Clean Food, Recipe 12- Fresh Fruit Tart with Almond Crust

Yet another delicious, but clean dessert from Terry Walters.  I made this dessert last weekend for a family gathering.  It was super easy to put together, yet elegant enough to bring to a dinner party.  To start you make the wonderful crust.  This is done by starting with some almonds in a food processor and processing them until coarsely chopped.  Next goes in some oats, oat bran, and sea salt.  This gets pulsed together until a coarse meal forms and then you add in some maple syrup, canola oil, and almond extract until a dough forms.  This yummy mixture gets patted down in a 9-inch tart pan and baked in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes.  Once the shell cools you fill it with the most wonderful summer fruits- kiwi, peaches, and fresh seasonal berries.  The assembly was my favorite part- you can go nuts with the design and make it really pretty and elegant.  I used blueberries and strawberries along with the peaches and kiwi.  To finish off the tart you make an interesting glaze concoction on the stove top.  It consists of apple juice, fruit nectar (I used apricot nectar), maple syrup, agar powder (this is found in health food stores and acts like gelatin), arrowroot, and vanilla extract.  Once this mixture is thickened and cooled slightly you brush it over the fruit and then the tart chills for at least an hour before serving.  This whole thing came together in about an hour (not including the chilling time at the end).  It was so easy and actually fun to make- I felt so artistic making such an elegant and beautiful dessert.  I wasn't convinced I would like it though, I've never used agar before and I wasn't sure the tart crust would be up to my standards.  Boy was I ever wrong!  The tart crust was AMAZING- crunchy, nutty, and flavorful and it was a perfect compliment to the fresh fruit.  It gelled perfectly and looked gorgeous.  I absolutely adore this tart- it was love at first bite and with absolutely NO guilt!  Most tart shells are filled with butter and confectioners' sugar, which almost negates the goodness of the fruit, but not so here.  Nothing but wholesome goodness and this is a favorite now in my household- thanks Terry for such a fantastic clean take on an old classic!  LOVE IT!

My rating- 10!

PS- I had to make this gluten free since my brothers' girlfriends' Mom cannot eat gluten.  To do that I just simply used oats that are certified gluten free and I omitted the oat bran- it turned out perfectly!