I was very happy to be asked to take part in Seasonal Berries’ Be Berry Bright campaign this year and create a delicious, berry themed recipe to share with you all! I attended the Seasonal Berries event last year, which was such a fun morning, so I was so happy to be involved again this year! I absolutely love berries; they’re without a doubt my favourite type of fruit and as you’ll probably know from the majority of the photos on my blog and social media, I use them in pretty much 3/4 of my recipes!
I love adding berries onto my breakfasts (mainly porridges!) and practically every dessert and sweet treat that I make. Not only do they add a gorgeous pop of colour and zingy fruity kick; but they’re also a great source of vitamins and antioxidants. We’re luckily enough to actually grow berries here in the UK during the Summer months and that’s definitely when you’ll notice that they taste their most incredible! Nothing beats fresh British berries picked straight from the field! As a child, my mum used to take us to a little farm nearby where you could pick your own fresh strawberries and raspberries, however I’m pretty sure that only half of them would actually make it into the basket, as I would use eat them as I went along!
I also find that they’re such an easy way to add in that little extra portion of fruit to a snack or meal, as they work really well in both sweet and savoury dishes and can simply be scattered onto cereals, baking, salads and thrown into a smoothie.
When I was trying to decide on a recipe to put together and share with you, I actually think I had too many ideas to chose from! That’s the funny thing about recipe and content creation; I find that sometimes I feel so inspired and literally end up being spoilt for choice with ideas.. and other times I’m sat here racking my brain trying to think of something to write/make!
Seeing as we’re coming into Spring time now and Mother’s is right around the corner as well, I thought these little pink tarts would be rather appropriate! They’re pretty light and fresh tasting, yet really smooth and indulgent at the same time! The base is made from a combination of oats and desiccated coconut, to create a slightly sweet and fragrant biscuit like casing for the berry cheesecake style filling. The filling itself is made using soaked cashew nuts; which when blended, create a really smooth, creamy mixture. This has then been infused with coconut milk and raspberries, resulting in a subtle and really delicious cream with distant hints of raspberry. Although I do love the mellow coconut & raspberry flavour combo, I’m a huge fan of really zingy, sour flavours, so wanted to add in the extra little burst of fruity kick. The addition of a really simple raspberry coulis has done exactly that and provides a nice vibrant kick of flavour contrast against the sweetness of the filling.
I thought these would be the ideal dessert to serve for a Mother’s Day lunch or even afternoon tea. They look really delicate and cute; plus you can decorate them and make them look pretty for the occasion!
