Recipe: Raw Vegan Cheesecake

I know it’s been a while since my last post, but it turns out that downloading music illegally is not a great way to keep your computer from crashing. Oops.

I’ve recently discovered that my boyfriend has a serious weakness for raw vegan desserts. When I say serious I mean trying a new recipe almost every night. Because of this new found addiction cashews, almonds, dates, and agave have become staples in our pantry.  We just recently tried something that I was very skeptical about, Raw Vegan Cheesecake. Now I will admit that I’ve bad mouthed cheesecake for years, but what nobody knows is that I have NEVER ACTUALLY TRIED IT. So when le boyfriend found out this little truth he just had to make it, and I’m glad he did. I could have never imagined that cashews and a squeeze of lemon could create that creamy tang that is specific to real cream cheese, adding agave provides that sweet quality you look for in a dessert. You may think, like most, that you need a ton of fancy equipment to make raw food, but that’s not always the case. There are easy solutions to not having a dehydrator or spiralizer, but there is simply no replacement for a good ol’ fashion food processor. Everyone should have a food pro regardless of their food orientation, and with that we will start the…

What you need list:

– 1 handy dandy food processor
– 1 cooking vessel

-Crust-
-1 cup raw nuts (I used almonds)
-1/2 cup pitted dates
-1/4 cup coconut flakes
-1 teaspoon cinnamon

-Filling-
-2 cups soaked cashews (soaked in water for at least 3 hours)
-1/2 cup lemon juice
-1/2 cup agave nectar
-1/2 cup warm coconut oil
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1/2 teaspoon salt

-Process your crust ingredients until it forms a fairly dry but still workable dough.
-Place dough into cooking vessel of your choice (sprinkled with extra coconut flakes to prevent sticking) and press.
-Blend filling ingredients in your food processor until smooth, adjust to taste. Feel free to add water (by the tablespoon) while blending your filling to create the consistency you’d like.
-Pour evenly over your hand sculpted crust and garnish with whatever you’d like (remaining nuts, berries, etc)
-Freeze until firm, refrigerate one hour before serving.

Now there  you go, Raw Vegan Cheesecake. If you wanted a strawberry, raspberry, or chocolate cheesecake then you could add your choice to the filling while blending, just remember to start with a small amount and build from there to get the flavor you’d like.