Gluten-free chocolate almond tart

For my gluten-free friends….. I’ve especially adapted this just for you. Because I love you.

And you will love me back for this.  Definitely.

The original recipe called for a bit of all-purpose flour. And I thought, Why? Why when you are so close to being something why not just go all the way?

Of course, when I made the decision to go gluten-free I thought I had a bit of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free baking mix on hand.  Turns out I used it all up.  At this point, I could have just pull out some all-purpose and carried on with the recipe as written. But I felt I committed to gluten-free.  I’m a bit stubborn that way.

Enter coconut flour.  I had some in my pantry from my last trip to the bulk food store.  It was definitely an impulse buy.  Coconut flour is not really flour, it is basically dehydrated coconut finely ground. It is very dense and very high fibre.  It is a low GI food and some say suitable for diabetics. For baking, you cannot substitute it one for one with regular flour in your recipes. Generally, you can’t use it in a “regular” recipe.  Coconut flour recipes have their own formula and ratios.

I did a bit of research and found that most “cakes” made from coconut flour have up to 6 eggs in them. 2 –3 eggs per half cup of coconut flour.  This is not a vegan dessert. And I think you would be hard pressed to find a vegan cake that used coconut flour. It seems very dependant on eggs to counteract its density.

Regardless, this is not a cake and does not pretend to be.

This is a tart. A dense, fudgy tart.

Chocolate Almond Tart

inspired by Cooking Light

• 1 cup coarsely chopped almonds, toasted
• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 3 large eggs
• 8 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup coconut flour

Preheat oven to 350.  Prepare a 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom, or spring-form pan with cooking spray.

Spread almonds on bottom of pan. Note: avoid using any “powdery” almond pieces. This is an upside down tart and the powder will settle on what will become the top.  This is not very attractive. It will taste good, but coarsely chopped almond pieces will create a dramatic look.

Combine chocolate and butter in a glass bowl and using the low setting or chocolate setting on your microwave, melt the chocolate. Stirring every 15-20 seconds. You can also do this using a double boiler.  (Set a sauce pan with an inch or so of water on low heat and bring to a low simmer  - not boiling. Set your bowl on top of the pan but not touching the water and stir chocolate until it melts). If using the microwave you should stop when there are still a few chunks of chocolate left and just stir to melt them in.  If you scorch the chocolate it's all over.  You will know when this happens – in an instant your once smooth and silky chocolate becomes stiff and grainy. It won’t get better. Count your losses and just start over.

Prepare yourself to run the mixer for several minutes at this point.

In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, add the eggs and beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes. You want the eggs extremely light and fluffy. Add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time and continue to beat at medium speed until sugar completely dissolves, at least 2 full minutes.  Turn to a lower speed, add corn syrup, vanilla and salt and beat until completely combined.  Add chocolate and butter mixture, beat one minute.  Turn off mixer. Using a fine mesh sieve, sift coconut flour over batter.  Turn mixer back on and beat on low-speed to ensure the batter is fully combined. Coconut flour does not develop gluten but does tend to clump so you want to make sure this is well blended, don’t be afraid to let the mixer run a bit longer.

Pour batter on top of almonds.  It will be stiff and should almost come to the top of the tart pan, if this is what you are using. I needed to use my fingers, lightly moistened with water, to push the batter into the corners of the pan.

Bake 20-25 minutes. You want it to be firm, but not dry. It is okay if a few crumbs stick to the toothpick when inserted into the centre.

Let cool on a wire rack at least 20 minutes. Invert on to your serving platter.

Serves 10.