This weekend we attended an Easter dinner with neighbours. We were asked to bring dessert, which used to be something I hated, but now love! This meant I could actually eat the dessert. Consuming a Paleo diet means I can generally eat all the vegetables and protein laid out at such gatherings, dessert on the other hand is a different story.
After typing in all the variations of “paleo dessert” I stumbled across a wonderful raw vegan recipe from The Spring Blog. It looked amazing and it simple enough to pull off so I sent my mom off with a list to the grocery store last weekend when I was home. My lovely mother purchased all the ingredients perfectly minus the cashews. Really you should buy them natural, however, the cashews were cooked (not salted thankfully).
On to the cooking part. For the base the recipe called for putting 2 cups of walnuts through a food processor – I do not have one. This is one kitchen tool I wish I had, but seeing as I am moving to Mexico I will have to look into that there. I attempted to put it through the Bullet, this did not work well. Instead I took out my moms handy Pampered Chef chopper and did my best to make it as fine as possible. Next it was the dates. I assessed the situation quickly and decided nuking them a bit to soften them would be my best chance. I took the pits out and chopped them up a bit and put them in the microwave at 30sec intervals. When they were mushy and almost at the “we will soon burn” point, I took them out and put them in the magic bullet for an attempt at mushing them. It sort of worked out so when I opened up the bullet and saw it had clumped into a giant ball of date goo I put the ball into the bowl of chopped walnuts and added some melted coconut oil (about 2-3tbs). Using my hands (best tool mother nature gave us) I worked it all through until it was mostly sticking together. I then sprinkled 1/4cup of coconut flakes (I will use less next time) on the base of the pie dish and pushed in my walnut/date cheesecake base.
Next I took the cashews that I had soaked for 3hrs earlier and put them in a big blender. I added the honey, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla essence and coconut oil. After blending (remember to pulse!) it came out a wonderful cheesecake texture, and man was it delicious!
It was hard to get the filling out so I used a spatula and took the bottom off the blender and pushed it out that way. It was hard to get it perfectly smooth on the top, but I did the best I could and had a lovely time licking the spatula and blender – YUMMY!
Lastly I put a cup of frozen berries into the bullet, with 3 dates (again nuked in the microwave until mushy) and 1tbs of maple syrup. I toped it with some lemon zest and put it in the freezer until we left for dinner. Remember it has to be in the freezer for at least 3hrs before you can eat it, and make sure you leave it out for at least 30min before serving.
Everyone at the dinner loved my dessert and were shocked when I told them the ingredients. No dairy, gluten or anything processed here! I will make this again, but next time not eat such a large slice. It is rich and delicious and healthy, but don’t let that fool you. Start with a small piece and go back for seconds if you want.
Enjoy the recipe and thank you Catherine from The Spring Blog for this amazing find!
Afrinadian.Abroad 