I was poking around the fridge looking for a snack when I spotted a cup of raw cashews soaking that I had completely forgot about! I didn’t have any plans for the cashews when I soaked them; I more or less was clearing out room in the pantry and I figured that I’d think of something good to do with them- so I did! I took stock of what was in the fridge and found medjool dates, raw almonds, and blood oranges, so I decided to take my first stab at raw cheesecake!
Blood Orange Mini Cheesecake bites
Makes roughly 16 bites
Filling:
1 c raw cashews, soaked overnight for best results, or at least 6 hours
1 tbs agave nectar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract, or the seeds from 1/2 of a vanilla bean
the juice and zest of one tennis ball sized blood orange
1 tsp coconut oil
Crust
1 c raw almonds
6 large pitted medjool dates
pinch salt
Toss the almonds into the bowl of your food processor and start grinding them down into a coarse meal. Slowly rip your dates into pieces and toss them in, one by one, until lightly sticky, and finely ground. You may need more or less dates depending on how large they are. Ps- don’t throw in the pits! Add a nice pinch of salt before stopping the machine and scraping your crust into a bowl.
Wipe out the work bowl and toss in the cashews (drained). Start processing until a smooth paste forms, and add in the coconut oil, vanilla, and slowly stream in the orange juice. Puree until as smooth as humanly possible, and pulse in the zest at the last second.
Take a mini muffin tin and grease it’s cavities with coconut oil- or really any oil. Place about a tablespoon of crust mix into 16 (or so) of the cavities, and use your fingers to press it down into the center, and up the sides. Now, take your cheesecake filling and drop a tablespoon on top of each little crust, and go back and smooth the filling down. You can also tap the muffin tin on the counter to make sure there aren’t any air bubbles lurking about.
Pop the cookie sheet into the freezer and let the cakes firm up, and let them rest at room temp for about 15-20 minutes before serving.
I mixed 2 teaspoons of chia seeds with more blood orange juice and agave to make a little syrup for on top.
