This recipe has a Valentine’s slant to it, because even if you’re not big on the commercial side of V-day, it’s still a great excuse to share some healthy food with your Number One partner in crime.
INGREDIENTS:
BASE
- 1 cup dates
- ½ cup oats
- ½ cup almonds
- ½ cup cashews
- ¼ cup cacao powder
- ¼ cup cacao nibs
- 3 Tbsp cacao butter melted
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- pinch sea salt
FILLING
- 2 cup cashews soaked
- ½ cup water
- ⅓ cup liquid sweetener e.g. coconut nectar / brown rice syrup / yacon etc
- 4 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp white miso
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup cacao butter melted
TOPPING
- 2 cup raspberries defrosted/fresh
- 1 Tbsp liquid sweetener coconut nectar / brown rice syrup / yacon etc
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp agar powder
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil melted
- Fresh and/or freeze-dried raspberries to top
METHOD:
BASE
- Blitz all base ingredients, except the cacao butter and nibs, in a food processor until relatively fine.
- Add the melted cacao butter and blend again until sticky.
- Finally, add the cacao nibs and pulse lightly to combine (you want to keep these chunky to give the base some texture).
- Press the mixture into the base of 6 large muffin tins – unlined if you’re using silicon, or lined with biodegradable wrap if using a regular metal tin.
FILLING
- Blend all filling ingredients, except the cacao butter, in a high speed blender until super smooth.
- Add the melted cacao butter and blend again til well combined.
- Pour evenly into the muffin tins, flattening the mixture as needed, then place in the freezer whilst making the topping.
TOPPING
- Blend all ingredients, except agar and coconut oil, until smooth.
- Sprinkle over the agar, and blend again for around a minute, until the mixture heats up slightly (this activates the agar to make it set).
- Finally, add the coconut oil and blend again.
- Remove your cheesecakes from the freezer, pour the raspberry coulis on top, flatten again (I used a spoon to draw circles on the top), then pop in the freezer overnight to set.
- Bring out 10-15 minutes before eating, then go for it! One cheesecake shared between two, or just go for a full one each if you’re extra keen.
BUFFY’S TIPS:
- Make it paleo: you can make it paleo by swapping the miso for nutritional yeast and swapping the oats for almonds, cashews or buckwheat.
- I always use activated nuts in my base if possible – they’re crunchier, taste better, are more digestible, and the nutrients are more readily available. Find out how to activate your nuts (and why) in this blog post I wrote here.
- For your cashews, soak them beforehand for 1-2 hours in cold water, or do a 5-minute hot soak in hot/boiling water. I often skip this part as have a powerful blender. If your blender isn’t quite as strong though, pre-soaking will definitely reduce the load on your blades.
- You can also try adding ½ cup freeze dried raspberries to the raspberry coulis – totally optional, but really amps up the flavour!