I ventured over to an old college acquaintances Facebook page called Unprocessed Mom. You should check it out. Kate has amazing information and recipes that are super duper, knock your socks off healthy, make you feel great. I've had tried many of them and have never been disappointed!
Speaking of super duper knock your socks off healthy recipes, I found this one posted on her page; Raw Chocolate Almond Cheesecake by Vegan 8 I busted it out last night.
For the chocolate crust mix slivered almonds, cacao and your sweetener. In this case I used pure maple syrup. Pulse until clumpy. Now, this part for most people should go fairly quickly. However, I'm not most people so of course it took me twice as long as it should have. Why, you ask? Well, let me tell you. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Oh how I covet a Vita-Mixer! My blender you see, although faithful in blending soft smooth ingredients works like a charm, but throw in some nuts and it clogs right up! So, I spend most of my time reaching down around the blade digging it out so that it can properly blend the way it's suppose to. Good thing I'm a determinist! So here's my tip for those of you who may not be determinist at heart and suffer from low blade quality blenders. Blend a little at a time gradually adding more as your almonds get finer and use your pulse button.
It should
look something like this. You can test it by smooshing,
yes I said smooshing, some between your fingers. It should clump and
stick together. If you have problems getting it to stick together slowly
add more maple syrup until desired consistency. Watch out though
because you don't want it too wet.
Press it into your greased (spray with cooking spray) and lined with
saran wrap 8x8 pan. Make sure your saran reaches the top on all 4 sides.
This will require two pieces of saran one going horizontal and one
vertical. I made the mistake of only using one piece and it was too
short on two of the edges. This made it difficult to pull out when the
time came. The cooking spray helps keep the saran wrap in place while you press down the crust.
Next up is the yummy filling!
The cashews I had on hand were not raw and I didn't have the amount needed for the recipe, but I'm pretty good at making due with what I have. I did still soak the cashews and the almonds but for a much shorter time. I added crushed almonds, and when I say crushed, I mean I smashed them with my cake fondant roller! It was good therapy to take out all my frustration for having to dig out all of the crust around my blender blade. Add the rest of the ingredients for the filling and blend until smooth. I think the filling would have been smoother had it been all cashews and next time I make it I will be getting the raw cashews. However, all that aside, I did a taste test and to my amazement it really did have a cheesecake flavor! I guess I wasn't expecting that based on the ingredients.
Our filling is almost complete. I learned great news today with this recipe. I did not know there was chocolate almond butter out there just waiting for me to stumble upon it and enjoy the wondrous flavors of one of my favorite combinations; chocolate & almonds!
Since, I did not know this existed yet, I cheated and used regular almond butter and mixed in nutella (I know not healthy, but proved to be a great substitution this time). I had a little left and needed to get rid of it, otherwise, I probably would have just used cacao powder to flavor the almond butter.
Doesn't this just make you want to lick the
screen right now!
Drop spoonfuls of this goodness into your pan. Gently swirl with a knife to get the marble effect. Be careful not to swirl too much.
Top with almonds, cacao nibs, chocolate chips or in my case I used unsweetened baking chocolate.
Pop this baby in the freezer and just try to occupy yourself to keep from eating it to soon! It will take several hours or overnight to freeze until firm.
Now that's a thing of beauty right there!
 |
When you remove the cheesecake from the freezer, let it stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes. This will make it easier to pull on the saran and get it out of the pan. I made the mistake of being over eager with mouth drooling and tried to pull it out to soon. My saran wrap ripped at the edges and I ended up having to run hot water on the bottom and tipping it upside down! Oops!
Chocolate and almonds at it's best!
I'm sorry it just kept calling my name, Kristie, please eat me!
Original recipe can be found here Raw Chocolate Almond Cheesecake.
Until next time!
Kristie
No comments:
Post a Comment