Infamousse Tarts

I must say, that my faith in chocolate has died over the past few years. I think this has to do with a combination of never indulging in the "gourmet chocolate" and my shameful over consumption of cadbury and nestle candy bars in my teens. I recall having so much around the holidays...having so much in my adolescence that all I could taste was sugar, no flavour at all...my poor tastebuds. I can't imagine going overboard like that now, it's amazing how one can change.

The other day I really wanted to make a mousse, a chocolate mousse, to see if I could rekindle my faith in chocolate. So I went to some local health food stores on the hunt for cocoa powder or cacao powder with no avail, out of stock. So I settled for the next best thing which I had in my cupboard, carob powder. For those who don't know, Carob is the healthy alternative to chocolate. Health gurus out there know that Carob is free from caffeine stimulants and theobromine which are found in chocolate. It is also naturally sweet, and so it contains less sugar then its other chocolate cohorts. Carob powder can be substituted for cocoa powder in any recipe.

My mousse recipe was inspired from a Russell James recipe. I modified the recipe for several reasons, such as not having the exact ingredients on hand and a preference to bake the crust as opposed to letting it chill. I'm sure this chef would possibly be greatly disappointed had he known what I've done to his recipe...but to each their own, right? Et Voila, another gluten free dessert.

Crust

1/4 cup oats
1/2 cup almond meal
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp water
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pulse almond meal and oats in blender or food processor for 1 min until everything looks like ground meal, but not powder fine. Add remaining ingredients and blend until mixture forms a dough like consistency. Form crust onto base of mini tart pans. Bake for 8mins. Let cool. Remove tart bases from their pans.

Mousse

1 cup almond meal
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup carob powder
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp lemon juice
pinch salt

Blend all mousse ingredients in a high speed blender until smooth.

Garnish your tarts however you like using raspberries and mousse.