It is not so difficult to use sugar and unrefined foods; practice in the kitchen preparing “natural” desserts introduces us to a new and enjoyable way of eating. It’s true that more sugar we eat the more we need sugar.; if we then prepare sweets often better to rely on the sugars naturally in foods. In cooking courses I followed at Cascina Rosa, at the National Cancer Institute of Milan, I learned the techniques and ingredients used to make sweets without sugar or refined flour … .. delicious desserts in which the ingredients are skillfully dosed and fruit (raisins, figs, etc … ..) is used to sweeten. Sweets that can also be prepared without eggs, milk, butter and oil .. …. I made these Vegan Pies from the basic knowledge acquired in these courses using exotic ingredients like dates and coconut flour … .. to which I added cocoa powder and orange … ..
Ingredients for about 6 Vegan Pies (about 8 cm in diameter):
For the vegan dough: 100 grams of Kamut wholemeal flour , 50 grams of coconut flour, 4 tablespoons rice malt syrup, 60 ml of freshly squeezed orange juice, 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder, 1/2 teaspoon of yeast (made from cream of tartar), a pinch of salt.
For the filling: 200 grams of natural dates (dried), 100 ml of freshly squeezed orange juice (about the juice of an orange), the grated rind of anorganic orange, 2 teaspoons of malto rice syrup, 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder, 2 teaspoons of whole rice flour.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Bring to boil about a quart of water in a pan: place the dates in a bowl, pour over water to cover them and let it sit for an hour to hydrate
Meanwhile prepare the vegan dought: place all ingredients in a bowl and half of the orange juice. Start kneading, stirring with a wooden spoon and slowly add the remaining juice until the ingredients are mixed and the dough reaches a soft consistency. Knead also with your hands for a few minutes the dough onto a work surface and form a ball: wrap with plastic wrap and let it rest for half an hour in a cool place
Prepare the topping cream dates: drain well the dates, remove pits and cut into pieces with a knife. Place them in a blender along with the orange zest, rice malt, cocoa, rice flour and half of the orange juice, wire whisk and add the remaining juice until creamy consistency of a fruit jam.
The cream of dates must be fairly homogeneous although they will still see many small pieces of date
With a rolling pin, roll out the dough of the tarts. Knead the dough, taking between two sheets of non-stick baking paper so they do not stick to the work surface and rolling pin. With the molds tarts cut circles of dough
Brush with a little oil the molds, insert the disc of dough and fill with 2 or 3 teaspoons of cream . Level the cream with a spoon, gently fold into the interior edges of the dough and place in the oven at 180 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Allow to cool and serve dusted with coconut flour.
