thankgod 4 raw cheesecake!

[razzleberry]

I've tried my fair share of sweet recipes from raw cookbooks. I can't say that up until now any of the desserts that I tried have wowed me.. that was until TONIGHT!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I urge you if you have not yet to try making a raw cheesecake!

It was soo good that I wanted to eat all of the 'cheese' mixture before it was even put in the pie dish!

I had absolutely no idea raw desserts could be so good!

Here's the recipe I used and I'm so sorry but I don't know the creative genius behind this creation but I'd sure like to shake his/her hand!

-------------------------------------
Raspberry Cheesecake
Makes: 24 slivers

For the Crust:
2 cups raw macadamia nuts
1/2 cup dates, pitted (medjools)
1/4 cup dried coconut

For the cheese:
3 cups chopped cashews, soaked for at least 1 hour
3/4 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup honey
3/4 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt (optional)

For raspberry sauce:
1 bag frozen raspberries
1/2 cup dates

DIRECTIONS
To make the crust, process the macadamia nuts and dates in the food processor. Sprinkle dried coconut onto the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch springform pan (found in Target). Press crust onto the coconut. This will prevent it from sticking.

To make the cheese, blend the cashews, lemon, honey, gently warmed coconut oil (do not use microwave), vanilla, sea salt (if using), and 1/2 cup water. Blend until smooth and adjust to taste.

Pour the mixture onto the crust. Remove air bubbles by tapping the pan on a table.

Place in the freezer until firm. Remove the whole cake from the pan while frozen and place on a serving platter. Defrost in the refrigerator.
---------------------------------------------------------------

I forgot to add the vanilla, but mine still tastes amazing! and instead of honey I used agave and dates. And I had to use frozen strawberries as we've just had tons of rain here in South Island, New Zealand and our raspberry crops are pretty much all washed away!
Oh, and another tip. BLEND, BLEND, BLEND all the cheese mixture so it is very creamy and there aren't big chunks of cashews. Probably an obvious thing to say, but hey!

Now that I've shared with you my success of a dessert, can you share with me yours?!

[Bethanie]

:D :D What a way to start the day to see your recipe.
I can hardly bear it :p :p having to wait to get the ingredients for your wonder cheesecake.
Thank you, it's my birthday and it will be a gift FOR ME, TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy Day!
Bethanie

[StudentforLife]

Wow. Between the lasanga recipe in the last thread and this sinfully delectable cheesecake recipe I'm proud to call myself an aspiring raw foodist.

My birthday is in February and this would be an incredible celebration meal. My husband is not raw by any means but he is lactose intolerant so I think he would even be pleased. Now, I just have to wait until Feb 26! That's not going to be easy!

Thank you for the recipe.

[mongomango]

Thank you Razzleberry!


Bethanie, Happy Birthday! Have a wonderful day.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b209/ribbyd/birthday/HLCL0782.jpg

[Nini]

Zowie........ I am going to make this. Sounds delish!

Nini

[RawMissMiss]

I am wanting to make this today, but our store was out of cashews, so unless I drive 30 miles to the nearest Trader Joes, I have no cashews...

Is there anything you can substitute cashews for? I wanted so much to make this for dinner tonight! ;)

[**jessireebob**]

I made a cheesecake over the weekend and wasn't pleased with how lemony it was, so I decided to add in some cranberries and strawberries to make a yummy tart pie! I've had it for dinner several nights this week! Yummmmm...

[RawMissMiss]

Well I forgot about one other store we have in town, (I live in a very small town), and found some cashews...came home & made the cheesecake...WOW!!! I am amazed at how wonderful it turned out, I love it! I am going to take a picture of it, and all of my recipe's from now on, when I make something for the first time, I thought this would be motivating to remind myself how much I liked making it & eating it! DH is going to try a piece this evening for his dessert. I think this will be my breakfast & or lunch tomorrow, LOL! Oh, I also made a strawberry/banana pie without the crust too, it is soooo yummy! The kids were even salivating over it! :D

[barbluv]

I also have made many things that were just o.k. But last nite I made the cheese cake, as I was cutting a slice, my sister (SAD) (what exactly does , SAD mean?) I know it's referring to one that eats cook food right?) came into the kitchen and said:"Oh, what's that, cheese cake, can I have a slice? She tasted it and said "Oh, this is good". Because I don't really like most crust recipes, I only used 1 cup Macadamia/should have used 2c I loved the crust; and I should have only used 2c cashews for the cheese, because it made more than enough for my dish.
Thank you for the recipe it's in my top 3.

[razzleberry]

yay i'm so excited for us all! finding a great recipe really motivates me to try more raw dishes! and yes SAD does refer to someone on a cooked diet. for such a long time i had no clue what it stood for but i believe it is 'Standard American Diet'

keep sharing any other great recipes you've made so we can continue to inspire each other towards better health :)

[janicejourney]

LOVED this recipe! Thank you so much for posting it.

[garden granny]

The cheese cake is the very best tasting raw food I've made. It tastes better that cooked cheese cake. My husband ate 2 pieces and loved it and he never knew if wasn't the real thing. ;)

[berrymarymac]

mmm, that looks sooo good! I found some raw blueberry cheesecake at my wholefoods and it tastes better than the regular SAD version!! It's from Arden's Garden, here in Atlanta, which I didn't know had raw foods! Anyways, I'll need to try some of these recipes!

[SiennaInLondon]

Sorry crappy cook here -but what do you do with the rasperries and dates to turn them into the sauce? Just blend?

[everclear]

Oh my gosh! I have to make this! This sounds sooo yummy, and I am a complete raspberry nut, I could eat them all day long. :p

[SeaRose]

This recipe is awesome! I made it as directed in the first post, then I chopped up strawberries really small, and mixed them with some agave (they weren't the best strawberries) and put that on top. Really good!

If you make this, eat a small piece, it is really filling. But it is so good, you really want to devour the whole cake. Thanks for posting this recipe!

[SiennaInLondon]

Well I made this today and I have to say, that it was ok but not worth the hassle... I mean eating dates are as good for me. And it doesn't even remotely approach real cheesecake (New York style mmmmmmmm). But I am a rookie so not really bored of dates yet.

[Tirza]

I was wondering why macadamias are called for in the crust. I don't like using them much as they are so expensive. I know that certain combinations of flavors just "work", but does anyone know what other nut could sub?
Thanks

[tinystrawberry]

any pictures? this sounds SOOO good and easy to make, i am gonna try to do it! i never really liked cheesecake, but only because it was cheese, but this sounds incredible :D

[Svadhyaya]

I think I may be allergic to raw cashews.
This cheezecake tasted okay but made me feel sick.

[fruitcake]

cheesecake sounds soooo good but...

Can't have nuts. Darn. :(

[1GirlTwinBoys]

I was wondering why macadamias are called for in the crust. I don't like using them much as they are so expensive.

Yeah, I about fell out when I saw they were almost $20.00/lb at Whole Foods bulk bins. :eek:

[SiennaInLondon]

Yeah, I about fell out when I saw they were almost $20.00/lb at Whole Foods bulk bins. :eek:

Ok i got them for £1.50 a bag and I needed four bags which came to £6 ($12 ish)? Macadamias are necessary I suppose because they like turn to oil when you blend them which is why you can press them into the tin.

ANyway I am quite into this cheesecake now! However I would advise using WAY WAY WAY less agave nectar and coconut oil (the latter in particular) than the recipe would suggest.

My problem was I got home and I realised my juicer/blended contraption was missing the blender part so I had to use my juicer for the nuts. Which is why I didn't get a universally smooth nut mixture which was annoying whilst eating.

[Sunshine9]

I usually sub cashews for macadamias. However, since they are the bulk of this recipe, I would suggest using almonds. They make a nice crust with dates & coconut.

[tvillemom]

Hi all....I made a really great cheesecake recipe from this board, and I remember one tip from somewhere there. I am not particularly fond of the STRONG lemon taste, so you can sub 1/2 of it for orange juice. This worked REALLY WELL for me. I also like MARAW'S pie crust...you can find the recipe on www.therawtable.com
Hope this helps.
Wendi

[SiennaInLondon]

Hi all....I made a really great cheesecake recipe from this board, and I remember one tip from somewhere there. I am not particularly fond of the STRONG lemon taste, so you can sub 1/2 of it for orange juice. This worked REALLY WELL for me. I also like MARAW'S pie crust...you can find the recipe on www.therawtable.com
Hope this helps.
Wendi

The lemon taste really really made the cheesecake work for me so I would suggest giving it a go first. And I always used to hate lemon deserts in the past... though perhaps not quite so much as orange. 'Why have fruit in a desert?' I used to think, 'if you are sinning you may as well just sin'.... oh happy days :D

[Little Mango]

Could you use any other nuts as a substitute for Macadamias? :confused:

[luna99]

bump. i'm gonna try this soon.

[RawFoodieMom]

WELL... I made this cheesecake yesterday, for my husband's birthday today. He said "It's the best cheesecake I've ever had!!!" :D Can't get a better compliment than that, we've had a lot of different cheesecakes in our days, LOL. He also said that he'd eaten half of it forgetting that it was raw. THANKS for this recipe, razzleberry! :) I really love it too, I'm so happy with this recipe, I don't have to miss cheesecake anymore!!

Substitution I had to make, that worked no problem: Macadamia nuts are crazy expensive here, so I subbed almonds for the macs and did an almond crust, increasing the dates in the crust to 3/4 cup. Maybe because macadamia nuts are lighter they don't need as much sweetener?

Also, the sauce is a raspberry/blackberry/blueberry mix, as that's the only frozen berries I had on hand, that's why the sauce is darker. :)

Here are some pics!

[luna99]

rawfoodiemom - would I have to use a vitamix to make the consistency so creamy? or could I just use a regular food processor?

your cheesecake looks amazing btw.. and happy birthday to your hubby!

[RawFoodieMom]

rawfoodiemom - would I have to use a vitamix to make the consistency so creamy? or could I just use a regular food processor?

your cheesecake looks amazing btw.. and happy birthday to your hubby!

luna, I didn't use the Vitamix, I used the food processor. I processed it a lot though. But I did it in several different sessions, since I was stopping it to see how it was doing, so it didn't heat the mixture up too bad. Every time I stopped it, I just looked for the size of the cashew bits, and kept it going until I couldn't really see any bits at all anymore. The first couple of times I stopped it, I wondered if I should have used the Vitamix, since I still could see bits of cashews, but every time I let it go and then stopped it, they kept getting smaller and the mixture getting creamier. I was really pleasantly surprised with my food processor. :)

[tinystrawberry]

what kind of food processor do you have, rawfoodiemom?

[RawFoodieMom]

It's just a cheap Black & Decker, your basic WalMart variety. ;)

[Snownoir]

I'm not a big dessert person, but those pictures really made this look like something I wanna try, bad. Especially since my lil brother LOVES cheesecake. Maybe if I get it really good, next time I go down south to visit, I can make it for him. :D

I'll have to try later this week. :D

YEA!