#cheesecake!

BASIC RAW VEGAN "CHEESE"CAKE Serves 8

What you'll need:

A food processor AND a decent-quality blender (I thought he only used a food processor. Shows how much I pay attention! Ethan has a Vitamix, but a lesser brand blender will work; you'll just need to blend longer)

A freezer

Some sort of pan/vessel. Ethan uses a springform pan, but a 8 or 9" deep glass pie dish will work, too. Even one of those disposable foil ones might work, if it's deep enough. A square glass or metal dish you'd bake brownies in would work, too. If you want to make cute little individual cheesecakes, you can use a muffin tin or two or use cookie cutters placed on a cookie sheet as forms. Whatever you use needs to be freezer-safe, however. If you don't want to bother with a crust at all and just want to eat the yummy filling like ice cream, you can just put it in a bowl.

Ingredients:

For the crust:

2 cups walnuts or macadamia nuts or a mix thereof (We prefer straight macadamias because they have a more neutral flavor and, in our opinion, a better texture, but they are more expensive and not as easy to come by in some places as walnuts.) 6 pitted Medjool dates (We get ours at the health food store, but some regular grocery stores carry them.) About 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (This is used so that the crust doesn't stick to the pan, not for flavor or anything) A pinch of salt

For the filling:

3 cups raw, unsalted cashew pieces (We get ours in the bulk bins at the health food store, much cheaper. DON'T use roasted/salted cashews. They need to be raw or else the flavor will be off.) About 1/2 cup of lemon juice, more if you want more lemony flavor. (Fresh-squeezed is always preferable, but stuff from a bottle will do.) 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted (This stuff is solid at room temperature. We just nuke it for about 30 seconds to melt it, but if you're a "raw purist," which we aren't, you can use a warm bowl sitting in the sun to melt it. DO NOT SUBSTITUTE WITH A DIFFERENT OIL. THE UNIQUE PROPERTIES OF THE COCONUT OIL ARE WHAT MAKE THE CAKE SET. IF YOU USE A DIFFERENT OIL, YOU WILL END UP WITH A MESS. And don't worry; your cake will not taste like coconut.) 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract (Don't use the imitation crap. Get the real stuff.) 3/4 cups pure maple syrup or agave nectar. (We prefer the former, but it's hideously expensive/unavailable outside of North America, and I know a lot of you out there are in the UK/Europe/Australia. So if you can't get maple syrup, use the agave and maybe add a bit of sugar to taste, if you like things sweeter. For God's sake, don't use nasty high-fructose corn syrup pancake syrup!) Fresh fruit/syrup for garnish, if desired

Instructions:

1) Put the cashews in a large mixing bowl, fill the bowl with water and let the nuts soak at room temperature for at least four hours, preferably overnight. Strictly speaking, it's not 100% necessary to soak them if you are pressed for time, but it makes it easier on your blender and makes for creamier "cheese," so it is highly recommended. You cannot soak them for took long.

2) If using macadamia nuts for the crust (and if desired) soak them in a separate bowl. Again, this is not strictly necessary. We do it because we live in a dry climate and the extra moisture helps make the crust stickier. It's not necessary to soak walnuts. They've got plenty of oil in them. If you use a mixture of walnuts and macadamias, you don't need to soak the macadamias.

3) When you're ready to put the thing together, throw all of the crust ingredients except the coconut into your food processor and pulse until crumbly and sticky. If it's not sticky enough, add TINY amounts of water, like 1/4 teaspoon, very gradually until you get a texture that's "moldable," like cookie dough.

4) Sprinkle the coconut in a thin layer on the bottom of your plate/pan/forms/whatever. This is so the crust doesn't stick to the pan when everything's setting, making it easier to remove when serving.

5) Press the crust mixture into your pan thing. It should be a fairly thin layer, like the graham-cracker crust of a typical cheesecake.

6) Throw all of the filling ingredients into your blender and blend until smooth. How long that will take depends on your blender. The best strategy is to start slow to do the rough grinding and then gradually increase the speed all the way up to as high as your blender will go as the mixture gets creamier. You might need to stop occasionally and scrape the sides with a spatula to get all the bits blended. There should be no bits of cashew left. It should all be cream. You cannot overblend this mixture, but you CAN under-blend it and end up with chunky cheesecake. No one likes chunky cheesecake.

7) Pour the filling into your plate/pan/forms and put in the freezer to set. The time this will take varies. If you've got one big cake, it'll take longer, on the order of 3-4 hours or so. If you make individual little ones, like we usually do, they can set in about an hour, depending on how big they are. You can leave it in the freezer as long as you like, though.

8) When ready, remove from freezer and let thaw on the counter for about 30 mins or in the fridge for about an hour. Slice (if necessary), garnish if desired, and eat! Cake can be refrozen if needed or will be good in the fridge for about a week.

Variations: This is the basic cheesecake. To make different flavors, you can do anything you'd do with a regular cheesecake. Add cocoa powder to the "cheese" to make a chocolate cheesecake (and garnish with chocolate/carob chips and a drizzle of chocolate syrup). Use lime juice instead of lemon juice for a lime cheesecake. Add pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice for pumpkin cheesecake. Blend berries and/or overripe bananas into the "cheese" for a blueberry/raspberry/strawberry/banana cheesecake. Chocolate peanut butter cheesecake is yummy, too! Endless possibilities. :)