"Cheesecake"

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Remember those gorgeous desserts from Sunday?
And how I told you I would be sharing the recipe for vegan cheesecake?
Well, canI get a drum roll please? .....


I found this Vegan/ Raw "Cheesecake" at Manifest Vegan.
I have to admit I was pretty dang skeptical.
I mean the filling is made with cashews?!
Yes! Cashews. You wont believe how great it is!
Also, you won't believe how similar it is to actual cheesecake.
Or how guilt free!

PS I had some technical difficulties photographing these bad boys.
The out takes crack me up.... well now they do :)
When I was trying out my newly researched techniques (aka poster board) and the wind blew over my gorgeous mini cheesecake and destroyed my white background I was not laughing.

Manifest Vegan's Fabulous Cheesecake
Ingredients:

Crust
2 cups almonds
1 cup dried Medjool dates

Filling
3 1/2 cups raw cashews -soaked for at least one hour
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup agave *
1 cup organic, unrefined coconut oil- liquefied (see below)
1/2 cup water
1 vanilla bean or 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt

Berry sauce
Handful of mixed berries
4 large dried Medjool dates
2 hefty squirts agave

Directions:

To melt coconut oil, if solid:
Measure out 1 cup of solid coconut oil and place in shallow bowl of warm water. As it softens, stir. Replace the water in the shallow bowl with fresh warm water and repeat until all is melted. I needed to change the water about 4 times to make it reach a fully liquid state.

To make crust:
Blend almonds and dates in a food processor until finely chopped. Press mixture very compactly into the bottom of a spring-form pan. I used the bottom of a glass to press the crust down, and it worked perfectly.

To make filling:
Take all filling ingredients and blend in food processor until smooth. Just let it go for a few minutes…. the texture should be nice and creamy.

To assemble:
Pour filling on top of crust and spread out until smooth. Cover with foil and freeze overnight. The freezing process will re-harden the coconut oil and set up the cake. After it is frozen you can refrigerate and it will be ready to serve after about one hour. Even though you have to freeze this cake to set it up, it is not a frozen cake… once refrigerated, it takes on an extremely similar texture to a regular ol’ cheesecake.

To make topping:

Whiz berries, dates & agave together in a food processor.

Yep. That's it!

By the way, my very un-vegan husband highly recommends this recipe.
In fact, he's already begging for more :)

Enjoy!

Gluten Free Wednesday