Ummm, hellloooooo! I’ve had this cheesecake recipe up my sleeve for a few months and completely forgot about it until you all reminded me that I teased you about it and never followed through. How could I forget about this delicious dessert? It’s cheesecake. It’s dairy free. It’s made entirely of plants. And it tastes DIVINE.
I don’t make desserts a major focus of this website for a couple of reasons, the main one being there are many healthy/raw/plant-based recipe sites out there that focus entirely (or heavily) on desserts and I don’t think there’s a major need for me to fill. Plus, desserts aren’t my forte. I don’t feel like my dessert creation skillz hold a candle to some healthy dessert sites. BUT! When I come across a creation as good as this one, I can’t keep it to myself.
This recipe is really fun to make, it’s fairly quick and easy, and it keeps in the freezer really well.
Ingredients:
Crust:
1/2 cup raw almonds, walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup Medjool dates, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes, seed removed
¼ tsp. sea salt
Filling:
1 ½ cups raw cashews, soaked overnight in clean water
juice of 2 lemons
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1/3 cup raw honey (can also use agave or grade b maple syrup)
1 cup frozen or fresh mixed berries, thawed (I used a mixture of raspberry, blueberry and marionberry)
Directions:
Add nuts, dates and salt to a food processor and pulse until they start to form a coarse mixture that holds together when you roll it into a ball in your hands. You can leave it somewhat chunky or keep processing for a more fine crust. Firmly press mixture into the bottom of a 7” spring-form pan, or a regular pie plate lined with saran wrap (so that you can lift the pie out of the pan later. Make sure that the crust thickness is even throughout and that crust extends to the edges of the bottom of the pan.
Melt together coconut oil and honey in a small saucepan on low heat. Transfer to a powerful blender or food processor. Add all remaining ingredients EXCEPT for the berries. Blend on high until as smooth and silky as possible. Pour about half (or more) of the mixture over the crust and smooth it out with a rubber spatula. Add the berries to the blender and blend with the remaining cheesecake mixture on high until smooth. Pour berry cheesecake mixture over plain cheesecake mixture. Cover and freeze until solid.
Remove from freezer 15-30 minutes before serving. Run a smooth life under hot water before slicing. Serve with berries on top. ENJOY!
Just letting you know… this is on the menu for Sunday! I’m so excited to try it!!! Thanks for sharing!
Okay… one word: AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a huge success! Thank you for sharing that recipe!
When I saw this recipe I thought it looked good, it would be fun to try, but I wasn’t sure how the texture or taste would turn out. What does it taste like? Cheesecake! I think that next time I make it I will only use the juice from 1 lemon and I won’t drain ALL of the water from the cashews and use that with it. I couldn’t find the Medjool dates called for, so I used regular dates instead. I also used almonds AND walnuts to make the crust. I made the top half with fresh strawberries and I didn’t use saran wrap on the pie plate.
I think that next time I make it, I will try making individual cheesecake bites using a mini muffin tin.
This was an adventure! Thank you again for sharing this recipe! I shared it on Facebook! 😀
So glad you loved the cheesecake! I think mini cheesecake bites sound sooooooo good! Would you just make them in a mini-muffin tin?
Most likely. It seems like it would be easier to get them out of a mini muffin tin than a candy mold. 🙂
I made this last night before bed and froze it. Woke up this morning and had a tiny sliver with my breakfast. It is to die for! Thank you so very much. I brought it to supper club for dessert, and everyone loved it! It tastes just like cheesecake 😀 you are amazing!
YAY! So glad you loved it. It’s super rich and sweet to me. I can really only have a small piece and my sweet tooth is DONE!
I wish my sweet tooth was as small as yours! It sometimes gets me in trouble lol!
I made this last night for my husbands birthday. It was a huge hit!
Hi. I would love to try this recipe, but my kids are allergic to nuts. Is there a healthy substitute for the nuts and cocnut oil? Thanks