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Black Cherry + Marmalade No-Bake Galette with a Hazelnut-Maple-Cacao Crust

I first published a version of this recipe about a year-and-a-half ago, and I’m still quite proud of it! The original version was made in a pie tin. This version is rolled out on a baking sheet. Either way, you don’t bake it but actually freeze it.

Few desserts are as intensely flavorful. Consider ingredients like flour, butter, cream, sugar… all very nice, but lacking in flavor — and nutrition. Meanwhile, practically everything we use here tastes like something — and is packed with nutrition. I mean, cacao and cherries — talk about an antioxidant powerhouse! All these flavors together — cherries and orange peel; hazelnut and chocolate; maple and vanilla — together, they’re a symphony. And of course since there are no raw eggs, you can totally lick the spoon.

This recipe is vegan, virtuous, almost entirely raw, and without refined sugars (except for the little bit in the marmalade). Serve it frozen, slice and eat like a pizza. (Once it starts to thaw, it gets floppy and harder to eat out of hand).

For the Crust

  • 2 C hazelnut meal
  • 1/2 C dark maple syrup
  • 1/2 C pecan butter
  • 2/3 C raw cacao powder
  • 1 fat pinch pink salt

For the Filling

  • 1 10-oz bag frozen dark sweet cherries, thawed (see notes)
  • 1/2 C coconut cream
  • 1/2 C thick orange marmalade
  • 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract

Ingredients notes:

  • I use the Cadia brand of frozen cherries, as they’re consistently dark and sweet. And organic. And reasonably priced.
  • I’m serious about you needing to thaw them. Frozen cherries will solidify the coconut cream, and the resulting mix may be too thick for your blender.
  • Do make sure to use dark maple syrup vs. “golden amber.” It has a stronger flavor.
  • you can of course substitute another nut meal for hazelnut, and another nut butter for pecan.

Directions

  1. in a mixing bowl, combine crust ingredients.
  2. Roll the crust out on a piece of parchment paper. It can be round, oval, I don’t care. Galettes are supposed to be rustic, a little rough around the edges. Roll it as thin as a thin-crust pizza. Again, this doesn’t need to be too precise.
  3. Roll up the edges of the crust just a little bit
  4. Blenderize the filling ingredients.
  5. Spread the filling on the crust. Freeze. Serve frozen. Cut with a pizza roller if you want to be interesting about it. Top with something if you want, too. Thin-cut

This keeps for at least a few weeks in the freezer.

DessertWhat's Cooking

Pomegranate, Pistachios, Saffron & Honey in a Cloud of Yogurt

delectable | breakfast or dessert | antioxidant-rich

I’ve been making some version of this Persian-inflected dish forever, but I’ve never had a good name for it.  (“Silk Road Raita?”) A symphony of flavors and textures and colors.  The creamy yogurt, the heft of the pistachios, the little pomegranate arils bursting with each bite. It’s a deeply satisfying breakfast, a light lunch, or snack. Add a little extra honey, and it’s an eccentric but deeply satisfying (and guilt-free!) dessert.  Or place it on the Thanksgiving table in place of cranberry sauce. Why not?

Pistachios are quite healthy, even by nut standards.  Like most nuts, they’re rich in protein, fiber, healthy fats, trace minerals and magnesium. Pistachios are also especially rich in plant lignans that may lower cholesterol.  Meanwhile, pomegranate’s heart health benefits have been very well documented.  Yogurt, with its probiotics and protein.  And then saffron.  Yes, it’s the most expensive spice on Earth!  But, as Dr. Bill Mitchell used to say, two servings of saffron tea still costs less than a single latte1.

6 servings | all quantities are approximate

2 medium-large pomegranates, about 3 cups1 C raw unsalted shelled pistachios
1-2 C unsweetened yoghurtoptional: a big fat pinch saffron
optional: honey to tasteOptional: splash of orange blossom water
  1. Get the arils out of the pomegranate.  This takes a while.  Sit down, put on some music, enjoy a conversation while you do it. There’s a nice video tutorial here.
  2. Very coarsely chop the pistachios. 
  3. Mix the pistachios together with the yogurt and pomegranate. 
  4. Either in the bowl or in individual serving dishes, drizzle on the honey, sprinkle the saffron, splash the orange blossom water

This dish keep 4-5 days in the fridge, although you’ll lose some of the nice crunch of the pistachios the longer it sits.

  1. In Plant Medicine in Clinical Practice, Dr. Mitchell talks about saffron tea. Add ten strands of saffron to a mug, pour over boiling water. Let set a few minutes. Drink — including the threads. 2 cups a day is a solid dose, and the mood-elevating effects are often noticeable within a week. Saffron also contains water- and fat-soluble carotenoids that can protect the eyes. Dr. Mitchell describes using it for cerebral edema, although that is beyond the scope of this recipe — and my own personal experience. Much of the recent research on saffron has focused on weight control — and it appears to work — although it works primarily if not entirely by modulating mood (and thus appetite), and this how we approach food ↩︎

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BreakfastDessertWhat's Cooking

Riceberry Pudding / Porridge

I love this recipe!  First, it’s easy.  Second, it lasts 5 days in the fridge.  Third, it’s versatile, and in so many ways: you can serve it hot or cold, for breakfast or dessert, smoothly blended or chunky.  You can top it with coconut milk, golden raisins, coconut chips, or freshly diced sweet mango.   

This recipe uses Riceberry, a whole grain purple rice from Thailand.  It has all the nutrition of a brown rice (healthy protein and fiber, plus additional antioxidants), but cooks in about half the time.   It’s soft, chewy, and little sticky.  [editor’s note:    

Adzuki beans make this dish hearty and filling.  Native to East Asia, adzukis pack 17 g protein and 17 g fiber per cup (cooked).  Their somewhat sweet and nutty flavor makes them a great option for both sweet and savory dishes.  All that extra nutrition makes this dish a great breakfast because it keeps me fuller for longer, and it’s chock full of goodness.   

Serves 6-8.  10 minutes prep.  30 minutes simmering 

12.2-oz can sweetened evaporated coconut milk (I use the Nature’s Charm brand) 2 C cooked adzuki beans (1 15-oz can, or made from scratch as per directions below) 
½ C raw riceberry rice 3 Tbsp coconut sugar 
Salt to taste, water as needed Some fun toppings! 

1. Make the rice.  Rinse and place in a heavy-bottom pot with 1 C water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to lowest setting, cover and cook 25 min.  Let sit covered another 10.  Fluff with a fork.  NOTE: this makes slightly more than 1 C, so save the rest for topping, or add to make a thicker pudding. 

2. If cooking the adzuki beans, put beans in a pot with plenty of water. The general rule is 1 part beans to 4 parts water. Cook until the beans are VERY tender. 45 – 60min.  Drain and set aside. 

3. Using a blender or food processor, blend adzuki beans, 1 cup cooked riceberry rice, coconut milk and coconut sugar together till smooth. Add salt to taste. (I added a heaping ¼ tsp). 

4. Serve with chopped mango or whatever other toppings you’re inspired by.  You’ll find that you have some leftover rice and beans, so if you want to add texture to your pudding, add some and give it a stir. Too thick for your taste? Add more coconut milk! Enjoy. 

BreakfastDessertWhat's Cooking

Black Cherry Freezer Tart with a Hazelnut-Chocolate Crust

This one is an absolute winner, on every level. It is easy to make. No oven needed: just a blender and a freezer. And it’s DEEEE-licious, at a very high level. Impressive enough for guests, and nourishing enough for breakfast.  100% plant-based, and almost entirely raw. It’s packed with phytonutrients from hazelnuts, raw cacao, orange peel, and dark cherries. No refined starches, and almost no refined sweeteners. 

It’s thin, like a pizza. And like pizza, you can eat a slice with your hands.  

I make sure to use sweet black (not tart red) cherries. I use the Cadia brand of frozen cherries, because they’re always in season, and I don’t have to put them. I also use the Bono brand of organic Italian blood orange marmalade, which adds a deeper flavor than a generic orange-orange.   

Makes ~150 square inches of tart (That’s one 14-inch round, 2 10-inch rounds, or 8 2½-inch tartlets).  

for the CRUST 

  • 2 C hazelnut meal 
  • ½ C raw nut butter. I used Brazil nut. 
  • ½ C maple syrup 
  •  ¾ C raw cacao powder 
  • fat pinch salt 

for the FILLING 

  • 10 oz pitted cherries (frozen is fine) 
  • ¾ C coconut manna 
  • ½ C orange marmalade 
  • ½ Tbsp vanilla extract 
  • optional pomegranate molasses 
  1. In a bowl, combine crust ingredients with your hands. Using your fingers and palms, press crust into your dish(es), with outer ridges about a quarter-inch high. (You can line your dishes with parchment paper, to remove the tart intact. Or just struggle, like I do).   
  2. Blenderize the filling. The filling is thick, so you want a strong blender. And you want your ingredients close to room temp, so they don’t thicken up too much. If you want more tartness and oomph, add pomegranate molasses to taste. Spread filling into crust with a spatula.   
  3. Freeze. Serve frozen, or very slightly thawed.   
  4. You can garnish with very thinly sliced stone fruit, crystallized ginger, chopped nuts, cacao nibs, edible flowers… or nothing at all. In the pic, I used sliced fresh cherries & chopped red walnuts 

DessertUncategorizedWhat's Cooking

Gajar ka Halwa

Rich Carrot Dessert Porridge with Cardamom+ Cashews

This dessert is easy to make. It requires patience, but no skill. It’s also grain-free, and about 50% vegetable; rich with dairy, and sweet with jaggery. Toddlers love it. Grown-ups devour it. “Gajar” (carrot) halwa may be the most familiar halwa, but you can also make halwa from beets, summer squash, even grains or red lentils. 

You’ll see other gajar ka halwas that are golden-reddish-amber in color, glowing and almost translucent. Meanwhile, this one is a little dusky. That’s because they use white sugar, and we use dark, rich jaggery. Also, we don’t peel the carrots. Trust me: this one is pretty enough, and it also tastes better. Plus, it’s more nutritious. I love jaggery, by the way. It has such a rich flavor. I make ice cream with it. I make cobblers with it. It’s the secret ingredient in the Debra’s kitchen oatmeal raisin cookies.

ANYWAYS — you can serve halwa warm or cold. You can even press it flat into a casserole pan about an inch deep, and chill it so it firms up. Then you cut it into rectangles or trapezoids for serving, like brownies you eat by hand. I strongly suggest serving it warm and soft, with a spoon, with vanilla ice cream.

Serves 8 nicely

¼-½ cup cow ghee ¼ C cashews or combination raw nuts
2 pounds carrots, grated medium fine 6 cups whole milk
1+ cup jaggery (crude unrefined sugar)1 generous tsp cardamon powder

Optional: 10 saffron threads, ¼ C golden raisins

Optional Substitutions: coconut milk for milk (use less); date or maple sugar for jaggery; coconut oil for ghee.  You can also use a spiced ghee like the chai-infused ghee from Ahara Rasa, new on our shelves this month.

1. Melt 1 Tbsp ghee over low heat in a large, wide, heavy bottom pot. (Wide and heavy are both important. Wide, so step 2 reduces faster. Heavy, so nothing burns).  Fry the cashews, stirring constantly. Then stir in the optional raisins until plump and shiny. Remove and set aside.       

2. To the same pot, add carrots, milk, and optional saffron. Cook at medium, stirring frequently, until milk has almost fully absorbed/evaporated.  You’ll see that when you push or stir the halwa aside, the liquid doesn’t fill back in again. This may take an hour.  

3. Add jaggery, and the halwa will become syrupy again. Cook until the jaggery is mostly absorbed, another 5 or so minutes. Use a little more jaggery if your carrots weren’t very sweet to begin with. 

4. Add the remaining ghee, and cardamon powder. Cook 4-5 more minutes. Garnish with nuts and raisins. You can do it up all pretty and geometrical like in the photo, or just scatter them.   

DessertWhat's Cooking

Maple Date Pudding

February is the month of love, which usually means chocolate. To switch that up, here’s a sweet recipe using dates and a touch of maple syrup. And it’s a pudding and not a date fudge, cake or date candy. Food writer Nigel Slater says that “the potential power of a good pudding to save the world should not be under-estimated.” He wonders if pudding might actually stop war!

Dates have been eaten for thousands of years by athletes to improve physical endurance, agility, and stamina. They are said to be good for our brain, for our bones, and they are also high in fiber.

I’ve fallen in love with new varieties of organic dates we’ve been carrying. Three of those, Halawy, Zahidis and Honey, are drier, firmer dates, which work well in this recipe. Oasis Date Gardens out of CA (the oldest organic date grower in this country) says Halawys are chewy with a caramel-candy flavor. The first Halawy offshoots imported in commercial quantity arrived in 1913 from Iraq. Honey dates, chewy with skin separation and a warm honey flavor, were popularized from a seedling started in the Coachella Valley. Zahidis, introduced from Iraq in the 1900s, are roundish with a golden color when ripe. You’ll find these in our produce department!

Serves 4

1½ C pitted semi-dry dates (read above) ¼ C maple syrup
½ C smooth peanut butter or almond butter 1 tsp real vanilla extract
½ tsp cinnamon 1 C full-fat coconut milk or other milk
1 Tbsp lemon juicepinch good salt

Pit dates (slit date lengthwise on one side and pull the pit out – it’s easy!). Insert knife blade into food processor. Put dates, maple syrup, peanut or almond butter, lemon juice, vanilla, cinnamon and pinch salt in processor and pulse to combine. Then process briefly with half the milk. Note: half! If you add all the liquid right away, the food processor will tend to spray milk from under the cover. Add remaining milk and run processor another minute. You want some chunks of date left. Spoon into little mousse dishes. Serve well-chilled.

DessertUncategorizedWhat's Cooking

Damascus Cobbler

This is the “before” picture. This mammoth 5+ pound cobbler is almost ready to load in the oven.

This is not a traditional Persian recipe, although it borrows some flavor cues from the region. It’s a cobbler. And who doesn’t love cobbler? Sweet, simple, mostly fruit. And if you’re a novice baker (like I am), hard to screw up.

Here, we take everything great about the traditional apple cobbler – the sweet, the tart, the spice – and then build on and amplify those flavors. We trade out simple white sugar for complex dark jaggery.  We punch up traditional cinnamon with bright orange blossom water and peppery Grains of Paradise.  We deepen the whole affair with just enough – but not too much! – pomegranate molasses and blackstrap molasses.  If we get our proportions just right, we intensify, but not overpower. You still taste the apples.

And that’s the filling.  The crust is perfect.  Dates to add more than sweetness. Nuts to replace some of the flour cut starch while adding richness.

This recipe serves a lot!  It will easily feed 12 hungry people. I figure, if you’re going to make it, you might as well really make it.  It’s good enough for dessert right out of the oven (with vanilla ice cream, please!) and healthy enough for breakfast the rest of the week (on its own, or with yogurt).   

Makes enough for 12 Preheat oven to 350 

FILLINGTOPPING
5 pounds good apples (see below) 1¼ C chopped dates (try our ready-to-use) 
¼ C dark jaggery or coconut sugar 1¼ C butter and/or coconut oil 
¼ C blackstrap molasses 1¼ C rolled oats 
1/8 C pomegranate molasses 1¼ C flour (I use whole wheat pastry)** 
2 Tbsp Ceylon cinnamon 1¼ C chopped and/or sliced nuts 
1 tsp nutmeg ⅓ C dark jaggery or coconut sugar 
1 tsp grains of paradise 1 tsp good salt 
1 tsp dry ginger 2 tsp Ceylon cinnamon 
1 Tbsp orange blossom water Optional: ½ C chopped dried apricots 
  1. Start with large baking vessel like a lasagna pan or dutch oven, or two smaller ones. Then, select your apples. I like heirloom russets when I can get them — these are the ones with the rough skins.  When I can’t, I ask someone in our produce department what’s good.  
  2. Core and chop the apples.  You can chop them into wedges, or chunks.  You don’t have to peel them.  (It’s easier not to peel, and you also gain the nutrition in the peels).   
  3. Grind Grains of Paradise in a mortar and pestle, pepper or spice grinder. 
  4. Mix all the filling ingredients together in a large baking dish and stir well.  Add a few fat pinches of flour to hold everything together. 
  5. Melt the fats.  Mix all the crust ingredients together with the melted fats.   
  6. Distribute the crust over the filling.  It’s better if you crumble crust over filling with your hands. 
  7. Bake at 350 for an hour.  Let sit 10 minutes before serving. 

*I suppose I should explain the name.  To be clear, this is not a traditional Persian recipe.  Sure, it uses Persian ingredients, but also oats, cinnamon, blackstrap molasses, and… apples.  No, mostly it’s called “Damascus Cobbler” because it sounds kind of catchy.  ** While I use whole wheat pastry flour, I know Debra would use einkorn.  You can use whatever flour you want. 

Baked GoodsBreakfastDessertWhat's Cooking

Best. Pecan. Pie. Ever.

This pecan pie recipe appears in our first cookbook, If Kallimos Had a Chef. We continue to make it in our kitchen because we love it! Like the New England farm cooks of old, we use pure maple syrup for flavor. I thicken the syrup a bit by adding barley malt, and carob or cocoa powder, which also makes the flavors more complex. Our kitchen uses brown rice syrup instead of barley malt, so their filling is gluten-free. Both versions yield a rich-tasting pie that is yummy.

Serves 6-8 Bake at 350 degrees

1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust* 1½ C pecan halves
1 C pure dark maple syrup ½ C barley malt or brown rice syrup
2 Tbsp carob or cocoa powder 4 eggs, beaten
¼ tsp good salt ½ tsp nutmeg

Place pie plate (with crust inside!) on cookie sheet.

Using an electric mixer, food processor or a wooden spoon, beat together all ingredients, except pecans. When mixed, stir in pecans and pour pie filling into crust. Put cookie sheet with filled pie crust into the preheated oven. Bake about an hour, or until pie is slightly firm to touch and nicely browned. Yes, the pecans rise to top of pie as it bakes. Isn’t that fun? Allow pie to cool on a rack.

*We sell ready-made pie crusts, both whole wheat and gluten-free. For folks like me who don’t have the patience to make crusts!

Baked GoodsDessertWhat's Cooking

Organic Summer Cobbler

First, I made a buckle, which is like a cake with berries folded in, and lots and lots of fat.  Then I said, “Whoa, girl!  There must be a better way.”  Cobbler!  A cobbler differs from a buckle because the fruit goes in the baking dish and a scant crumble topping goes on top.  A cobbler bakes for a shorter period, is less work, and contains fewer calories, which gives one permission to dollop ice cream or whipped cream on top.

In summer, I eat right out of the garden, barely turning on the oven.  Therefore, I give myself permission to bake a cobbler when friends come over.  And it makes a great breakfast with yogurt, too. To add protein to my cobblers, I mix nut flour (any ground nut or ground seeds) with the flour (einkorn is my favorite because it’s a hardy, ancient grain from the wheat family, but you choose another if you need to be gluten-free.).  Use any organic fruit you like.  Nectarines are my preference because the skin isn’t fuzzy and I don’t peel them, and I chose blueberries because I like dark blue as color contrast.

Serves 6-8  |  bake at 375 degrees  |  use a 9×13 pan

Filling

Topping
3 C organic berries (blueberries are my favorite) 1 C almond flour
6 C sliced nectarines (¼-inch thick) 1 C einkorn flour
1 tsp cinnamon powder ½ C coconut sugar
¼ C maple syrup ½ tsp good salt like Celtic, Himalayan
¼ tsp almond extract ½ C grass-fed butter or coconut oil
additional grass-fed butter or coconut oil for greasing

Preheat oven to 375.  Grease your pan.  In a bowl, toss fruit with cinnamon, maple syrup and almond extract.  My mother, Beatrice, always said that a few drops of almond extract bring out the flavor of stone fruit like peaches and nectarines.  Toss everything together gently.  Place fruit in baking dish and smoosh it slightly with your hand or fist so it’s level in your pan.

Using the steel blade of the food processor, pulse (one second pulses) the topping 4-6 times.  Scrape down work bowl.  Give another 2 or 3 one-second pulses.  You want your crumble topping crumbly.  Don’t over-pulse.  Using your hands, distribute crumble topping over fruit.

Bake cobbler about 20-30 minutes, or until fruit is bubbling and topping is just beginning to brown.  Serve hot, room temp or cold.  Serve as is or with a scoop of ice cream or dollops of whipped cream.   Or with yogurt for breakfast!

Baked GoodsBreakfastDessertWhat's Cooking

Tropical Fruit Salad

If you can get all three of these fruits: papayas, pineapple and mangoes, they make a glorious salad.  If you have only one or two of the three, proceed anyway and you will still enjoy.

I’m told that the world eats more mangoes than any other kind of fruit, and that Buddha prized mangoes so much he was given a mango grove to meditate in!

What do all three papayas, pineapples and mangoes have in common?  All three contain enzymes that help with proteins and inflammation.  Papain comes from papayas and mangos, bromelain from pineapple.  Both break down protein.  In fact, papain is the primary ingredient in supermarket “meat tenderizer.”  Mangoes contain enzymes that break down starch.  All three are rich in carotenoids than other fruits, are low in calories, and have lots of gentle fiber.

You want a ripe pineapple, and you can tell whether yours is ripe by its aroma.  Sniff the stem end.  It should smell sweet.  If there’s no scent, your pineapple isn’t ripe yet.  Give it couple of days!

Unlike pineapple, people do eat unripe, green papayas and mangos.  Green, these fruits are said to be richer in enzymes.  The green fruit won’t be good in this salad, but try it sliced and dipped in chili powder or sprinkled with soy sauce.  Try the green fruit grated into a tossed salad, or made into a traditional Indian relish or a pickle.   To be clear, you want ripe fruit for the recipe below.  You want sweet and tender.

Serves 4-6

2 C peeled pineapple chunks 1 C raspberries or blackberries
1 papaya, seeded and cut into 1” cubes 2 Tbsp lime juice
2 mangoes, cut into 1” cubes 1 finely minced jalapeno pepper, opt.
1 C kiwi slices (I peel mine) 1 Tbsp grated ginger, opt.as

Prepare fruit.  Don’t know how to cut these fruits?  Talk to me in the store! 

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Feel free to use more of an ingredient if it suits your taste!  Other mix-ins?  Some honey or maple syrup.  ½ tsp of vanilla extract. 

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