It’s that time of year again. Beautiful Autumn colours, Thanksgiving, cozy sweaters and Halloween…which means its also the time for everything pumpkin!
I adore Fall on the West Coast. Its mild out still but your craving comforting clothes, flavours and smells. The most familiar of these comforting Autumn aromatic blends, is the pumpkin and cinnamon combo. Naturally I wanted to bake up something healthy and scrumptious with this dynamically delicious duo.
There are so many amazing options out there (once again I wasted an obscene amount of time lost in the sea of recipes on Pinterest). I wanted something vegan, refined sugar free, more bite sized than a pie and easy ….that’s not too much to ask is it?? ;p
With these qualities in mind I narrowed my options and delightfully stumbled upon THIS pumpkin cupcake recipe that almost fit the bill. The next step was to tweak it to my liking, and as I began looking through the cupboards and brainstorming …it transformed from cupcake to tart with the addition of a quick homemade grain free crust I compiled of dates, shredded coconut and walnuts. Mission accomplished!
This date bar/pumpkin pie rebirth is positively mind blowing (modest aren’t I…jeeze), and going to be a staple for all my Fall get togethers and feasts!
I think you and your family will feel the same when you see how simple and warming this clean treat is 🙂
Vegan Pumpkin Tarts
Makes 12 regular muffin tin sized tarts
Ingredients
- 1 can pumpkin or 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
- 2 very ripe bananas
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar ( I adjusted this amount, the original recipe calls for 1/2 cup)
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
For the crust:
- 1/4 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup dry walnuts (not soaked)
- 1 cup dates
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Preheat oven to 350.
Start by adding all your crust ingredients to your food processor and pulsing until it is all “mulched” with a slightly mealy/chunky texture. It should press and ball together in your hand. Scoop generous slightly overfilled tablespoon for each tart crust. Ball up and then press into the bottom of the muffin tin with the backside of the spoon.
In a clean food processor bowl, combine all the filling ingredients and blend until there are no lumps and everything is mixed through. Spoon the filling into the muffin tins over top the crusts. I used silicone muffin molds and used thin strips I made from parchment paper under the crusts so there are handy “tabs” to help remove the tarts (when cooled). .Bake for 20-25 minutes. Place in the fridge to cool completely (2 hours) before attempting to remove them, as they are very soft.
XO
Notice there is only one tart left in the picture now …mmmm ;p
Macros for 1 serving:
Cals: 158
Fat: 6.6g
Carbs: 24.4g
Protein: 2.2g