Monday, February 28, 2011

Raw strawberry cheesecake

A few weeks ago my in-laws came to visit. I wanted to make something for my mother-in-law who is vegan. She is not a raw foodist but she loves the raw "cheesecakes" made by Earth Cafe. I found this recipe at the Post Punk Kitchen and loved it. I prefer this over any of the Earth Cafe's desserts and I've tried most all the flavors. I am definitely not vegan or a raw foodist, but LOVED this recipe. I made it yesterday for a second time with my new food processor and it was so easy.

I only used the recipe for the crust and filling, I didn't make the frosting or the strawberry coulis and it was still darn good. Here is the recipe:

Crust
1 cup pecans
1 cup almonds
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 medjool dates, pitted and chopped

Filling
3 cups raw cashew pieces, soaked overnight (or at least 3 hours)
1/2 cup agave syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
32 oz strawberries (reserve 9 for decorating), hulled and halved - about 4 cups
3/4 cup coconut oil, melted

Please see the recipe on the Post Punk Kitchen for the original instructions because i made a couple modifications.

The instructions call for a 9 inch round spring form pan, but i decided to use my 17X12 jelly roll pan. I doubled the crust and it all fit in the pan beautifully. The first time I made this, I had a problem with slicing this up. It set, but not firm enough to make clean cuts. The dessert is frozen in all the pictures here. It's really easy to cut when frozen. It also tastes great when frozen.

Since pecans are so expensive, I used more almonds for the crust. When i doubled the recipe, I used 1 cup pecans and 3 cups almonds. It was good. I understand now why the Earth Cafe pies are so expensive (they are between $5-$6 for a tiny slice) because the ingredients aren't cheap.

In the food processor, grind up the nuts til fine and add the dates until you get a nice even texture.

Blend all the filling ingredients, adding the strawberries second to last, then adding the melted coconut oil slowly while keeping the food processor on.

Pour filling on the crust and use spatula to even out. The filling is a bit thick so shake pan gently to help smooth the filling. After setting 4 hours in refrigerator, it's ready to eat!



3 comments:

Mama of 2 Hapas said...

Do you buy your pecans at Costco? A lot cheaper!

maybe strawberry said...

yes! so glad i checked there. 2 lbs for $14 instead of 1 lb for $14 at most other stores.

Jane said...

I tried to post this comment a while back, but I guess it didn't post. Anyway, I don't know if you got a chance to try one of the vegan chocolate cupcakes (they were the smaller choc cupcakes) on Ian's bday cake, but that's a SUPER simple recipe and it comes out pretty moist and fluffy for a vegan cake. It's all stuff you probably already have on hand too. If you want to try it, I can find you a link to the recipe.

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