Get your pumpkin ready for this delicious treat! These are the Grain-Free Pumpkin Tarts you’re going to want to make for special occasions—especially for guests that have specific dietary needs. A better for you and no guilt kind of dessert! The tarts are naturally sweetened, gluten-free, vegan, nut-free and allergen-friendly.
With this recipe, you might have some extra tart filling leftover, or remember to reserve a little to make some Grain-Free Pumpkin Cookies or Grain-Free Pumpkin Bars.
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Grain-Free Pumpkin Tarts
Fall brings back so many memories in my life, especially during the holidays. If you’re anything like me, when the cooler weather arrives with the many special occasions, Halloween and Thanksgiving, you love to cook and bake.
Thing is, we can’t always enjoy or bake what we used to. Perhaps you too, have allergies, food sensitivities or other health conditions that make cooking and baking a little more challenging.
I created these Grain-Free Pumpkin Tarts (cookies & bars) that are also gluten-free, vegan, nut-free and allergen-friendly to help you feel a little less lost this baking season.
Hope you try the pumpkin tarts—cookies and the bars!
How-To Video
What to expect
These tarts are satisfying if you miss butter tarts, pumpkin pie, pecan pie or just being able to indulge in a good dessert that won’t give you a sugar rush or unpleasant side effects.
The Grain-Free Pumpkin Tarts are perfectly sweetened, the filling is smooth and the seed topping gives the tarts a nice texture! The crust is amazing— a little sweet and salty which complements the pumpkin filling!
You might miss your old desserts but these are way more nutritious and better for you anyway! Go ahead and share a tart with a loved one, drizzle a little maple syrup if you wish and savour each and every little bite!
Overview
This recipe includes a few preparation steps:
- Soak the seeds
- Prepare the tart base
- Prebake the tart base
- Make the filling
- Fill the prebaked tart bases
- Bake the tarts
- Cool and enjoy!
Tips
Soaking the seeds for the tart filling does really help so don’t skip that step!
In a pinch, you can soak the seeds in some boiling water for a shorter amount of time but ideally doing it like suggested in the recipe is best!
Alternatives
If you want to make this recipe with nuts instead of seeds because you don’t have an allergy to nuts, give it a try!
If pumpkin is not your thing, but you like the concept of this recipe, try making the tarts with your favourite squash or even sweet potatoes.
Organic Ingredients
These tarts are a great example of a recipe that can benefit from using the best organic baking ingredients. Organic raw seeds, coconut, raisins, coconut palm sugar, maple syrup, the flours, etc. are so much better purchased organically when possible.
Thing is if you follow a grain-free, gluten-free, and mostly plant-based lifestyle is most likely because you do appreciate nutrition or you have a health condition that benefits from consuming the best ingredients when possible.
Useful Tools
- Tart Pans (approx. 4-in diameter top, 3.3-3.5-in diameter base)
- Spatula
- Spoon(s)
- Measuring Cups/Spoons
- Unbleached Parchment Paper
- Mixing Bowls
- Blender/Spice Grinder
- Sifter
Previously on Fresh is Real, I shared a simplified Japanese Milk Bread (GFV) recipe.
An interesting creation that was prepared with just a few ingredients and roux (cooked flour and water) that bakes up into the perfect gluten-free vegan bread treat! Visit Recipe
Grain-Free Pumpkin Cookies
If you love pumpkin recipes and would like a quick and easy baked treat, check out the Grain-Free Pumpkin Cookies!
They are perfectly spiced and nice to enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee.
Print
Grain-Free Pumpkin Tarts
- Prep Time: 30 minutes (+ soaking time for the seeds)
- Cook Time: 15 minutes + 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1.25 hours (+soaking)
- Yield: 4 tarts 1x
- Category: Baked
- Method: Oven-Baked
- Cuisine: Grain-Free, Gluten-Free, Vegan, Nut-Free, Allergen-Friendly
Description
Get your pumpkin ready for this delicious treat! These are the Grain-Free Pumpkin Tarts you’re going to want to make for special occasions—especially for guests that have specific dietary needs. A better for you and no guilt kind of dessert! The tarts are naturally sweetened, gluten-free, vegan, nut-free and allergen-friendly.
To make the tarts, you will need to soak the seeds for the filling ahead of time.
With this recipe, you might have some extra tart filling leftover, or remember to reserve a little to make some Grain-Free Pumpkin Cookies or Grain-Free Pumpkin Bars.
Ingredients
Crust (base)
- 3/4 cup tiger nut flour, sifted*
- 3/4 cup raw sunflower seed flour (or combo sunflower/pumpkin seeds)**
- 1/4 cup coconut palm sugar
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, softened
- 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
- 1/4 cup water, room temperature***
- 1/2 teaspoon fine ground sea salt
Tart Filling
- 1 cup raw sunflower/pumpkin seeds, soaked (reserve 2 tablespoons for topping)
- 1 cup pumpkin purée, homemade or canned****
- 1/2 cup maple syrup (reserve 1 tablespoon for topping)
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot starch
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon*****
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg*****
Useful Tools
- Tart Pans (approx. 4-in diameter top, 3.3-3.5-in diameter base)
- Spatula
- Spoon
- Measuring Cups/Spoons
- Unbleached parchment paper
- Mixing bowls
- Blender/Spice Grinder
- Sifter
Instructions
Before you begin, please watch this helpful video.
Step 1
To make the filling, soak your seeds in a jar or bowl with some water. You can combine both the sunflower and pumpkin seeds in the same jar or bowl. Soaking the seeds for at least 4 hours is ideal, and overnight is excellent. Tip: If you’re pressed for time, soaking the seeds in hot boiled water for 1 hour should work equally well.
Step 2
Once your seeds are soaked, proceed to make the crust. Preheat oven to 350° F.
Step 3
To make the crust, to a large bowl, mix the tiger nut flour, seed flour, sugar, oil, flaxseed meal and sea salt until very well combined.
Grease and line the bottom of each tart pan. Coconut oil is wonderful. And, you can cut out little circles to fit the bottom of each tart pan.
Tip: It should work without using parchment paper, but the tart will come out more easily with it.
Transfer and divide crust mixture to each pan and pat down (bottom and sides) to an even thickness. Bake the crust for 15 minutes while preparing the tart filling.
Step 4
Rinse and strain your soaked seeds and reserve 2 generous tablespoons of the soaked seeds in a small bowl to decorate the top outer edge of the tart. To the reserved seeds, add the reserved 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and a dash of sea salt. Set aside until later.
For the filling, add your soaked seeds to a high-speed blender******, your pumpkin purée, maple syrup, arrowroot starch and spices.
Blend until smooth. Tip: If your blender has a tamper tool, use it to help you blend your mixture.
Step 5
Once your crust has baked for 15 minutes, remove it from the oven. Fill each tart crust with a generous amount of puréed pumpkin filling. Don’t worry if you can’t use up all the tart filling; you can make cookies or bars with the leftovers. Divide the reserved seed and maple syrup mixture to decorate the top of each of the 4 tarts. See how-to video. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
Step 6
Once cooled, the tarts are delicious fresh at room temperature, or the leftovers can be refrigerated to keep for a few days. Some prefer their pumpkin tarts cold. Share a tart—one is plenty for two—and serve with a drizzle of maple syrup if you wish. Enjoy!
Notes
*If you don’t have allergies to nuts, you can use almond meal/flour for this recipe as an alternative to tiger nut flour. In a pinch, you could test the recipe to include more pumpkin and sunflower seed flour instead of tiger nut flour.
**To make the seed flour, use spice/coffee grinder, dry container blender or a grain mill. The seeds for the flour don’t need to be soaked.
*** If you happen to cook your pumpkin, squash or sweet potato in a pot with a little water, reserve the cooking water for the filling.
**** Fresh is always best, but organic canned purée will work equally well for this recipe.
***** You can use pumpkin spice instead of cinnamon and nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon should suffice.
****** To blend/purée the filling, a food processor might work well. I did not test this method, as I don’t have a food processor.
You can probably use any tart pans you have on hand. The ones in this recipe were 4 inches in diameter (top) by 3.5 inches (base).
Baking times will vary if you use smaller baking pans like a muffin pan so watch the crust and filling, so they don’t burn. You can also make one large tart using a springform pan.
