Dark Chocolate Tarts Recipe

This is one of my favorite, go-to desserts. It's vegan, gluten-free, AND paleo, made from only four ingredients, and they only take about 10 minutes to make. I was inspired by Hail Merry's chocolate tarts (which I love), but I made a few tweaks to get a creamier, richer filling and I'm obsessed. The full recipe is at the end of this post.

They're pictured here with salted caramel vegan ice cream - and the recipe for that ice cream is coming soon!

When I discovered Hail Merry desserts at Whole Foods (pictured below), I bought them like crazy (and I still do). They're super clean - made from only four ingredients - and they're vegan, gluten-free, paleo, and have no cane sugar. And they're soooo yummy. That's a dessert success to me.

But I love a good challenge, so I set out to create them myself at home. It's quick, easy, and so amazing. I've served them to traditional dessert-loving people, and they never noticed that they were free from all the bad stuff. 😄

So here's my recipe - all you need is ground almonds, cocoa powder, coconut oil, maple syrup, a muffin pan, and a food processor, and about 10 minutes.

First, we'll make the crust - a combo of all four ingredients, thrown into the food processor, and blend! That's it.

Make sure your muffin tin or cups are coated really well with coconut oil so these babies don't stick. I love these BPA-free muffin cups from Bed Bath & Beyond to help prevent sticking. Now pack the crust in (you can use a spoon or your hands). Don't worry too much if they're not perfect, but do make sure you bring them all the way up to the tops of the cups.

Now it's time for the filling! Wash out your food processor, and then use the same ingredients as before without the almonds, and blend! This will make a nice, creamy, super rich dark chocolate filling.

And pour it into the cups!

We'll place the pan in the fridge and let the tarts set for at least 2-3 hours.

And that's it! No baking, no mess, super easy. These chocolate tarts are as rich as a dark chocolate flourless cake, but way better for you. Sure, they're still calorie-high, but they're clean and natural. And because they're so rich, you'll be satisfied after just one.

Here's the full recipe.

Crust:

1.5 cups of almond flour or ground almonds (I use Bob's Red Mill's Super-Fine Almond Flour)

6 tablespoons of cocoa powder (I use Equal Exchange Baking Cocoa)

3 tablespoons maple syrup

3 tablespoons of organic coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

Filling:

1.5 cups of cocoa powder

1 cup + 2 tablespoons of maple syrup

2 tablespoons of organic coconut oil

1/2 tablespoon of sea salt

Optional: From this base recipe, you can add all kinds of subtle flavors to the filling - a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg for a holiday flavor, OR a drop of peppermint oil for a chocolate mint tart.

Instructions:

Gather all ingredients for the crust and place them into a food processor. Bled for about 20 seconds, or until they're all mixed together.

Grease a muffin tin or about 6 muffin cups with coconut oil. Make sure they're very well greased so nothing sticks!

Scoop out the crust and gently pat it into the muffin tin/cups. Pull the crust all the way up to the top of the cups, making small indents around the edges if you'd like to shape the tarts.

Wash out the bowl of your food processor.

Place all filling ingredients into the food processor and blend for about 30-40 seconds, until the filling is dark and creamy.

Carefully pour the filling into the crust of each tart.

Use a knife to spread the filling.

Place the pan into your fridge and chill for 2-3 hours.

Serve!