did someone say cheesecake?

If you know me well, then you know there are two ways to my heart ( in regards to food, anyway):

cheesecake+chocolate=my BFF's

Chocolate ( or carob, when I am pretending to eat chocolate and which, thankfully, I love just about as much as the real thing) is easier for me to come by.  Cheesecake is so cheesecakey, it takes forever, mine always split, though that never has anything to do with the fact that I could eat half a cake myself, and then there's the decision about what kind of cheesecake to make (or eat):  chocolate, berries, caramel, etc.  You've never seen a cheesecake recipe on here in the year plus I've been here because that's about how often I bake one.  Until now.

Let's give a round of applause to Pure Market Express for introducing me to raw food as I know it.  Chef Rebecca introduced her Chocolate Cheesecake to me on more than one occasion.  it was love at first site. 

So, take the cheesecake craving I recently found myself one, and these growing right under my nose, and I found myself between a rock and a hard place with the viable option being to make myself a strawberry cheesecake.  I stumbled around online, found a recipe and changed it up for a couple of reasons:  1) my blender died again and I'm waiting for a replacement or the secret fantasy of a Vita-Mix landing on my front step, and 2)it had way too much agave nectar in it, which I find SOOO sweet.  Once I dove in, I had a blast making changes and finding a way to make this cheesecake one my family would all approve of.

If your children are like mine and end up with itchy spots and unidentifiable rashes all over their bodies after the random consumption of gluten or dairy, then you'll be psyched about this gluten & dairy free recipe!

Lemon Cheesecake with Strawberry Topping:

Makes 8 small servings.

Almond Meal Crust:

1 c Almond meal
1/2 c Dates ( I have them at room temp, cut out middle and quarter before putting them in to Magic Bullet)
1 T. Brown Rice Syrup
Water
pinch of sea salt

I did the above with the dates, adding water as needed, which ended up being closer to 1/4 cup.  Pour them into a bowl with the almond meal and brown rice syrup.  Mash it all up with a wooden spoon and press into a pie plate.  Put in fridge while preparing the filling.

Filling:

1 1/2 c Cashews
juice of 3 lemons ( about 1/2 cup)
1/4 c soft coconut oil
1/4 c brown rice syrup

1 t. vanilla + 2 T. water

I blended this all quite successfully in the Magic Bullet, but a food processor or Vita-Mix would work so much better.  When smooth ( be sure to taste it, it's SO good), pour on top of the Almond Meal Crust and smooth with the back of a spatula, then take that spatula and scoop out the remaining filling and guide that baby directly to your mouth, like the spatula AND the rim of the bullet clean before popping the pie plate back into the fridge.

Topping:

I took about a dozen strawberries from the garden, rinsed them and cut into quarters. A quick pulse of the blender/processor/bullet is all you need to get some juice out of these while allowing them to stay chunky.  This gets poured over the top and the whole gig gets put back into the fridge. 

The cheesecake is still sort of warm (room tempish) at this point, so prep this in the morning so it has all day to harden up a bit, which it does.

This cheesecake had everyone excited at the dinner table (and it CAN be had for breakfast the next morning as should most good desserts!)

 

 

 

 

Comments

[cheesecake recipe]

I simply love cheesecake! I also enjoy collecting and trying cheesecake recipes. I wish you had a picture of yours. It does sound refreshing, lemon and strawberries, very cool. I've tried making strawberry cheesecake, it actually looks very pink, lol! (well, baby pink, I think)I love it though, creamy but not too much, you can smoothly finish a serving with no problem at all, lol!