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| Eat it and weep. |
I'm cruel. I've been
torturing my Facebook followers with this photo since January, while withholding the
recipe (in hopes that they would buy my book Raw & Simple). Well, squeaky wheel gets the
grease. They insisted I finally give it up, so here it is. A raw, vegan
cheesecake so good, you'll weep. Well, maybe not. Maybe your family will weep when you eat it all before they get home. One of my
recipe testers emailed me three times in a row to tell me over and over how
much she loved it. I thought she was exaggerating until other people started
messaging me how outrageously good it is.
Oh, and don’t fret if you
can’t find wild blueberries or Meyer lemons. I just wanted to give this a fancy
name. Meyer lemons are slightly sweeter than regular lemons but either one
works just as well here. As for blueberries, I actually prefer using the frozen
ones because of the juice that results from thawing them out. Wild blueberries
are smaller in size but taste very much like cultivated blueberries so use
whatever you can find or afford at your local market.
Wild Blueberry-Meyer Lemon
Cheesecake Squares
Makes 16 servings
Plan Ahead: soak ½ cup cashews in water for 2 hours
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Chill Time: 1 to 2 hours
Ingredients
2 cups fresh or frozen wild blueberries, thawed
Crust
2 cups walnuts or pecans
1/4 cup raisins
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1. Combine ingredients in a food processor for 20-25
seconds. Press mixture between your fingers and see if it sticks together. If
not, process a few seconds longer. Be careful not to go too long, otherwise it
will release too much oil.
2. Press firmly and evenly into an 8 x 8 pan lined with
parchment paper or plastic wrap.
Topping
1 cup walnuts or pecans
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup Medjool dates
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup rolled oats (optional)
1.
In same food processor that you just made the
crust, add nuts, raisins, dates and sea salt and process until mixture begins
to clump and stick together. Process longer than you did the crust but be
careful not to overdo it.
2.
Transfer to a bowl and stir in oats. Set aside
while you make the cheesecake layer.
Cheesecake
1 cup coconut oil, warmed to liquid
1/2 cup cashews, soaked 2 hours
1/3 cup lemon juice
½ cup xylitol or agave
¼ cup water
½ tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lecithin powder (use 2 tablespoons if using
agave)
1. Blend all ingredients except lecithin until very smooth.
2. Add lecithin and blend again.
3. Pour over crust.
4. Top cheesecake mixture evenly with blueberries.
5. Press berries gently into the cheesecake and evenly
spread the topping mixture over the berries.
6. Chill in the refrigerator or freezer for 1-2 hours or
until firm.
Will keep for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator or one month
in the freezer.
Chef Tip. You can use other berries or fruits in place of
blueberries such as cherries, peaches or mango as well as tone down the lemon
flavor to your liking.
Copyright 2013 Quarry Books
Here is a modified version of it I made for a wedding. I used a 9"springform pan, doubled the filling and added an extra 50% to the crust. It was a hot day and
I was scared it would melt before guests could enjoy it so I added
extra lecithin. That's what is giving it the rough texture. I kinda like
the brittleness of it, but in the future I'll just stick with less lecithin. Nevertheless, everyone loved it!
