Organic Granny

   Lots of hugs and kisses! INGREDIENTS: Crust: 2 cups  shredded Coconut 1 1/2 cups  Medjool Dates  (or other pitted dates) 1/4 - 1/2 tsp  Celtic Sea Salt The Cheeseless Cheez Cake Filling: 3 cups  Cashews , soaked (you can substitute other soaked nuts such as pine or macadamia nuts) 1 cup  Cacao butter , melted 1 cup  Water 1/2 cup  Maple Syrup, Raw Honey or other sweetener of choice 1/2 cup  Cacao powder  OR  Carob powder 1 tsp  Vanilla 1 Tbsp  Chia Gel pinch of  Celtic Sea Salt Ganache Topping: 1/2 cup raw organic  Cacao powder 1/2 cup  Cacao Butter , melted 1/4 cup  Maple Syrup, Raw Honey or other sweetener of choice pinch of  Celtic Sea Salt Place your cacao butter in a bowl over hot water to start melting. In food processor, process coconut, dates and salt until it clumps uniformly.  "Grease" a springform pan with some of the  melted cacao butter. Remove the crust mix from the food processor and press it evenly in pan. Place in freezer to set while you make the rest of

This is as "healthy" as anything with chocolate is going to get (while still maintaining its high chocolate integrity)!   This chocolate chia-zz cake cake doesn't contain dairy, eggs, gluten, or processed sugars!  It has that rich dark chocolate flavour that sometimes gets masked in cheese cake by the dairy component, and sometimes in the raw vegan cheesecakes it gets side-tracked with whatever sweeteners are used (i.e., dates, agave, raw honey).  It is more like "high raw" in the way that I have made it because I had some left-over organic coconut milk in the fridge that called out to me just before I made my almond milk from scratch.  But you can be virtuously 100% raw with this recipe and it is still a smash hit! Get out  a 6" or 9"  springform pan  (DON'T grease it).   I used both a  Vitamix  and a  Food Processor , but I bet you can get away with just using the Vita-Mix for the whole thing-- I'm just kind of smitten with my nice Cuisinart

In my continued search for the perfect tasting & textured raw vegan “cheesecake” I put this one together last night.  I drew on a couple of recipes, using some of my own fave ingredients (chia seed gel) and substituting a date-nectarine-coconut pudding I’d made a couple of nights before for the date paste that was called for in another recipe’s pie crust. It is unlikely that you will have all the ingredients for this raw vegan creation on hand, but it is really worth making as a project for a potluck or dinner with your mother-in-law.   It is very “wow” and healthy. INGREDIENTS 5 C. raw organic/natural  almonds,  soaked for 5-8 hours, husked so they look like “blanched almonds” 2-4 T.  Chia seed gel  (put 2-4 T. Chia seed in a jar with a cup or more of filtered water, stir, and let gel for about 15 minutes before using.  Store extra in fridge with lid on.) 5 T.  date paste  or something like it made from soft, ripe medjool dates (pitted) Pinch of  Celtic Sea Salt 1 C. organic  Lemo