Homemade Nutella inspired tarts

Recently, no matter how many times I explained to people my Christmas wasn’t on December 25^th but in January, everybody properly wished me a Merry Christmas on December 25^th. So, in the end, I decided to reply:”Thank you!” to their “Merry Christmas,” without further explanation.
After several years of living abroad, I think all of us, more or less, get accustomed to the holidays of the country we live in, and begin to celebrate them together with our own.
That’s why for the last couple of years, I’ve been celebrating Christmas twice a year and I wouldn’t feel good if I didn’t celebrate the day that everyone around me celebrates as the most important day of the year. Therefore, I don’t mind if someone congratulates me Catholic Christmas since it doesn’t matter when you celebrate it, as long as you spend that time with your family and loved ones. Christmas is the day when you can feel something special in the air, when we are all captivated by its magic and everybody wants to be with their loved ones. And why can’t we have more days like Christmas every year? Every day should be like that, we should all be nicer and better to each other, cities should be nicely decorated all the time and we should try to spend time with our loved ones eating the most delicious food.
I was a bit ill on the Christmas day, but I spent it, like last couple of years, at a friends’ house. As they follow the healthy diet like me, I decided to prepare some healthy Nutella tarts and decorate them as reindeers, in the spirit of the holidays. The reindeers were so cute and irresistible and they were a huge hit among everybody.
As Orthodox Christmas is almost here, you are just in time to make them. I’m sure everybody will love them, especially children.
Enjoy!

HOMEMADE NUTELLA INSPIRED TARTS

Crust:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almonds
• 2 tablespoons agave syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon Himalayan salt
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil

Directions:

1. Put almonds into a food processor and blend until they are broken.
2. Add agave syrup, vanilla, salt and coconut oil and blend a bit more, until everything is mixed well.
3. Put crust dough into silicone muffin pan and press with fingers. Leave it in the fridge.

 

Nutella cream:

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups roasted hazelnut
• 1/3 cup coconut sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
• 1 cream from one coconut milk can (Place can in the fridge overnight. You need to chill the coconut cream until it’s very firm. The coconut water (the part that doesn’t harden) will be at the bottom of the can. Scoop the coconut cream into your chilled bowl. Pour the coconut liquid into another bowl. Don’t throw it away , you can use it in smoothies).

Directions:

1. Put hazelnuts into food processor and blend until they turn into butter.
2. Add coconut sugar, cocoa and coconut oil and blend until it mixes well.
3. Add coconut cream and blend a bit more until you get nice creamy texture.
4. Put Nutella cream over crust and leave it in the fridge.

Chocolate:

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup

Directions:

1. Melt coconut oil over low heat in a small sauce pan.
2. Add cocoa and stir well.
3. Add maple syrup and stir well.
4. Pour chocolate over Nutella cream and put the tarts in the fridge to chill between 5-10 minutes.
5. Before chocolate is completely cooled down, decorate each tart with colorful candy and pretzels so they look like reindeers.