Clementine Almond Custard Cups

A few weeks ago, I was sick with a pretty nasty cold.  It was so nasty that I couldn't leave my house to go to work or even go grocery shopping.  By the end of the week, there was nothing left to eat in our apartment and I was afraid I'd have to eat freezer-burned frozen vegetables and brown rice for dinner.  I know what you're thinking, Why didn't you send Dayv to the grocery store to pick up some food?  The reason is because if I asked Dayv to go food shopping and he actually went, I would probably never see him again.  He'd get lost, confused, and end up..dead probably. 

Luckily, I have an amazing mother who called to ask if I needed her to bring me over anything.  I gave her a short list of necessities which she delivered within the hour.  In addition to the items I asked for, she brought me a kombucha(again, she's amazing) and a few clementines.  She proceeded to tell me that the night before she had starting feeling a cold coming on, so she ate a few clementines and poof! the cold went away.  (I refer to my mom as "the witch doctor" on occasion.) 

Well, my cold went away and I still had a couple of clementines left over.  I decided to make a little treat in honor of my mom, filled with a few of her favorite home remedies.  Almonds for strength, clementines for health, and chocolate for happiness ;)  Essentially, these little custard cups will keep you strong, healthy, and happy for the duration of winter. So, share them with your loved ones and enjoy all of the healthy benefits.  They're pretty delicious, too(which is always a plus when you're ingesting someone's "home remedy"). ;)

Clementine Almond Custard Cups

Makes 12

For the Chocolate Almond Cups:

-2 cups almonds

-1 cup vegan chocolate chips

-2 tbsp coconut oil

-1/2 tsp sea salt

For the Clementine Custard:

-2 clementines, segmented with pith, membrane, and seeds removed and cut into chunks

-1/2 cup raw cashews soaked for at least 6 hours

-1 cup coconut cream(scraped from the top of a refrigerated can of full-fat coconut milk)

-1/4 cup vegan sugar

-2 tbsp coconut oil

-½ tsp almond extract

First make your cups:

Line a standard muffin pan with 12 liners.  In a food processor, process almonds into a fine meal (make sure you don’t over-process or you will make almond butter!).

Bring a small pot of water to boil.  Place a glass bowl overtop of the pot and add the chocolate chips.  Stir continually until the chocolate chips are completely melted.  Add in the coconut oil and continue to stir until chocolate is very smooth.  Remove from heat and stir in the sea salt.

Next, add the almond meal to the melted chocolate mixture.  Mix until all of the almond meal is covered in chocolate and is uniform in consistency.

Spoon chocolate almond mixture evenly among the 12 liners.  Next, take each liner in the palm of your hand and use the spoon to smooth the mixture inside the bottom and sides.  Put each liner back in the pan after you are done so that they keep their shape.

One you are done, place the muffin pan in the freezer to harden while you make the clementine custard.

Make the Clementine Custard: 

Drain cashews and add to food processor.  Process until a thick and smooth cashew cream is created, scraping down the sides when necessary.  If you are having a hard time getting the cashews smooth, add a tablespoon or two of almond milk. 

In a medium pot over medium-low heat, add cashew cream and coconut cream.  Whisk continually until completely smooth.  Add sugar and continue to whisk until all granules are gone.  Add coconut oil and whisk until it is completely melted.  Remove from heat and stir in almond extract. 

To Assemble:

 Take the pan of chocolate almond cups out of the freezer.  Equally distribute clementine pieces among each cup.  Next, fill each cup with the cashew coconut mixture.  Return the pan to the freezer to chill the prepared custard cups.  Once they are firm(about 1-2 hours), remove the paper liner.  Store in freezer in a sealed container. 

To thaw, simply remove desire amount and let sit on the counter for 10-15 minutes.  Or, place several in the fridge to thaw within a few hours.

Enjoy!

This dessert was submitted to Fork and Bean's V-Day Bake-Off.