Coconut & Blueberry Mini Tarts {Dairy & Egg Free}

Lately a lot of my lovely readers (thats you!!) have been asking me if I'll share some healthier recipes with you - some have asked for gluten free, some asked for dairy free, and some asked for low fat. Well, I've been trying to find some recipes that incorporate those diet restrictions but still taste good. I have tried a few recipes that haven't made the cut to be shared here, but this one definitely made the cut - Coconut & Blueberry Mini Tarts! I found the recipe in Anna Olson's new cookbook - Back to Baking. I made one or two very slight changes and arrived at these little beauties. They are delish with or without the blueberries and you could substitute other berries if you wanted to (raspberries would be amazing!!).

And while my tarts don't look perfect, they were a breeze to throw together and tasted quite delicious too. I didn't particularly care for the texture of the custard  - so I've changed the recipe to use about half the original amount of cornstarch to thicken. So if you find your custard isn't thick enough for your liking, just double the amount of cornstarch. :)

Coconut & Blueberry Mini Tarts
Minimally adapted from Anna Olson's Back to Baking

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 3 tbsp honey (or agave would work well too)
• pinch ground cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 1 tin coconut milk
• 1 vanilla bean and 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/8 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and spray a 24 cup mini muffin with non-stick cooking spray.
2. For the crust, stir together the whole wheat flour, vegetable oil, brown sugar, honey, cinnamon and salt until mixture has a wet and crumbly texture (like wet sand). Press crust mixture into bottom and sides of muffin cups. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, then cool to room temperature.
3. To make the custard, pour the coconut milk into a saucepan. Scrape in the seeds of the vanilla bean and stir in the vanilla extract. In a bowl, stir together the sugar and the cornstarch. Whisk into the coconut milk, then turn the heat to medium and whisk until the mixture comes to a simmer and thickens, about 6 minutes. Scrape the custard into a bowl, cover the surface of custard with plastic wrap and allow to cool to room temperature.
4. Once cooled, pipe the coconut filling into the mini tart shells and top each with 3 blueberries. Chill at least two hours in the tin before popping them out to serve.
5. Tarts will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. Note: You could also make the filling up to a day ahead of time and chill until you fill your tarts. If you use this make ahead option, be sure to puree the custard in a food processor or with an immersion blender prior to piping into the tarts to ensure it has that perfect, silky smooth texture it had prior to chilling.

Pretty easy right? With minimal ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry! Isn't that the best kind of dessert? Hope you enjoy!

This post has been linked up with Mouthwatering Mondays over at the Sweet Spot. Head on over to check out what kind of deliciousness is going on in the blogosphere this week.
Happy Baking my Friends!