Dairy Free, Gluten Free Raw Vegan Cashew Cheesecake Pie

2011 March 4

tags: cashew, cashew creme, dairy-free cheesecake, dessert, ginger, gluten-free pie, pecan, pie, raw, rhubarb, spring, summer, vegan, vegan desserts

What would you do if you could not eat dairy but wanted cheesecake? There is a way, my friend. This cheesecake pie is delicious- serve it frozen as a creamy treat. You would never know, in a million years, there was no dairy! The possibilities of this are endless- start with a crumble crust, add in the cheese filling, and then top with whatever concoction your heart desires.

Think of rhubarb, or maybe strawberries cooked with a little lemon and honey, or blueberries cooked with ginger and a little orange zest, or some banana slices and dairy-free ice cream, or a thin layer of almond butter and drizzles of chocolate and caramel and clouds of

almond dairy-free whipped cream or coconut dairy-free whipped cream or raw dairy-free whipped cream .

Oh I just love dessert. I must say. :)

NOTE: As featured in Our Spunky Holiday from the lovely Spunky Coconut! (www.thespunkycoconut.com).

ABOUT THE PIE

This recipe is in three parts. Each part is hyperlinked below- don’t get intimidated by the clicking around! Everything is enough to make two pies.

1- Make the Cheesecake filling first (see below)

2- Make the crumble crust second, assemble, then freeze.

3- Make the rhubarb topping. You can use the cooked rhubarb recipe here (has alot of juice to make rhubarb lemonade). Or you can use the rhubarb sauce here which is a beautiful bright pink and doesn’t produce all the extra juice. Put the rhubarb topping on the frozen cheesecake. You can add a little whipped cream on top from the linked non-dairy whipped cream recipes in the first paragraph. Or, puree a few frozen bananas and put in an icing bag, pipe them on top. Perfect. You can serve it frozen (tastes best and holds together that way), or serve cold.

Cheesecake Filling

Ingredients (makes enough for 2 pies)

2 cups cashews
1 cup water
1 tbsp agar agar powder (optional -for stability- Non vegan: try unflavoured gelatin)
pinch salt
3 tbsp agave nectar (non vegan: 2 tbsp honey)
3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 tbsp orange zest (optional choice 1 – for flavouring)
1 tbsp vanilla extract or seed from 1/2 vanilla bean (optional choice 2- for flavouring)
1 tsp almond extract (optional choice 3- for flavouring, goes well with choice 2)

Directions

The night before: Grind the cashews as finely as possible- do them in batches in a coffee grinder. Put cashews and water and agar agar in the bowl, along with your choice of flavourings, mix enough to combine, let soak over night. (Note: if you have a Vitamix blender or high powered blender, soak the cashews whole over night in the water without agar powder instead of grinding them first. The next day drain them and blend them with the agar powder and the rest of the ingredients in steps 2,3,4). I don’t have a high powered blender so the only way I can get the cashews pulverized fine enough is if I do it when they are dry before soaking.
Melt the honey or agave and the coconut oil the next day. Mix together. Add to the cashew mixture and mix well (or blend well in blender). You may wish to taste for sweetness- if you want it sweeter without the calories, go for a few drops of stevia. Otherwise, you can try using more honey or agave or adding in your sweetener of choice.
Pour the mix on top of your crumble crust, and let set in the fridge for a few hours. The best result is to freeze it- it makes it the most solid.
Put whatever topping you wish on top! I like using this rhubarb sauce as pictured below