I’ve been a busy little foodie yoga girl lately. Busy in life, busy on my mat and busy in the kitchen. Last weekend, while I was playing at a local lake, I stumbled upon a banana tree. Right here in Houston. I didn’t even know they grew here. The bananas were so cute. Little tiny things with thin skins. And they were really, really sweet and reminded me of banana cream pie. So guess what I decided to make this week?

My sweet south american friends said they were called apple bananas in their country. So I went to my local hispanic supermarket in search of these cuties.  I couldn’t find them so I bought red bananas instead. These weren’t quite as sweet as what I had at the lake, but they are so good and different from traditional bananas. The color is a little more yellow and the taste is richer.

To make the tart, I started by soaking cashews in the morning, so they would be ready in the late afternoon to make thick cashew cream. I made a version of this earlier this summer to serve with peaches. It made the perfect base for this tart.

To make the crust, I pulsed together pecans, dates and freshly ground canella or mexican cinnamon. I found canella sticks at the hispanic market. The are softer than traditional cinnamon sticks and can be ground easily with a spice grinder. The ground canella is fragrant and has a mild, pleasant flavor.

So after making the crust, I pressed it into a tart pan with a removable bottom, but a pie pan would work also. I made the cashew cream and spread enough to cover the crust and had some leftover to serve with fruit or on top of oatmeal in the morning. Then I sliced the bananas and tossed them with a little lemon juice so they wouldn’t turn brown. After placing the bananas on top, I sprinkled them with a little more ground canella. It’s good to refrigerate the tart for at least an hour or longer before serving to give the cashew cream time to settle up.

This dessert is so very yummy. You won’t believe it’s all raw.

Raw Banana Cream Tart

Makes 1 9″ tart

1 1/2 cup raw pecans

3/4 cup medjool dates, pits removed

11/2 tsp raw honey or agave nectar

1/2 tsp freshly ground canella or cinnamon

Pinch of sea salt

2 cups raw cashews, soaked for 4-8 hours, drained and rinsed

3/4 filtered water

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1/4 pure maple syrup

3 red bananas

1/2 lemon, juiced

canella or cinnamon

Crust

Place nuts, dates, honey, canella and salt into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the pecans are in very small pieces and mixture holds shape when you squeeze it in your hand. Press mixture in the bottom and up the sides of a 9″ tart pan with removable bottom or pie plate. Set aside.

Cashew Cream

Put rinsed cashews and water into a high powered blender. Blend until very smooth. With blender running add melted coconut oil and maple syrup through hole on top. Continue blending until combined.

Cover bottom of crust with cashew cream. Should be about 1/2 inch thick. Save remaining cashew cream for another use. Store in the refrigerator.

Slice bananas thinly and toss with lemon juice. Decorative place banana slice on top of cream. Sprinkle with a little more ground canella or cinnamon. Refrigerate for at least one hour to set. Serve and sigh.