Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Tart {Refined Sugar-Free}
Ingredients
Crust Ingredients:
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted or very soft
- ¼ cup liquid sweetener of your choice (I used maple syrup)
- ½ tbsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup soft silken tofu, strained (I used Mori-Nu, a non-GMO brand)
- ¾ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup potato starch {or tapioca starch for paleo}
Lemon Filling Ingredients:
- 1 cup soft silken tofu, strained (if you're using Mori-Nu, just use the rest of the package which equals about a cup)
- ½ cup liquid sweetener of your choice (I used maple syrup)
- ¼ cup neutral tasting coconut oil, liquified
- zest of 4 small lemons
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- juice of 4 small lemons (roughly ⅓ cup juice)
- 2 tbsp agar agar flakes
- optional: a few drops of yellow food coloring of your choice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Oil a large tart pan and set aside.
- Place all crust ingredients into a large mixing bowl, except for coconut flour and potato starch. Use an immersion blender to mix all the ingredients together until smooth. Note: if you don’t have an immersion blender, you can do this in a food processor or by hand too. Add in remaining crust ingredients and mix the mixture by hand, kneading it lightly until a sticky soft dough forms. Transfer this dough into your tart dish and press it down and spread it evenly throughout the pan (base and edges) using your hands until it’s shaped and molded to the tart pan shape. Use a fork to pierce some holes along the base of the crust to prevent bubbling while baking. Place in the oven and bake for approx. 22 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.
- While the pie crust is baking you can work on the vegan lemon curd filling. You can find the directions on how to make it here. You can also make this lemon curd a bit in advance. You'll need to use one batch of it for this tart recipe. Note: if you're making it fresh for this tart, don't worry about refrigerating it to set just yet, as it will set as the tart cools off in the fridge (next step). If it's made in advance and was refrigerated, that's perfectly fine too. It'll take less time for the tart to set.
- Once the crust is cooled off a bit, add in the lemon curd filling and spread it evenly throughout the tart. Place the tart in the fridge and allow it to set for at least 4 hours (0vernight is best). If you're like me (impatient...), then place it in the freezer for an hour and then transfer it to cool off in the fridge for another hour or so to set.
Notes
If you're adding a cream layer (can be found in this recipe here), then place the tart in the freezer for at least 15 minutes after adding the lemon filling to it. Use that time to prepare the coconut cream. Remove the tart from the freezer and carefully spread the cream layer and then place back in the fridge (or freezer) to set properly. Placing the lemon-filled tart in the freezer prior to adding the cream layer helps the two layers not to mix together and makes it easier to spread the whipped topping.
You can make this lemon tart without the soy for those on a soy-free diet. You can simply omit the soy from the crust. I've made it like that for another recipe and it worked and tasted just fine, though I found it cracked ever so slightly during baking, so be sure to pierce lots of holes with a fork to prevent bubbling ({and hence cracking}. It really didn't alter things though and was so minor that you won't notice once the tart is filled. As for the soy in the filling, I recommend pre-soaking about ¾ cup raw cashews and then blending them into a smooth consistency along with the rest of the ingredients in place of the tofu.