Treacle Tart

Treacle tart is Harry Potter’s favourite dessert. He likes it so much, that if you remember correctly, he even smells it from amortentia, the world’s most powerful love potion.

Editor's Note:  Photos of Shiloh's Treacle Tart will be added soon!

Welcome to the first issue of Whispy Quiddy Concoctions where we will be somewhat following in the footsteps of the great quidditch expert Kennilworthy Whisp, who is also a well known vegetarian. One of these days, I plan to go to Nottinghamshire and have a sit down with Mr. Whisp and talk to him about why he hasn’t gone fully vegan. However, that’s for another day.

Contrary to Mr. Whisp, I myself am a raw vegan meaning everything I eat is uncooked, completely raw, and this includes no animal products or animal byproducts such as milk, honey and eggs. My diet consists mostly of fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds. I’ve eaten this way since I was a baby, growing up on smoothies, fresh juices, pureed fruit and vegetables, and as I got older, yummy salads, fresh whole fruit, and dessert experimentation. That brings me to our first recipe: treacle tart!

Treacle tart is Harry Potter’s favourite dessert. He likes it so much, that if you remember correctly, he even smells it from amortentia, the world’s most powerful love potion.

From what I understand, treacle tart is made from a very sweet syrup known as light treacle. It is mixed with breadcrumbs, lemon juice and lemon zest. The lemon is supposed to help offset the sweetness of the syrup. So for this recipe, I made a crust before mixing up the ingredients for the filling. This is also only a half recipe, so if you’re sharing this with friends and/or family, you’ll want to double it.

For the crust, you will need:
4-6 pitted medjool dates
½ cup dehydrated shredded coconut
½ cup raw cashews

For the filling:
6-8 pitted medjool dates (to make into a syrup)
¼ cup cashew or pecan crumbs (I used cashew because that’s what I had, but pecans are a better colour match)
½ lemon rind (for the zest)
1 tsp lemon juice
A pinch or two of ground ginger (I think I used more than a couple of pinches, but I love ginger)

First, let’s make the crust!
Note: Sometimes it’s easier to soak your dates for a couple of hours before, but it’s not necessary for the crust. For the dates used in the filling, I would soak them to make them easier to break down.

Take your pitted dates, coconut and cashews and blend in a food processor. The mixture is perfect when it sticks together. Scoop it out of the processor into a pie pan (or like I used, a flat glass dish) and stick it in the freezer to harden.

Now let’s focus on the filling! You did soak the dates right?
First, we’re going to make something called date paste. Normally, you would want to make your date paste thicker, so I would only use about ½ tsp-1 tsp of water, but for this recipe, we want our paste to be very thin, almost syrup like, so we’re going to use quite a bit more. I would start with 1/4 cup and only add more if you need it. Go ahead and use the water you soaked your dates in if you want! It’ll make it that much sweeter!

(Note: the paste I made was not thin enough, but it still worked. Just thin it out until you reach a consistency that you like. Remember though, you don’t want it runny!)

Once you have your date paste/syrup, you’re going to spoon it into a bowl and then add in your cashew or pecans crumbs (I did not have crumbs this time, so if you have chopped nuts, those will work as well. Crumbs only make it more like the real thing). Then add your lemon juice and ginger. Don’t forget to grate the lemon for the zest and add that as well! Yum! Stir it all together until it’s well blended and gooey. Take your crust out of the freezer and pour the mixture on top. Smooth it out so it covers all the crust.

Put it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve! Enjoy!

Also, if you’ve had real treacle tart, you’ll have to let me know. How does this compare to the real thing? Did I come close or did it just not hit the mark?