Food Diary: a WOW! paleo dessert

On Thursday evening, Dustin and I had dinner with our good friends, Jon and Ashleigh.  They grilled chicken, and it was delicious!

I decided to bring a dessert, and of course, it had to be Paleo-friendly!

I looked in my new cookbook, Paleo Comfort Foods, and found a recipe for Cool Berry Tart.  It was easy to make, and SO delicious!  I topped it with a little homemade whipped cream.  We were all very impressed.  It was actually what we would consider “restaurant-worthy.”  Here’s the recipe… you should totally give this a try!  For other dessert ideas, check out this post.

Cool Berry Tart

For the Filling:

1 cup water

1 tbs honey

2 cups strawberries

2 cups blackberries

(note: I did not have fresh fruit, so I used 2 cups of frozen blackberry/raspberry/blueberry mixture, thawed)

For the Crust

1 1/2 cups almond flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 cup macadamia nut or other neutral-tasting oil (note: I used melted coconut oil)

1 tbs honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Heat water, honey, and berries in a medium sauce pan.  Crush berries with potato masher, and simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  The fruit filling should reduce by a fourth.

2. While fruit is simmering, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

3. Combine almond flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl.

4. Mix honey, oil, and vanilla in a separate bowl, and pour the wet ingredients into the dry.  Mix until throughly combined.

5. Press the dough into a pie pan, and bake for 10 minutes, or until light brown.

6. Remove crust from oven, and allow to cool for 5 minutes.  If you time it right, your fruit filling should be done now, and cooling.

7. After fruit mixture has cooled a bit, pour into crust, and place in refrigerator for 1 hour before serving.

Whipped Cream

I poured 2 cups of organic heavy whipping cream into a mixing bowl with 1 tbs honey. Use an electric mixer to whip the cream until it reaches desired  consistency.  The cream will actually double in size.  Start slow, and gradually increase the speed of the mixer.  Be careful not to over-whip, and the cream will start to separate, and will not be as smooth.

(Note: this photo was taken the day after I made the whipped cream… as it sits, it begins to collapse, which is why my whipped cream doesn’t look as “fluffy” as it was the night before.)