Given how old I am, I’ve made my fair share of cheesecakes in my lifetime. As a kid, I could easily gobble up a gigantic piece of cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory with pride. I’ve experimented with lots of variations of cheesecake, from the more traditional to the completely out there variations. This one definitely belongs in the “completely out there” category. No baking, no double broiler, no creamcheese.
All of this means one thing: no fuss.
Raw Cheesecake
Makes about ten 1×1” squares
1 cup pitted dates (if not sticky and slightly dried out, soak them in water for 15 minutes and then drain)
1 1/2 cup walnuts
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 cups raw cashews, soaked in water for 4-8 hours and then drained
juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup)
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted (can melt in microwave)
1/4 cup honey + 2 droppers stevia (or 1/3 cup of honey)
1 pint strawberries, sliced
EASY TIP: BUY HONEY IN A GLASS JAR.
I used to shy away from honey, purely because I’d get annoyed with how sticky and messy it’d get. It always seemed like half of the honey I measured into a cup would get stuck and not actually go into the recipe.
Turns out there’s an easy way to solve this problem. One day it just came to me- microwave the honey for 30 seconds before adding into a recipe. It’ll make it significantly easier to handle.
Which leads to the second, bigger tip: buy honey in a glass jar! That way you don’t have to worry about microwaving in plastic or any of that nonsense.
Place dates, walnuts and sea salt in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is starting to stick together. Press down into square 8×8 dish (or a pie pan if you want to do a pie).
Place cashews, lemon, coconut oil, honey, and stevia in a blender or food processor. Blend until completely smooth. You may have to stop and move the mixture around a bit- even my vitamix had a little bit of a tough time at first! I recommend first blending on a low speed until everything is mostly broken down. Then change it to a high speed at the end to make it silky smooth. If you’re really struggling, add a teaspoon or two of water.
Pour over crust, and smooth down with a metal spatula or back of a spoon as best as possible. Place in fridge for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
Right before cutting the cheesecake, place in the freezer for an hour. This will help you smoothly cut the cheesecake into squares. After cutting into 1×1” squares, place a strawberry slice on each square. Serve immediately, or store in fridge.