Vegan Carob Persimmon Cups

The key for success in eating clean is not feeling deprived. We are both gluttons & food lovers. A life eating unseasoned raw carrots and celery sticks would just not work! The good thing is: in our journey to find healthy, nutritious food we were lucky to meet several inspiring people, that showed us that eating healthy can still be an amazing experience for your tastebuds.

We talked to many vegan chefs, raw food experts and health specialists… and their advice was always the same: just focus on the whole foods, on what is actually good for your body, bring out your creativity and start cooking!!

This is exactly how this recipe was born. We were given a case of persimmons just picked up from our neighbor’s tree and we found a fruit stand selling carobs. We connected the dots and made these vegan ‘CAROB & PERSIMMON CUPS’ that are also gluten and sugar free and truly delicious!

Here’s WHAT we used (makes 6 cups):

For the crust:

• 10 carobs (if you can’t find them, replace them with 50 gr of Toasted Carob Powder. We LOVE the Bob’s Red Mill one, which we sprikle everywhere!)
• 50 gr of shredded, unsweetend coconut
• 50 gr organic date paste
• 50 g raw almond
• 5 tbs coconut milk

For the cream:

• 2 persimmons
• 1 tsp 100% cocoa powder

… and here’s HOW we made them:

• Open the carobs and remove the seeds, put the fruits in a high speed blender (Vitamix works the best for this purpose) together with the almonds, the date paste and the shredded coconut. Blend until the mixture gets to a coarse flour like texture.
• Pour the mixture in a bowl and knead it adding the coconut milk. Continue kneading until the dough becomes elastic.
• Create a thin layer with a rolling pin and cut 6 circles that you will place in a muffin baking pan.
• Blend the persimmon pulp with the cocoa powder on a high speed blender (still, Vitamix makes an extremely smooth yet firm cream) until the cream gets thick and airy.
• Spoon the cream in the carob cups and decorate with some cocoa powder.
• ENJOY!

NOTE: you can either make this dessert raw or, if you want your cups to be crispy put them in the oven (before you top them with the cream) for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.