Spring Time Treats

One of the many things I love about my new blogging world are the immense opportunities for sharing and learning from my fellow food bloggers.  Every time I check my reader I have a sense of renewed inspiration.  This is my motivation as I continue to find it difficult to get creative in the kitchen.  However,  my desire to dream up new dishes has been bringing me to my favorite room a bit more often.

We recently had the pleasure of sharing company with good friends who joined us at our house for some sun worshiping on our back deck.  These sunny, gorgeous days sure help lift my spirit.  So do these lovely people.  I am always delighted when I know the E.B’s are coming over.  Interestingly, this knowledge also brings a desire to make dessert.  It must be because the E.B’s are such sweet people.  Going with some ideas I had gotten while checking out other dessert blogs, I created a light and tasty spring time treat.

We drank ice cold lemonade brought by the E.B’s and indulged in a delightful dessert.   We engaged in pleasant conversation and a little bit of laughter.  It was an quite an enjoyable evening.

I really wanted to make a sweet bread as the base for this dessert, but time and lack of energy kept me from getting it done.  I had a large supply of gluten/dairy free granola bars that were recently given to me so I decided to use those and work from there.

Here is what I used to make this dessert:

granola bars

mango chunks and blueberries

cashew cream

coconut cream

sprinkling of nutmeg

Starting with the  granola bars, I broke them into bite sized chunks and dropped them into the bottom of a wine glass.  I added a dollop of cashew cream, then the fruit. I made a second layer in the same way and topped it with coconut cream with a sprinkle of nutmeg.

Here’s how to make cashew cream:

1 cup of cashews (soaked in water at least 6 hours in fridg)

1/4 cup of water

agave to sweeten as desired

Blend in a magic bullet, vitamix or strong blender until creamy.

To make coconut cream:

remove the thick cream from the top of a full fat can of coconut milk.  It’s best to chill it in the fridg overnight first.  Open the can upside down and pour out the coconut water for later use.  What’s left will be about a half cup of thick cream.

Put into a bowl, add pure vanilla extract, a little sweetener and whip with hand beater until fluffy and creamy.

Goodness in a glass right here.  Give it a try.  You deserve a treat!