Darshana Thacker Wendel
Darshana Thacker Wendel is a whole-food, plant-based chef and former culinary projects manager for Forks Over Knives. A graduate of the Natural Gourmet Institute, she is the author of Forks Over Knives: Flavor! She created the recipes for Forks Over Knives Family and was a lead recipe contributor to the New York Times bestseller The Forks Over Knives Plan. Her recipes have been published in The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook, Forks Over Knives—The Cookbook, Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health, and LA Yoga magazine online. Visit DarshanasKitchen.com and follow her on Instagram for more.
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Comments (21)
I have made this several times for different parties. People have really enjoyed them! I think they are super good.
Can you substitute almonds for the cashews? Allergies to cashews and peanuts.
Hi Carol,
You can use almonds to replace cashews in the crust, but for the custardy filling, almonds will not work as well as cashews. Cashews are uniquely soft and neutral in flavor. So we wouldn’t recommend making that substitution, unfortunately.
Thank you,
Courtney
Editor, Forks Over Knives
These are amazing! I’ve tried with both blueberry topping and strawberry (my fave)
The only heads up I’d give is that I baked the crusts for 22 min the first time and 16 min the second time and both times they were hard as rocks! Like break your teeth hard. Going to shoot for 10-12 min next time and keep my fingers crossed. So I’m not sure where the 20-30 min recommended time comes from, but proceed with caution.
Also, it only made 9 for me both times, not 12.
I always add some fat to these vegan crusts so that they bake more moistly. I use nut butter and only baked 12 minutes.
These are wonderful! My favorite Forks Over Knives recipe thus far. Not the biggest pear fan, but the maple syrup, vanilla, and cashews balance the fruit out so well – and created the most delicate, whipped filling. Every component to these is divine.
In a comment to Linda’s comment about “what pears” under Chelsea’s initial comment it helps to read the recipe. The pears are added to the cream filling and the blueberries are the topping for the tartlets.
what pears? These are blueberry
Can the tartlets be frozen? How long will they last refrigerated?
I made these and they were amazing. I only filled 9 muffin holders, but could have stretched it. I used canned pears and omitted the maple syrup in the filling.
Where do you get lavender leaves? What can you substitute if you can’t get the leaves?
The recipe asks for lavender ‘flowers’, not leaves. I don’t know, but I think you could substitute any other edible flower for the lavender, i.e. pansy, calendula or even rose petals. If all fails, I think you could just leave them out.
If you have a tree nut allergy, is there a substitute for cashews?
Cashews are a fruit. Hope you can check with your Dr and see if they are ok for u
You can replace cashews with sunflower seeds.
Very Good
What can I substitute for pears? They gross me out :/
I haven’t tried it, but I would think apples would work instead of the pears.
My wife and I made these the other day and ended up eating them for breakfast. In fact, from now on we are going to have these every sunday morning. But yes, they can also be for dessert!
Sour sop would add a tartness that could be good with blueberries. I live in Belize I just bought frozen blueberries ( in the states I would be out picking them and butting them up). No blueberries or pairs but we have sour sop this time of year I think I’ll try it and let you know.
Pears are very sweet and I imagine would give it the smooth consistency that’s desired. Apples as someone has suggested might work or perfectly ripe bananas or sweet soft but not mushy mangos, I’m thinking that there must be a tropical fruit that I don’t know that might work. What do others think of the fruit soursop? I don’t honestly know enough about it’s qualities except that it makes a nice drink or ice cream and it’s white in color to my knowledge.