Vegan Raspberry Tarts with Vanilla Custard, Tangerine Caramel, and Chocolate Cookie Crust

Tangerine Caramel Sauce

1 cup almond, soy, or coconut milk (I used half almond, half coconut)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cane sugar
1 tablespoon organic corn syrup or brown rice syrup
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tangerines, zested and juiced.
1/4 teaspoon sea salt.

Combine all ingredients in a medium sized, heavy bottom sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. You want the mixture to stay at a low to medium boil for about 15 to 25 minutes. The time depends on how thick you want your caramel sauce to be. 15 minutes will give you a drizzly caramel at room temperature. 25 minutes will give you the kind of caramel you need to heat before drizzling. Once you have reached the desired consistency, remove from heat. Add in the tangerine juice, zest, and salt. Stir to combine. If you accidentally take your caramel farther than intended, you can add a little extra almond, coconut, or soy milk to thin it out.

Chocolate Cookie Crust

1/3 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup Earth Balance, room temperature
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (for gluten free, use your favorite all-purpose GF mix)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons almond, soy, or coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and the Earth Balance, until light. About 3 minutes. Add cocoa powder, flour, and salt. Mix to combine. Add milk and vanilla. You will have a fairly sturdy dough.

Press dough into desired tart pans. I used four 4-inch round tart tins. You can also make one large 9 or 10 inch tart. Using a fork, poke a few holes in the bottom on the crust to prevent air bubbles when baking. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Gently line the unbaked tart shells with foil. Place pie weights, uncooked beans or rice into center of foil lined tart shells to ensure they bake flat. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on size of tart shells. Tarts are done when edges are lightly browned. Let cool.

Vanilla Custard

3 tablespoons corn starch3/4 cup cane sugar
1 cup soy milk
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons Earth Balance

Combine corn starch and sugar in a medium saucepan. Slowly whisk in the coconut milk and soy milk. Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, for about 7 to 10 minutes. Once the mixture reaches a boil, it will begin to thicken. Cook another minute or so. Add salt, vanilla, and Earth Balance. Stir to combine. Let cool.

To Assemble the Tarts

Spread a thin layer of tangerine caramel in the bottom on each tart shell. Add a layer of vanilla custard on top of the caramel. Top the tarts with fresh raspberries and tangerine zest. Drizzle with more caramel.

Vegan Vanilla Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (without an ice cream machine!)

Vanilla Cashew Ice Cream Base

Ingredients
4 oz cashews, raw unsalted
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/3 cup agave syrup
3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 vanilla bean (split lengthwise, seeds scraped)  or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (optional, for texture)
1/4 cup chocolate chips (or any other add-ins you would like)


2 different sized large Ziploc bags (1 small enough to fit inside the other)
3-6 cups of ice
1/4-1/2 cup rock, kosher, or table salt

If you have the time, soak the cashews in the water overnight. Alternately, you can simmer the cashews in  the water for 15 minutes, cool slightly. Either way, reserve liquid. I think in this case, I prefer the simmer method. The warmth from the cashew water helps dissolve the raw sugar.

Place cashews, water, sugar, agave, coconut oil, salt, vanilla bean seeds, and xanthan gum in a blender or food processor. Blend on high until completely smooth. I use my Vitamix and it makes the cashew base super creamy.

If you do happen to have an electric powered ice cream machine, you can use this base and follow manufacturers directions at this point. If not...

Pour ice cream base into the smaller of the two Ziploc bags. I could only fit about half of the ice cream base into my smaller bag so I did this in two batches. Remove as much air as possible from the bag and seal it tightly and securely. Place this bag inside the larger zip lock bag. Fill the larger bag with enough ice to surround the smaller bag, with a little bit of room for movement. Sprinkle the ice with the salt and seal the bag.

*The salt actually lowers the melting point of ice, essentially allowing ice to be even colder for longer. Ice cream needs to be surrounded by temperatures lower than 32 degrees F in order to freeze. When you add salt to the ice, the melting point becomes lower than 0 degrees F. Science!!!

Now its time to shake. A lot.

I recommend a round of your current favorite show on Netflix. It helps pass the time while you shake away. This definitely takes a bit of elbow grease and it is nice to have another person to take turns with. My sister and I even tossed it back and forth like a weird game of catch. The bag gets cold. Like REALLY cold. And there is a lot of condensation. Wrap the whole thing in 2 or 3 towels. Gloves make this even easier. But you basically want to keep it moving until the mixture becomes mostly solid. The movement inhibits the formation of ice crystals.

Ice crystals=grainy ice cream.

 No ice crystals=creamy smooth deliciousness. 

This will take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes. Once it reaches the desired consistency, remove smaller bag from ice and rinse off the salt water. Gently fold in the chocolate chips. You can either leave it right in the Ziploc bag or transfer to an airtight freezer safe container. Place into the freezer for at least an hour to finish the freezing process.