the tray. Chill in the freezer for ten minutes.

Then bake the pastry in a hot oven for thirty minutes. Take the tray out of the oven and set aside.

Meanwhile, put a medium saucepan over a medium heat. Pour in the coconut cream and stir so that it becomes completely liquid. Pour in the sugar and stir continuously for five minutes, until the mixture thickens and darkens in colour. Sprinkle in the salt and stir it into the caramel.

Put the hazelnuts and pecans into a mortar and break them up with the pestle. Tip the broken nuts into the pan and stir them in so that they’re well covered in the caramel sauce. Break the chocolate into the pan and stir until it has melted into the caramel and the nuts are completely covered. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the vanilla extract and set aside.

Pour the nutty chocolate caramel into the pastry base and spread it out to the edges. Smooth the top with a spatula. Put the tart back in the oven for just three minutes, then take it out and let it cool to room temperature in the tin. Put the cooled tart in the fridge for thirty minutes to cool down and firm up.

Take the tart out of the fridge and carefully remove it from the tin. Cut into slices and serve.

It’s a simple recipe to follow, but wonderful the BOSH! boys have produced a video which makes it seem so much easier: