Recipe Review: Grain Free Ginger and Lemon Tart GF SCD (And Ginger Snaps, Too!)

Click for the recipe. I know I've said it before, but Gluten Free SCD and Veggie is a fantastic blog and especially knocks it way out of the park with creative and delicious desserts. This pie is good. I'm talkin' really, really good. Creamy, lemony, deliciousness. And those ginger snaps are fantastic, too, both on their own and as a pie crust. I stuck to the recipe except for using fresh ginger with the ginger snaps (Alex even wanted gingerier cookies and so I added yet more ginger to the second batch before they went in the oven) and coconut milk instead of almond milk in the pie. Trust, Vicky knows what she's doing with these recipes.

This recipe has a lot of steps. But they're each reasonably easy. Take it one at a time, make the ginger snaps and the pie, and try not to eat the pie filling right out of the blender. Alex liked it, and I personally think that you'd never know the filling is primarily cashews. It tastes like lemony creamy sweetness. This stuff is good. Make it. Now.

I'd like to mention that I worked hard for this recipe. I didn't have dessicated coconut. Trader Joe's didn't, either. They had sweetened, shredded coconut. Nope, no go. I had to buy a whole coconut.

Here's a mini recipe for homemade dessicated coconut: Make sure you pick one that you can hear water rustling around in so you know it's fresh and yummy. Preheat the oven to 250F. Grab a hammer and nail (or screwdriver) and examine which of the 3 "eyes" is the softest. One will be nice and soft. Hammer that nail in, until it breaks through.

I did not take pictures of this part. Whoops!

Pull it back out after and drain the water (I put it through a sieve and Alex drank it after). Then, wrap that coconut in a dishrag or towel, put it on the floor (don't risk destroying your counter top) and whack that thing with a hammer until it's in quarters. Then, break apart the meat from the shell (it'll take a little effort in some cases) and peel off the soft brown skin with a veggie peeler. Grate on the small grates of a box grater. Then, spread out the grated coconut on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper, so it's a thin single layer. Bake at 250F for about 15-20 minutes, checking every five minutes, or until it is brittle instead of soft.  One coconut will yield enough for probably 4 or 5 batches of ginger snaps, so plan to freeze most of the dried coconut and save it for next time.

Today I also made myself some vegetarian pumpkin/squash chili, so I was very busy. Oh, and then I cut my thumb somewhat badly on the can of coconut milk which was in the trash at the time. No idea how. So I comforted myself by licking the bowl and spoon of the pie filling. Yuuuum.

Yes.