Low-Glycemic Valentine's Day Dessert

This month, I combined my favorite sweet and tangy Kiku apples with a spicy chocolate sauce for a low-glycemic recipe I entered in the Hot Raw Chef video competition! The process of developing the recipe and preparing it on camera was such a fun and rewarding experience! I received such encouraging feedback from people who have a sensitivity to gluten and were delighted to find my recipe using fruit as opposed to wheat flour for the tart's shell.

Try my Chipotle Chocolate Cherry Apple Tart this Valentine's Day! You'll love it!

Chipotle Chocolate Cherry Apple Tart
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients
Chipotle chocolate cherry sauce
3 oz frozen black cherries
1 Tbsp vanilla agave syrup (recommended brand: organic nectars)
2 oz Haas avocado (1/2 of a Haas avocado)
1 Tbsp raw cacao powder
1/8 tsp ground chipotle pepper
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Tart shell
2 large kiku apples (yields 4 2.25-inch diameter rings and 3 oz of chopped pieces)

Tart filling
3 oz chopped kiku apples (obtained from the 2 large Kiku apples listed above)
1.5 oz pepitas
Juice from 1 lime
1/8 tsp salt

Tools
Digital scale, measuring spoons, cutting board; chef’s knife; ring molds; food processor, 1-pint bowl, 1-quart bowl, 1 soup spoon, 1 small spoon


Instructions
1. Place the frozen black cherries in a one (1) pint bowl. Coat the frozen cherries in vanilla agave syrup.
Allow the cherries to thaw out at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2. Prepare the chipotle chocolate cherry sauce using a food processor. Scoop the green flesh
out of the avocado half and into the food processor. Reserve four individual thawed cherries and add the remaining cherries to the bowl of the food processor followed by the cacao powder, ground cinnamon and ground chipotle pepper. Process the ingredients on medium speed until they become a smooth creamy sauce (approximately 45 seconds).

3. Place one apple vertically on your cutting board so that it stands firmly. Slice and reserve 1/4 inch from one cheek of the apple. Slice another 1/2 inch into the same side of the apple, approaching the core. Repeat the process on the opposite side of the apple.

4. Slice the second apple in the same way. You should now have four 1/2 inch slices of apple. Compost or juice the left over apple cores and pieces.

5. Lay the apples slices flat on your cutting board. Press and turn a large 2 1/2 inch ring mold into each slice to cut out a circle from each slice. Discard the outer rings with the skin. Next, press a smaller 1.75 inch ring mold into each larger apple circle. You should now have 4 attractive apple rings.

6. Dice the remaining inner apple circles into small pieces (1/4-inch x 1/4-inch x 1/4-inch). Place the diced apple pieces in a 1 quart mixing bowl. Mix the diced apple pieces with the pepitas, the juice from one lime and the salt in the bowl.

7. Return to the 1/4 inch cheeks that you first sliced off each apple. Slice the cheeks in twelve 1/16-inch slices.

8. Assemble your tarts on individual plates by first creating a 3 inch circle with 1 soup spoon full of the chipotle chocolate cherry sauce on each plate. Next, place the apple rings in the center of each circle of chipotle chocolate cherry sauce. Use a small spoon to fill each ring with the diced apple mixture. Top each tart with a cherry and tuck three thin apple slices vertically into the corner of each shell to create a small decorative fan effect.