Nectarine Oat Bars

I'm loving nectarines right now :) They're gorgeous, juicy and in season so what's not to like? For this recipe, I got my inspiration from a recipe from Thug Kitchen and their strawberry bars. I've changed a few things - mostly replace the brown sugar with more naturally sweet ingredients I really like and tolerate better. So here we are. It is DELICIOUS, keeps up to 5 days in the fridge - if it does make it that long - it never does in my household!

Makes 12 bars:

Ingredients for the filling:
6 organic nectarines
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Ingredients for the base:
2 cup rolled oats
2 heaped spoons of nut butter of your choice (I used almond/hazelnut and cashew)
2 heaped tablespoons of softened coconut oil
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon maple syrup
6 pitted Medjool or Deglet Noor dates

Method:
Line a rectangular baking dish (mine is 17 X 27cm) with baking paper and grease it a little with coconut oil. Heat up your oven to 180° C.
Dice up the peaches, getting rid of the pits. Mix with the lime juice, vanilla and syrup and set aside.
In a food processor, mix the oats, nut butter, coconut oil, baking soda, syrup and dates until it forms a sort of crumble.

Press the mixture into the dish quite firmly. You can save a little to put on top later. Pour out the juice made by the nectarines (you can drink it later or use it in a smoothie) and press the fruits gently into the crumbly mixture. Top with the rest of the crumble and a handful of sliced almonds (optional).
Bake for about 40 minutes until the top or/and almonds becomes golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into slices. (I love them straight out of the oven!) Store in the fridge.

Apricot, almond and basil tart tatin (vegan and GF)

I haven't posted in ages. I have been studying and travelling and exploring and studying some more. I'm back in France for the summer and since gorgeous, juicy summer fruits are in season, I thought I would whip up a nice Tarte Tatin. An apricot and almond Tarte Tatin. I mean look at these beauties I got from the farmers market! Also, there is nothing easier than this recipe! The only difficult thing is that if you want to make your puff pastry YOURSELF. There are endless recipes on Google or YouTube, vegan or not, gluten free or not, take your pic. Mine was organic, vegan and gluten free. A shortcrust would work fine too. Every time I eat this tart, I feel like I'm on a holiday in Provence, in the South of France, at a sunny terrace, listening to the gentle breeze and singing cicadas. So give it a try and let me know how you liked it :-)

Ingredients for 6 people :

1 organic GF puff pastry
7 ripe apricots
2  big TBS almond meal
1 big TBS vegan butter
2 TBS brown sugar or demerara sugar
For the decoration:
1 handful of sliced almonds
A few basil leaves

Method:

Preheat the oven at 180° C. In your tart tin, spread the vegan butter and sprinkle the sugar on top. This will create a bit of a syrup. Sprinkle the almond meal over it. Take your apricots halves and place them in the tin rounded side down.

Roll out your puff pastry and place it gently over your apricots. Press down on the sides.

Bake until it is puffed and a nice shade of golden brown. Mine took about 20 minutes.

When golden brown, let cool for a couple of minutes. Put a plate or dish tightly over it and invert so that your tart and syrup fall onto the dish.
Sprinkle the sliced almonds and basil leaves on top. You can serve cold or warm with some vegan ice cream (will post a recipe soon). I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!