Needing to come up with a menu for a raw food dessert class that I recently taught, I decided to whip up a “cheesecake” recipe. It was actually pretty easy. And taste? The class was blown away. The crust is almonds and dates, and the base of the “cheesecake” is cashews! Don’t worry, I added apples and dried cranberries for that hit of fruit. The result? A healthy, tasty dessert that will be completely at home on your Thanksgiving or Holiday table. The consensus of the class is that non-raw people would never guess that this is raw, vegan or healthy!
Don’t be intimidated by this one, one serving is equivalent to only eating 1/4 C cashews and 1/8 C of almonds! Cashews are a good source of protein, fiber and also potassium, B vitamin, foliate, magnesium, phosphorous, selenium and copper.
Apple Cranberry “Cheesecake”
Crust:
- 1 C Almonds
- 4 Dates, soaked until soft with pit removed
Topping:
- 3 Apples, peeled and sliced thinly
- 1/4 C Agave
- 1/2 t. Cinnamon
- 1/3 C Dried Cranberries
- 2 T Coconut Butter
- 1/3 C Crust
Filling:
- 2 C Cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours
- 1 t. Lemon juice
- 1/2 C Coconut Butter (softened in dehydrator)
- 1/4 C Agave
- 1 t. Vanilla
- 1 t. Cinnamon
- 1/4 t cloves
- 1/4 t nutmeg
Read Through This Recipe Before Beginning
2 hours before: Combine apples, agave and cinnamon. Place on non-stick dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 116 for 2 hours, stirring once during dehydration. Make crust: Place almonds in food processor. Process until finely ground. Add dates, process until well mixed. Set aside 1/3 cup of the crust. Press remaining into spring form pan. I used a 6″ for this recipe. You may have extra crust. Place in refrigerator. Make Filling: Combine all ingredients in food processor. Process until smooth. This will take a bit. Pat over crust and return to refrigerator. Finish Topping: Combine dehydrated apples, dried cranberries, coconut butter and 1/3 C crust. Press over top of cheesecake. Return to refrigerator and chill for 2 hours before serving. Slice with sharp knife. Serves 8.
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Wondering where one can buy coconut butter??
http://www.rawmazing.com/rawmazing-store-2/ It is under the ingredients category.
This sounds really good! I think I’ll give it a try for Thanksgiving! I’ll let you know how it turns out, and how the non-raw-foodies react. Should be interesting.
It is great. I make it a lot for classes. Always loved, and easy!
I have made this three times this holiday season already!! It is great for a party table or football tailgating. The dollar store has so many plates to chose from and I can leave it at my hosts house that way too. So far, everyone loves it. And loves it even more when they find out how healthy it is. thanks for this and all your other ‘comfort’ recipes!! <3 <3
Thank you for all of the wonderful raw food recipes. I am vying to go raw especially with sweet treats.
I really dislike the taste of coconut. I can tolerate coconut oil or water, but flakes, butter, or any kind of dehydrated coconut makes me gag. Are there any other alternatives I can use to replace the coconut in this recipe and others?
Many thanks and best wishes in the New Year
Marija Berto
Coconut butter is a key ingredient in this “cheesecake”. It is what allows the cheesecake to set up I don’t have a raw, vegan substitute. You could try oil instead of the butter but I haven’t made it that way yet.
This looks amazing! I have 2 questions though:
Can I use coconut oil instead of Coconut butter? Will it affect the taste?
and
How long do I have to wait for the filling to harden up before I add the toppings and crust?
Thanks
You can but it won’t taste as good, and you can put the topping on right away. The filling is very thick.
I’m not a big fan of cashews, can I substitute them for walnuts or something else? Please let me know. Thanks!
Cashews are the traditional nuts used for raw cheesecakes because of texture and also the mild taste. You tend to taste the spices not the cashews.
please let me know if there is any alternative to the coconut butter as I am allergic to coconut & this recipe looks HEAVEN!!!! (Can I try cocoa butter>>>)
PLEASE ANSWER!
THANK YOU SOO MUCH!
I don’t have a an alternative in this recipe without completely reworking it.
I make raw cheese cake with Cacao butter. It taste like heaven!! It is very firm. But I am not sure on the proportions. I want to try this one because the cacao butter is harder to get a hold of and it is really expensive. I can’t wait to try this one.
the perfect dessert i love cheesecakes and baking but i am living a healthy lifestyle so wanted sugar and dairy free recipes, this looks and sounds amazing i great healthy dessert for holidays like xmas too, i love your site and its great to have healthy baking options
I made this recently and it was a smashing success! Everyone was very surprised that it was a raw dessert.
Thank you so much for creating this!
You’re dessert recipes look delicious!
I was wondering if it would be possible to substitute honey for agave syrup?
Thanks!
You can try but I haven’t made it that way so I don’t know. You can find good, healthy agave. Xagave is one of them. It is raw, organic and a very excellent product.
Thank you so much for posting such wonderful recipes! You certainly don’t have to, and yet it benefits everyone who reads them! I’ve tried already a few recipes from this site and they are all absolutely delicious! I’m very grateful. This cheesecake looks so flipping good, I think I’ll make this tomorrow!
I have been preparing raw, baked, and cooked vegan foods since 1978. I must tell you that your recipes are quite good. As a thickening agent to help the cashews, you may want to try some irish moss (sea moss). You can get it at most good fruit stands in NY or wherever Caribbean people live. Soak the seamoss (1- 2oz pack) overnight after washing the salt out and cleaning it thoroughly. Depending on the quality, thick is better; put the seamoss in to a small bowl and add water to barely cover it, place it in your dehydrator @115-145º for 2-4 hours or until it dissolves and thickens. Stir it every hour. Blend until it is all smooth and refrigerate. I gets really thick when it sets. Combine with cashews and coconut butter and set. A smoothe creamy filling is the result. Enjoy!
I made this today for a friends birthday cake and it was SOO GOOD. Probably the best thing I’ve ever made and it was incredibly easy. I didn’t use dried cranberries though because I didn’t want any processed sugar. I replaced Agave nectar with Stevia and put a little extra vanilla. It was so beautiful. Try it!
Susan, what a beautiful cheesecake!!! I love it!!!! Easy to make……thank you for sharing your delectable recipes! Gracias! Nelda Elaine – Texas
Neither cashews (ever) nor almonds in North America are raw. Google and you will see much on this.
Actually you can find raw almonds in North America. Many coops will import they from Spain, and they are available on-line and also at farmer’s markets in places where they are grown. You can google unpasturized almonds and you will find quite a few places that carry truly raw almonds.
Navitis Naturals carries raw cashews. They use a low heat extraction process that preserves the enzymes.
I’m sold on the appearance! I’m sold on the ingredients! Can’t wait to try it!
I tried this recipe. It is delicious, but I was wondering if the almonds are soaked and dehydrated first or just raw soaked almonds. My crust was not what I thought it should be.
For this recipe they are raw, soaked almonds You want to make sure you dry them well. If the crust is too moist for you, you can use dry nuts plus a little water. Cheers!
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