Cookbooks · cooking · Dessert · Family · Raw

Cashew Cheesecake

We drove up to the Island over the weekend and dropped The Teenager at my brothers – let him have a mini-vacation of doing nothing. The weather was nice and cool up there, unlike at home. Difference between being on Penn Cove on Whidbey Island and in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains! I wore a sweater even. How I miss wearing sweaters in July….13+ years of Island living was nice.

Walker had a lot of fun playing on the grass above the water with his Aerobie Ring that was sent to us. He took right to it, catching and playing with it. It is light, big and soft when it lands – no hard Frisbee edge! And easy for his little hands to pick up! A fun game of toss for all of us.

We eventually headed home and took the ferry back. Alistaire was wide-eyed over it:

Watching the other ferry slide by:

The lighthouse at the dock, on the mainland…it was getting late!

We got home and I knew what I wanted…..

A refrigerator pie sounded wonderful for dessert the past couple nights, being that it is warm now. I saw a recipe for cashew “cheesecake” in Gluten-Free Vegan Comfort Food, on page 169. The filling is raw, the crust is baked. Both are gluten-free, vegan and have no refined sugar. The taste is incredible. It is a bit of work, worth the time. It tastes amazing. Especially after a long day! (PS: The book is a neat read for anyone, lots of ideas!)

Cashew Cheesecake

Ingredients:

  • 1 baked Nutty Piecrust (see below)
  • 3 cups raw cashews
  • ½ cup pure maple syrup
  • ¼ cup Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
  • ½ cup Organic Raw Coconut Oil Extra Virgin, melted
  • ½ cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Add the cashews to a food processor, pulse until finely ground. Add the remaining ingredients, process on high until smooth. Pour into the prepared piecrust, smooth out.

Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour, overnight if possible.

I cut ours into 8 pieces.

Nutty Piecrust (page 183)

Ingredients:

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Combine the walnuts, pecans, almond meal, brown rice flour, cinnamon and sea salt in a food processor bowl. Process until finely ground. Add in the maple syrup, pulse until mixed in.

Adapting the recipe I added the coconut oil and processed until mixed in and the dough started clumping (the recipe had it worked in by hand using a fork).

Knock the mixture into a 9″ glass pie pan, press into the bottom and up the sides, flattening as you go. Prick the pie crust all over with the tines of a fork (including the sides).

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the crust is browned and cooked through. (Mine took 20 minutes) Let cool fully on a rack before filling

Makes 1 9″ pie.

~Sarah

4 thoughts on “Cashew Cheesecake

  1. Oh sweet lord. Is there anything better than reading through an ingredient list for such a decadent desert and coming to the undisputed conclusion that there is NOTHING in there that you CAN’T or SHOULDN’T eat. Bless you my friend.

  2. I love raw vegan cheesecakes a lot & yours look like a real winner! 🙂 Yumm! I can’t wait to try it!
    Lovely pics from your trip & the raw cheescake too! 😉

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