PASSION FRUIT TART WITH COCONUT PASTRY by Jo Pratt
A super tasty, sweet pastry tart that is both dairy-free and gluten-free, that doesn’t compromise on flavour in any way at all. The crisp pastry has just enough coconut flavour to not be overpowering and the creamy filling has just the right amount of passion fruit tartness.
Jo Pratt is a regular face here at Divertimenti Cookery School as our culinary director and class teacher. She’s also a best selling cookbook author, food stylist and presenter. Jo creates inspirational recipes, all with achievable results for the home cook. She’s published numerous cookbooks with her latest series of ‘flexible’ cookbooks very much focusing on offering flexible and practical recipe solutions that fit around the demands and challenges of modern life including dietary requirements or lifestyle choices.
Prep 45 minutes / Cooking 55 minutes / Serves 6–8
Ingredients
For the pastry:
50g/1¾ oz coconut flour
50g/1¾ oz ground almonds,
plus 1 tbsp for scattering
1 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
½ tsp fine sea salt
50g/1¾ oz coconut oil, softened (use refined coconut oil for a more delicate flavour), plus extra
for greasing
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice
For the filling:
150ml/5 fl oz coconut cream
1 egg and 2 egg yolks
75g/2¾ oz caster (superfine) sugar
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice
4–5 ripe passion fruit (to make 100ml/3½ fl oz passion fruit pulp)
toasted coconut flakes, to garnish
Method
Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas 4. Lightly grease a 20cm/8 inch loose-bottomed tart tin with a little coconut oil.
To make the pastry, put the coconut flour, ground almonds, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the coconut oil and using a fork, mash it into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre and gradually add the egg and lemon or lime juice and bring everything together until you have a soft dough (you may not require all of the egg mixture). Lightly knead and bring to a soft ball with your hands. Sit on a piece of baking parchment scattered with some ground almonds and add another piece of parchment on top. Flatten with the palm of your hand, then leave to rest for 5 minutes.
Roll out the pastry between the parchment, to make a circle big enough to line the base and sides of the tin. Carefully transfer into the tin. If it breaks or falls apart just press the pastry into the tin sealing the cracks with your fingers. It’s a very forgiving pastry, and it’s more important to make sure there are no holes. Cut away any pastry that overhangs the side of the tin and reserve the pastry trimmings to patch up any holes that may appear once it’s cooked.
Sit on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes until golden and firm to touch. Reduce the oven to 160°C/140°C/325°F/gas 3.
To make the filling, whisk together the coconut cream, eggs, sugar and lemon or lime juice in a jug. Keep back 1 tablespoon/15ml of the passion fruit pulp, and stir the rest into the jug. Pour into the pastry and bake for 25–35 minutes or until the filling is just set.
Cool to room temperature. Pop in the fridge until needed and serve cold topped with the reserved passion fruit and toasted coconut.
Be Flexible
Dairy swap: you can make this dessert using dairy butter in the pastry instead of coconut oil, and single (light cream) in the filling rather than coconut cream. The coconut flavour will be much fainter coming only from the coconut flour.
Flavour swap: to make a lemon tart, when making the filling, simply swap the passion fruit and the 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice for 100ml/ 3½ fl oz lemon juice. Make as above by whisking the juice into the rest of the filling ingredients before carefully pouring into the pastry case.
