Raw Cheesecake
with Blueberry Topping

(photo by koko)

For this month’s Vegetarian Supper Club in Eugene, Oregon, we had a challenge.  One of the members has a ton of allergies, and we thought it would be a fun challenge to make only dishes that she can eat.  Her allergies range from soy to dairy to some nuts to citrus to mushroom to eggplant to potatoes and much more… and, yeah, this is a vegetarian supper club.

So, what to make?  Well, every time I thought of something, there was always one thing in the recipe that she couldn’t do.  Until… we came across a raw cheesecake recipe…

Raw Vegan Cheesecake
makes one cheesecake

• 2 cups macadamia nuts
• ½ cup pitted medjool dates
• ¼ cup dried coconut (I used unsweetened)
• 1½ cups cashews
• 6 Tbl coconut oil (melted to a liquid)
• ¼ cup raw agave nectar
• Seeds from 1 vanilla bean
• ¼ cup lime juice (or replace with other liquid)

Place macadamia nuts and cashews in two separate bowls. Cover each with cold water and soak for 4 hours. Rinse, drain, set aside.

Pulse the macadamia nuts and dates in the food processor to a sticky, crumb-like consistency. Sprinkle dried coconut on the bottom of an 8” pie plate. Press macadamia nut mixture onto it, to form a crust.

Place cashews, agave nectar, coconut oil, 6 tbs water, and lime juice in the food processor. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into the food processor. Puree until smooth and then pour onto crust. Freeze 1 to 2 hours, or until firm. Slice while frozen, but defrost on counter or in the fridge. Top with berries and enjoy!

NOTE: The innards came about ½ inch from the top of the shell.  If you want solely a cheesecake without a fruit or other topping, I’d recommend upping all of the inside ingredients by about 33% (i.e.- 2 cups cashews as the base, pull out your algebra skillz for the rest).

Blueberry Sauce
makes 1½ to 2 cups

• 2 cups blueberries
• 1 cup water
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 Tbl cornstarch
• 4 Tbl water
• 1 Tbl butter substitute (I used coconut oil due to my friend’s allergies)

Combine the blueberries, water, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil and simmer gently for 15 minutes. While simmering, mash the berries slightly with a potato masher. Mix the cornstarch into water. With the blueberries still simmering, slowly stir in the cornstarch mixture. Continue to stir for at least two minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter.

This topping will likely work with other fruit besides blueberries – such as strawberries, raspberries, yourmomberries, et cetera…

This is a mainly music-based blog.  If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes, like vegan biscuits & gravy, spiced biscotti, vegan cactus chili, vegan bananas foster, mushroom dumpling stew, strawberry cornbread muffins, fruit spring rolls, grilled coconut-rum pineapple, vegetarian s’mores pouches, pumpkin-infused vodka cocktail, creamy vegan chocolate pudding, and cute olive penguins at THIS LINK.

If you’re only here for the music… well, stay tuned.  I have five concerts coming up this week.  Yep, you read that correctly.  Five.

~Dan – np: Medeski Martin & Wood – Radiolarians III