December 17, 2014

Raw Vegan “Cheesecake”

Just in time for the holidays! This “cheesecake” is incredibly delicious and much more nutrient-dense than a traditional cheesecake. For example, cashews and coconut oil take the place of cream cheese, sour cream, and eggs, raw almonds take the place of graham crackers, and dates take the place of nutritionally deficient sugar.

It's also high in antioxidants. — It’s also high in antioxidants.

It’s gluten-free and has fewer calories, fats, and sugars than its counterpart. A must-try!

Ingredients

Crumb crust:

1 cup raw almonds

5 dates

1/4 cup raw cacao powder (optional)

pinch of sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Filling:

2 cups raw cashew

2 cups dates

3 cups water

3/4 cup coconut oil, melted

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup raw cacao powder (optional)

Optional toppings:

frozen berries

chopped nuts

chocolate sauce

nut butter of your choice

caramel

Directions

Crumb crust:

Place all crumb crust ingredients into a food processor or blender and pulse until it’s ground and blended. It will be a bit sticky.

You can cut out strips of parchment paper and place them in the pan to easily remove the “cheesecake” when it’s done. Or you can just skip this step and use a butter knife to loosen it.

Scoop the almond mixture into a pan. You can use an 8-inch springform pan, muffin pan, cupcake pan, or mini muffin pan.

Press the crumb down to the base with a glass cup, measuring cup, and/or your fingers.

Filling:

Soak cashews overnight. Skip this step if you have a high-speed blender.

Remove seeds from the dates.

Blend all the filling ingredients until smooth and creamy. You’ll have to blend it in two or three batches.

Add more water if it’s too thick. At this point, taste the filling and make the necessary changes, like more cacao powder, dates, or vanilla, to suit your taste. If it’s too sweet for you, add more cacao powder.

Once you’re happy with the filling, scoop it into the pan and fill them to the top. If you like, you can add frozen berries, nut butter, caramel, etc to the pan before you pour in the filling.