Peek-a-Pear Tart (Vegan & Sugar Free) PLUS Cookbook Giveaway

I've been featuring Dutch recipes this month (when I've managed to get around to it, as I've been a bit behind on posting this month!) and what I've found, apart from lots of delicious spiced cakes, biscuits and bread, is a whole list of dishes with adorably cute names. Like the other day I posted a dish called "Naked Babies in the Grass", a name which - quite frankly- made me insanely happy. I've also posted some Lazybones Buns, another great name! So, even though I invented this dish myself, I thought I'd have a go at giving it a cute name in honour of Dutch food month. You can keep your eye on the blog for the rest of the month too, as I have a couple of other Dutch dishes with lovely names to post as well.

This lovely dish came about when a patient of mine turned up to her appointment bearing a big bag of luscious pears from her tree, I love my job! I also love seasonal produce, which is the theme of this month's Sweet Adventure's Blog Hop. So I thought it would be a perfect time to share the pear tart which I made with my big bag of wonderful fresh pears. I made it sugar free, using a peach that I had lying around the house for extra sweetness (because I love experimenting with stuff that I find lying around). It was delicious and quite frankly I felt damn healthy and totally guilt free eating it!

But wait!!! There is actually more!

I'm giving away a shiny brand new copy of the Masterchef Australia Cookbook! This is the first volume of the book and is a fantastic book for cooks of all levels. It's perfect for beginner cooks, because it talks a lot about cooking techniques and how to hone your skills to perfection. But it's also great for accomplished cooks looking for a challenge. Including spectacular Adriano Zumbo recipes such as Chocolate Mousse cake, Vanilla Pannacotta and a superb croquembouche. Unbelievably delicious stuff! To enter the giveaway just checkout the details below.

Disclaimer - I'm sure somebody will come out with criticism because I've labelled this sugar free but obviously the fruit contains sugar. In my opinion a dish is sugar free if I haven't added any sugars myself (cane sugar, coconut sugar, rapidura sugar, honey, maple syrup, agave nectar or any other type of sugar) but I'm simply relying on the natural sweetness of fruit.

And now... the actual tart!

Ingredients
4 dried dates
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup blanched almonds
2 tbsp self raising flour
1 ripe peach
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
500g ripe pears
1 tbsp lemon juice

To Make
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Soak the dried dates in 1-2 tbsp hot water for 5-10 minutes.
3. To make the base: Place the oats, almonds, flour and spices in a food processor and process to form a coarse meal. Drain the dates (keep the liquid aside).
4. Add the dates and the sliced peach to the food processor and process until well combined. It should form a thick ball of dough which is not too sticky to touch, but moist enough to stay together and not be crumbly. However, the actual consistency may vary depending on the juiciness of the peach you use.If it is too sticky, add a little more flour, if it is too crumbly and dry add a little of the date soaking water until you get the consistency just right.
5. Grease a tart tin with a removable base and line the bottom with baking paper. Press the base down in an even layer all over the bottom of the tart tin. Press it down and smooth it out with the back of a spoon and then bake it in the oven for 10 minutes (keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get brown on top).
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, meanwhile reduce the oven temperature to about 170. While it is cooling, take about 1/4 cup of chopped, peeled pear and place it in your food processor with 1 tsp water and the tbsp lemon juice. Purée until it is a smooth liquid. Set this aside and get slicing the rest of your pears (no need to remove the skin this time!).
7. Arrange the sliced pears over the base and brush the top with the pear and lemon puree. Put it back in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the pears are tender to pierce with a knife.
8. Serve hot (preferably with a big scoop of vanilla soy ice cream - although that will negate the 'healthy' and 'sugar free' aspects of this dessert! Do it anyway though...)

Serves 6-8.

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