As I mentioned in my previous post, I haven’t had time to blog lately because I’ve been so busy, still getting settled into my job as Pastry Chef at 105degrees (Matthew Kenney’s newest raw restaurant in Oklahoma City).  One of the coolest things about 105degrees is that it’s much more than a restaurant, there is also an academy where students have come from all over the states (even internationally) to learn how to prepare raw food in the first accredited raw food academy.

I’ve had the chance to get to know and work with so many passionate and talented people, and I’ve learned so much while I’ve been here (I can’t believe it’s only been a few months!).  I’ve got a lot of catching up to do, but I figure, I’ll just start with the present, and eventually I’ll deal with the catching up.

So, here’s (one thing) that we’ve been working on lately:

This tart is a special we’re currently featuring at 105degrees.  We had an abundance of raspberries, so in a collaboration with my assistant Kristen, and Alissa (you can check out her blog here) and Hillary, the two Level II students working on my station for the next two weeks, we came up with this tart to feature as a special.

The tart has a dark chocolate crust, a creamy white chocolate filling, and it’s topped with fresh raspberries covered in a sweet glaze, which, as Helen sweetly said, makes it look a bit like a jewel.  We wanted to make it nut-free (we love creating nut-free options for people who have trouble digesting nuts), so we used coconut meat to give the filling creaminess, and cacao butter to thicken it and give it a delicious white chocolate flavor.  After assembling all the crusts and allowing the fillings to harden in the freezer for a little while (hardening the filling makes it easier to top with the berries so that the filling isn’t oozing out everywhere), we topped the tarts with fresh raspberries and finished them off by painting on a glaze made from agave and reduced pear juice.  I’m really proud of Kristen, Alissa and Hillary for their help in coming up with and making these beautiful and delicious treats.

If you’re near Oklahoma City, you should stop by and try one….