Raw Cardamom Cashew Cream Tartlets

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During my last semester at Pepperdine, I had enrolled in a Regent and Seaver Scholars Colloquium course on Eastern and Western Philosophy and Science. We covered some awesome topics in ethics and philosophy from Confucius, Yoga and Meditation, Chuang Tzu, Desedimentation, Chinese Calligraphy, and Ikebana. When my professor, Dr. Thompson asked our class for topic suggestions that we were interested about, I quickly sent him an email regarding my interest in Ayurvedic Medicine. Just as quickly, I received a reply:

“Would you be willing to teach us about Ayurvedic medicine on February 11?”

What. I was about to teach my first university lecture. I was honored, excited, and also nervous. While I am no expert on Ayurvedic medicine, I have always been intrigued by herbal medicine, and how eating right depends on your body type. With some research, I composed a quick run down on Ayurveda (of course, including a simple Ayurvedic recipe 😛 ). After my lecture, I shared the part I find most interesting about Ayurvedic medicine–that is, how different foods react in certain ways with across people, regardless of allergies. Ayurveda believes that your body dosha influences what foods will make you feel healthier, sluggish, active, and so on. Eventually, this led to a discussion about nutrition and recipe development with my professor, and eventually, him asking me to do a raw vegan cooking demonstration for our last lecture! I was beyond stoked to share one of my greatest passions. For many of my peers, this was their first time ever making or even tasting raw vegan cusine. Since many raw vegan recipes can involve complicated, hard to find ingredients, I decided to present a easier, quick, and delicious way of eating raw vegan foods with this recipe:

Raw Cardamom Cashew Cream Tartlets

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Makes about 12 small tarts:
Crust:
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3 cup dates or dried figs, or mixture of the two
1 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons chia seeds

Cardamom Cashew Cream filling:
2 cup cashews (soaked for at least 4 hours)
1/2 cup almond milk
5-6 tablespoons agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon each of salt, cinnamon and ginger powder
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
seeds from 1 vanilla pod or 2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tablespoons melted coconut oil

Fruit toppings:
berries, passion fruit, star fruit, mango, banana, apple, peach, pineapple—any variety works!
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To make the crust:
Use a food processor to pulse the walnuts until they are crumb-sized. Add the remaining crust ingredients and pulse until the mixture starts sticking together. Depending on the consistency, you may or may not need to add more dates/dried figs. Press this mix into the tartlet mold. You can freestyle this to make thin shallow dishes, or even use a cupcake tray to make a more “deep dish” style tart. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour till sturdy, or stick them in the freezer if you are running low on time.
To make the cardamom cashew cream filling:
Drain the water from the soaked cashews. Blend cashews into cashew butter using a high power blender like Vita-Mix or a food processor. Add in the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Evenly spoon the filling into tart crusts and refrigerate for another 30-45 minutes. Of course, you can eat them right away, but the consistency is more “cheesecake” like the longer you leave them in the fridge to cool. In the mean time, prep your fruit topping. Finally decorate and devour!
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Left over cashew cream? Not to fear–there is so much magic you can do with this stuff! What we did was use a food processor to pulse in some rolled oats, peanut butter, and cacao nibs with the cashew cream to make a cookie dough. Then we rolled them into Raw Vegan PB Cookie dough bites, and refrigerated them! Trust me, you won’t be able to have just one. 😉
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*Note, I have previously experimented with a similar Chai Spiced Cashew Custard Tart recipe while I was in Argentina. This is another variation of cashew cream tarts if you like more of a banana flavor with custard-like texture!
Posted by:Priyanka

I am a Board Certified Physician Assistant with a passion for helping others achieve their optimal health through a plant-based lifestyle. On this blog, I share simple recipes, wellness tips, and ways to practice compassionate living rooted in Jain values of non-violence, non-attachment, and non-absolutism.

One thought on “Raw Cardamom Cashew Cream Tartlets”

  1. This recipe is SO good. I got to take part in the original “cooking” session, and the results were amazing! These are rich yet delicate, satisfying, and wonderfully healthy. I personally love cardamom, so I added a bit more to my cashew cream and sprinkled some ground cardamom on top of the tartlet. Delicious. You could do it with any spice/flavor you particularly like… cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, coconut, etc.

    I can attest to the fact that you can’t eat “just one” of the raw cookie dough bites, too :]

    Like

    Reply

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