Two things inspired me for this recipe. Firstly, I found a random pear in my garden – it had rolled a fair distance from a neighbouring tree, ripe, sweet, hot from the sun, a tad bruised from the journey but stunningly juicy. Secondly, the kids had been eating a bag of mixed nuts & left all the brazils at the bottom. So, as you do, I decided to pair the two – chunky brazil nuts meet sweet ripe pears.
Simplicity wins out here – you don’t have to soak anything, you just whip out your food processor or bullet, whiz away, then freeze ‘em.
Using a standard sized muffin tray, this makes about 6 little frozen cakes, or 12 tiny wee cute ones (I recommend a silicon muffin tray, which means they’re easy to pop out once chilled. You can also use non-stick muffin trays – very carefully remove them with a knife, gently levering them out)
I once made a batch of these chilled pear cakes using half raw brazils and half roasted salted. The flavour was lovely – the extra saltiness was a good sharp contrast to the sweet pear. Brazils are packed with protein, fibre, healthy fats & selenium (something that’s often missing in today’s bleached soils), but if they’re not your thing, almonds or plain ol’ mixed nuts work well too.
Base:
½ cup brazil nuts
6 medjool dates or 8-10 dried dates
½ tsp ground ginger
generous pinch of salt
Filling:
2 cups ripe juicy pear, chopped (plus a few slices for garnish, if you like)
½ cup raw cashew pieces
15 dried dates
4 Tbsp coconut oil
½ tsp ginger
Grab your food processor or bullet and start by making the base. Blitz all the ingredients until fully incorporated. Using damp hands, you’ll be able to squish it together into a pliable mass and press it evenly into your muffin trays.
Give the blender a quick wipe or rinse if need be – now you’re onto the filling. Again, load up all the ingredients and blitz until beautifully smooth & creamy (if your pear wasn’t as juicy as you thought, consider adding a dash or two of water to help it smooth out) Spoon the filling onto the bases. Decorate with a slice or two of pear and a sprinkling of ginger, if you fancy. Then put into the freezer for several hours or overnight. Let them defrost for a few minutes before serving.
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