frozen yogurt tarts

I've been on a bit of a tarts kick as of late.  Can you tell?  I really wanted a healthier version, both for me, and for an easy snack for the kids.  These tarts are MUCH healthier than my previous recipe, and are mini sized (perfect for snacking!).

I got the recipe for the crust from Deliciously Ella.  I love her!  She's a super cute healthy girl from London.  A bit hippy for me sometimes, but great for easy, filling, low sugar, veggie recipes.  I had to alter her tart crust recipe a bit to suit me (and to account for the US measurements).

These tarts take about 45 minutes to make (plus freezing time), but you can make them the night or morning before you want them so easily.

These tart crusts only use 4 ingredients.  So simple.  Almonds, dates, coconut oil, and water.  That's it.  Really.  I like mine a little coarse, but you can grind them finer if you like.  I find the easiest way to make these is to cut the dates into small pieces and soak them in a small bowl with the water and (melted) coconut oil until they have softened a bit.

While the dates are soaking pulse the almonds in a food processor until fine.  Pour the almond pieces out into a medium sized bowl.  Now pulse the dates in the water and coconut oil until there are no remaining chunks.  Pour this out into the bowl with the almonds and stir together with a wooden spoon.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and lightly grease a mini muffin tin.

Ball up pieces the size of half your thumb (as a rough estimate) and press them down in each mini muffin mold, pushing the crust out gently up near the tops of the mold.  I ended up with about 21 tarts.  Bake for 15 minutes, then move and let sit about 10 minutes.  Remove carefully and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

I know the darker than average crust color might concern some of you, but almonds and dates are dark before baked.  Don't worry.  Nothing is burned.

Place the tarts on a large plate or tray to prep for the freezer.

I had the PERFECT amount of yogurt in one container to exactly fill all my tarts.  Just spoon a dollop into the center of each tart.

Place the tarts in the freezer until the yogurt has firmed.  Freezing the tarts makes them so refreshing on a hot day, and there's WAY less mess for the kiddos!

Look at how pretty and simple these are.  You could eat them like this.  Or...

...you could spoon a nice dollop of lite cool whip on top of each tart.  Really, it makes all the difference in the world.  Now you have a still pretty healthy dessert that is great for hot days, good for kids, not messy, and perfectly bite sized.

Not enough reason to make these?  Well, they are also super easy to make, required very few ingredients, can be made in advance  Shall I go on?

In short these tarts are sweet, tart, nutty, chewy, refreshing, and creamy.  What's not to love?

You could even go one step further in telling yourself to make these by remembering that the ingredients include whole almonds and yogurt.  Very good sources of protein you know.

And cool whip not included, I happened to have all the other ingredients necessary already in stock.

frozen yogurt tarts
makes 20-22 mini muffin sized tarts

ingredients:

• 7 ounces of whole almonds
• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 tbsp water
• 10 medjool dates
• 1 container of strawberry yogurt (I used yoplait original)
• lite cool whip

directions:

1. Cut the dates into small pieces and place into a small bowl to soften with the coconut oil and the water.  While they soak grind the almonds in a food processor (coarse or fine, up to you).  Pour the ground almonds out into a medium bowl.
2. Pour the date mixture into the food processor and puree.  Pour the mix out into the almond bowl and stir to combine with a wooden spoon.
3. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and oil a mini muffin tin (24 muffin capacity).
4. Grab crust pieces about half the size of your thumb and gently push into the base of each mini mold, then push up the sides evenly.
5. Bake for 15 minutes, or until edges have darkened a bit.
6. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before removing from the mold and letting cool completely on wire racks.
7. Place crusts on a large plate or tray and gently spoon strawberry yogurt into the center of each tart.  Freeze the tarts.  
8. Remove from the freeze and top each tart with a large dollop of lite cool whip.  Serve.

The crust recipe is a lightly edited version from Deliciously Ella.

peach frozen yogurt

I love the quick easy fix for dessert.  Who doesn't? Especially when its pretty darn guilt free.  Even better, its ready in less than 30 minutes.

All you need for this frozen yogurt is a tub of vanilla Greek yogurt and a 1 pound bag of frozen peaches.  I tend to keep extras of both in stock, so I can make this any time.  Woohoo!

Stick the whole tub worth of yogurt and the whole bag of peaches into the blender and puree.  If you want to set aside several peach slices to dice and mix in later, that's fine, but I prefer my frozen yogurt smooth.

I like my frozen yogurt a bit sweet, with the tangy tartness of barely sweetened yogurt, but if you're not used to that, or you want to splurge a little go ahead and add a tablespoon of sugar now.

Pour the mixture into a prepped ice cream maker.  My model can hold up to a quart and a half, and this makes that exactly.

I only needed to churn the frozen yogurt for 15 minutes until it was crazy thick.  At that point you could eat or freeze for later.

Freeze in a freezer safe container with a tightly fitting lid.  I like to freeze my yogurt for about an hour after churning so its really thick.  If you wait until the next day or so to eat set the frozen yogurt container on the container for several minutes before scooping.  It will be pretty hard.

This yogurt is great for kids because its a great sweet frozen treat for hot weather and isn't full of extra sugar.

My goal is to try every fruit flavor I can think of by the end of the summer.  I'm thinking maybe cherry or raspberry next... yum!

Peach Frozen Yogurt
makes 1 1/2 quarts
20 minutes total time

Ingredients:

• 1 tub of vanilla Greek yogurt (preferably non-fat)
• 1 pound bag frozen peaches
• 1 tbsp sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. Empty the full containers of yogurt and peaches (and sugar) into a blender and puree.
2. Pour mixture into a prepped ice cream maker and churn 15 minutes.
3. Eat directly or scoop into a freezer safe container with a tight lid.