Ezran's Jelly Tarts (vegan)

    reading time: 6 min

Last month I shared a recipe for one of my all-time-favourite animated shows, Avatar: The Last Airbender, making a vegan version of Aang's favourite egg custard tart in celebration of Imbolc, the pagan seasonal festival that marks the beginning of spring.

Today I want to talk about yet another animated show – The Dragon Prince.

Have you seen The Dragon Prince yet? It's an animated fantasy series available on Netflix (with season 4 hopefully being released in 2022), co-created by Aaron Ehasz who was the head writer and co-executive producer of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and one of the three main characters, Callum, is voiced by Jack DeSena who is most known for his voice work of Sokka in Avatar: The Last Airbender. However, I don't want you to except another ATLA – because The Dragon Prince isn't it. (But, The Dragon Prince is way more open-minded in terms of LGBTQ+ representation, so bonus points here!)

Anyway.

Let's talk jelly tarts.

»I was just ... admiring them. (...) They look amazing!«
– Ezran, The Dragon Prince, season 1, episode 1

Crown Prince Ezran from the show The Dragon Prince is known for his obsession with jelly tarts from the magical land of Xadia which he constantly snitches from Barius the baker (along with his pet glow toad Bait). They are based on the Jewish triangular cookies called hamantashen or hamentaschen, which are traditionally made with yeast (later replaced by baking powder) and filled with poppy seed and prune jam, although varieties with apricot, strawberry, canned pie filling, or chocolate are also common. They are traditionally made on the Jewish holiday of Purim.

In season 1 of the show it is revealed that the jelly tarts in The Dragon Prince are made with persimmons – however, to match the redness of the filling in the show, I will also be adding some strawberries. It's also worth knowing that using oil or margarine in place of butter will make these hamantashen-esque tarts pareve (non-dairy).

It's Prince Ezran's birthday this week (March 19), and although I have no special occasion this time to bake jelly tarts for, that's exactly what we are doing today.

So, how about making a batch of these yummy jelly tarts and getting comfortable on the sofa to binge-watch The Dragon Prince this weekend?!

 »Uh ... Jelly tart?«
– Ezran, The Dragon Prince, season 1, episode 2

These buttery, fruity, orange-scented jelly tarts are definitely worth stealing – but luckily no need to do so, as you've now got the recipe to make them yourself!

Tart Crust:
1/2 cup (100 g) raw cane sugar or brown sugar
3/4 cup (150 g) softened vegan butter
3 ounces (85 g) vegan cream cheese
zest of 1/2 organic orange
3 tbsp cold water
2 cups (400 g) spelt flour (type 630)
1/4 tsp salt

Persimmon Jelly:
4 ripe persimmons
1/4 cup strawberry jam
1/4 cup (50 g) brown sugar
zest of 1/2 organic orange
juice of 1 organic orange
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

OR 1/2 cup jam or jelly, such as strawberry or apricot

also:
3 tbsp non-dairy milk, for brushing
(optional) granulated sugar, for sprinkling

For the jelly filling:

Wash and chop your ripe persimmons. To a medium saucepan, add the persimmon chunks, along with orange juice. Stirring frequently, bring to a simmer over medium- high heat. Reduce temperature to medium-low, cover with a lid, and simmer until the persimmons are soft.

Purée the persimmons using an immersion blender, a regular blender, or a food processor. For an extra smooth texture, strain the persimmon puree through a fine mesh strainer or nut milk bag / cheese cloth.

Bring the persimmon puree back to a boil on medium high, stirring frequently. Add strawberry jam, brown sugar, orange zest, and spices. Cook for about 15 minutes until the mixture has slightly thickened, all the while continuously stirring.

Remove from heat, and allow to cool.

While the persimmon jelly cools down, prepare the tart crust.

For the tart crust:

In a large mixing bowl, cream together margarine and sugar until light and fluffy, using an electric mixer. Add vegan cream cheese, orange zest, and water. Beat again till creamy and well mixed.

Sift flour and salt into the bowl. Keep beating on low speed until the mixture turns into a crumbly dough.

Kneed the dough with your clean hands until a smooth dough ball forms. If the dough seems to wet, knead a little flour till it reaches the right texture – smooth and slightly tacky to the touch, but not sticky.

Flatten the dough ball into a flat disk and wrap it in a large sheet of plastic wrap or baking paper. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour (or even overnight, if you prefer to do this over two days).

Line a large baking tray (or in my case, two trays) with parchment paper.

Remove chilled dough from the fridge, and roll out on a floured, clean surface to about 1/8-inch thickness using a rolling pin. The thinner you roll the dough, the more delicate and crisp the tarts will turn out.

Use a 5-inch cookies cutter (or in my case, a whiskey glass with about 5 inches in diameter turned upside down), and cut out as many circles as you can from the dough.

Gather the scraps, and roll them out again. Cut circles. Repeat until you've used up all of the dough. You should end up with around 20 circles (unless your dough was thicker than 1/8 inch, which will result in less tarts). I take any scraps that are too small to cut any circles from, and shape them into a cookie by hand.

Preheat the oven to 190 °C / 375 °F.

To assemble the tarts:

Place dough circles evenly spaced on the parchment lined baking sheet.

To shape the jelly tarts, place about a teaspoon of persimmon jelly into the centre of each circle of dough. Form a triangle by folding the left side of the circle over towards the centre, then folding the right side towards the centre, overlapping the upper part of the left side flap. Lastly, fold the bottom part of the circle upwards to complete the triangle, letting the right side of this third flap overlap the right side of the triangle, creating a "pinwheel" effect.

Pinch each corner of the triangle gently but firmly to seal. This helps retain their shape and prevents the filling from oozing out while cooking.

Repeat this process for the remaining dough circles.

Brush the tarts lightly with some non-dairy milk. If you like, sprinkle with some granulated sugar.

Bake for about 20 minutes in the preheated oven until light golden brown. Rather than overcooking them, these are best undercooked slightly.

Remove the jelly tarts from the oven and set on a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature – if you can resist eating them all, of course.

Freeze any leftover persimmon jam, and eat on top of bread, pancakes, porridge, or in smoothies! It also tastes heavenly spread on pumpkin bread!!

Looking for more nerdy recipes? Check out some of my other fiction-inspired creations:

Sansa's Lemon Cakes (vegan)

Legolas' Lembas (vegan)

Bilbo's Seed Cakes (vegan)

♥

Maisy