Have your raw, dairy free cheesecake, and eat it too!
As you know, I'm from New York and that immediately makes me a fan of 3 wonderful foods:1) Pizza2) Bagels3) Cheesecake. But since I've decided to use food as medicine those foods are no longer staples of my diet. If you want to know HOW I broke my love affair with sugar, you can read more about it here.Last week, I made the most wonderful discovery -- Raw, Dairy-Free Cheesecake that tastes even better than the real thing. Ross & I ate these so quickly I had to make another batch today. So I took some photos, put a recipe together, and am now sharing this (life-changing, and no, I'm not exaggerating) recipe with you.Have your cheesecake & eat it too with this no-bake, raw, dairy-free cheesecake bite recipe.
Step 1:
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In separate bowls, soak 1 cup of raw almonds and 1 1/2 cup of raw cashews for 30 minutes up to 6 hours.
Step 2:
Almond date raw crust
Almond date raw crust
Blend 1 cup of dates (make sure the pits are removed) in your blender or food processor and set aside in a bowl. You will need to scrape down the sides of the blender to make sure it is all blending uniformly - it will naturally form into a ball. Next, remove the almonds from the water (discard the water into the sink, this is not to be used) and blend until they are all ground. Add the almonds to your bowl with the dates and massage with your hands to make your cheesecake crust.
Step 3:
Lightly grease a cupcake pan with coconut oil and place about a tablespoon amount of the crust in each slot. You will use all of the crust here so split it up evenly amongst the 12 spots of the pan. Press down with your finger tips so the crust lines the bottom evenly.
Step 4:
In your blender, mix your cashews (remove from water and discard the water into the sink), 1/2 cup of maple syrup, juice from 1 lemon, 1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk, & 1/4 cup coconut oil. Blend until creamy.
Step 5:
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You have options here. You can make peanut butter cheesecake by putting a small scoop of peanut butter on top of the crust and then pouring the cheesecake mix over it, or you can place berries or dark chocolate at the bottom of each one.Make your choice and then fill each of the 12 cups of the tray with your cheesecake mix. Top with berries, nuts, chocolate, hemp seeds, coconut, or anything else that calls to you.It will look something like this...
Step 6:
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Place the tray in the freezer for 4 - 6 hours. My freezer is really tall and narrow so I couldn't fit these in the freezer without putting them on their side. So instead of having all the mix pour out of the tray and ruin my beautiful creation, I placed them in the fridge for about an hour to firm up and then put them in the freezer -- it worked perfectly!!Tip:The brown pieces of paper are parchment paper that I cut into little rectangles to help pop the cheesecakes out. I found this as a tip on another blog and it made it a lot easier. You still have to use a knife around the edges to loosen them but then they come right out.[yumprint-recipe id='62']