So many amazing-looking pumpkin recipes have come out as part of the Vegan Month of Food. Are you all pumpkined-out though? I hope not, because I have this “rawsome” contribution!
This recipe combines traditional pumpkin pie and my decent discovery of raw vegan cheesecake. Even with the cashews and coconut oil, it’s still a lot lighter than cheesecake, or even traditional pumpkin pie. It’s spicy yet fresh, and if you wanted to eat a slice for breakfast, I don’t think that anyone would hold it against you.
Notes
- I used a dark-green (Japanese?) pumpkin, but any small pumpkin should work.
- My food processor is really just a small “chopper” adapter for my stick blender, so it wasn’t big enough to handle all the filling. I had to work in batches, but I managed to get everything evenly blended.
Update: November 9, 2011 – I forgot to mention that this is pretty intense-tasting. So you may want to mellow it out with some vegan whipped cream or ice cream, just to smooth all those strong flavors out 🙂
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Raw Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Raw, Vegan, Gluten-Free
Ingredients
- 2 cups almonds
- 1 cup dates
- 2 cups raw cashews
- 2 cups fresh grated pumpkin
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup raw agave
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 4 tsp dried cinnamon
- 1 tsp dried nutmeg
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger (or 2 tsp dried)
Instructions
- Soak cashews in water for at least 1 hour, then drain.
- In a food processor, blend the almonds and dates until finely chopped. Add a tablespoon of water if that helps to get things moving. Press the mixture into the bottom of a spring-form pan.
- Wash-out the food processor and blend all other ingredients until combined and creamy.
- Pour mixture into spring-form pan and smooth out the surface. Cover with aluminum foil, and let it set in the freezer for at least 4 hours. This will harden the coconut oil and set the cheesecake. After this time, transfer the cheesecake in the refrigerator for at least one hour before serving. When opening the spring-form pan, gently insert a knife along the edge of the cheesecake, so that it does not stick to the edge of the pan.
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This is really nice served with raw chocolate sauce (1 tbsp raw cocoa powder + 1 tbsp agave syrup + 1/2 tbsp coconut oil)
