We love when we find an amazing recipe that is not only gluten free but also vegan, dairy free, refined sugar free, raw and paleo friendly! These chocolate covered cheesecakes are creamy, rich and full of so much flavour, you would never guess that they were totally healthy and full of amazing ingredients!
The main ingredients in this recipe are cashews which are full of essential fats and medjool dates which are full of lots of fibre and natural sweetness. We love the different layers of flavours which complement each other so perfectly!
We can't wait for you to try this amazing recipe for yourselves!!
Makes 12 cheesecakes
INGREDIENTS:
Crust:
1 cup (220g) packed pitted medjool dates
1 cup (100g) walnut halves
3 Tbs (45ml) cacao or cocoa powder
Pinch salt
Filling:
1 ½ slightly heaping cups raw cashews (230g), soaked in boiling water for 30minutes, or 8 hours overnight in water
1/3 cup (75ml) maple syrup
¼ cup (60ml) refined coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
½ cup (125ml) coconut cream or solid part of chilled full-fat coconut milk
Juice of 1 lemon or ¼ cup (60ml)
½ tsp salt
¼ cup (60ml) cocao or cocoa powder
2 Tbs (30ml) hot chocolate or chocolate latte mix (optional)
½ cup (125ml) natural, runny peanut butter
Topping:
50g chocolate
2 Tbs set aside prepared crust
DIRECTIONS:
Place dates into a blender or food processor and blend until they form small sticky bits. Add walnuts and blend again until fully combined and walnuts are in small pieces. Add cocao/cacoa and salt and blend until loose dough forms (see photo above for reference) and you’re able to roll some of it into a ball using your fingers. Set aside 2 Tbs of mixture for topping the cheesecakes later in a small bowl.
Line a standard size 12-muffin pan with cupcake liners. Add 1 slightly heaping tablespoon of crust mixture per cupcake liner. Press mixture to the edges of the liner using your fingers and press down so it’s packed. Place in freezer to firm up.
Add all filling ingredients except peanut butter and cocoa/cocao to a blender or food processor - if using the same one as you did to make the crust, no need to rinse before hand. Blend until very smooth. If you want to save time and not make 2 layers in the cheesecakes, feel free to add peanut butter and cocoa/cacao. It may take up to 10 minutes to make filling smooth if using a food processor. If you are making layers in the cheesecake, remove 1 cup of filling and pour into a small bowl. Add cacao/cocoa and optional hot chocolate/latte mix to blender and blend until combined. Scrape out of blender into another bowl and add the removed 1 cup of filling back to blender and add peanut butter. Blend until combined.
Remove muffin pan from freezer and add 2 Tbs of cocoa/cacao mixture to each cupcake liner and smooth out to the edges. Top with about 1 ½ Tbs of peanut butter filling and smooth out the top and to the edges. If you chose to go the no-layer route, scoop about a scant ¼-cup of filling mixture to each liner and smooth out the top. Gently bang pan on container to get out air bubbles. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for about 4 - 6 hours.
Once set, if you choose to cover with melted chocolate, microwave chopped chocolate in 15-second intervals and stirring in between each interval. Drizzle over top of cheesecakes and sprinkle with leftover crust.
Cheesecakes can be stored in a container in the freezer and eaten frozen, or removed 10 minutes to slightly thaw before eating.
This recipe can be found at the following link:
Comments