Apple Cranberry “Cheesecake”
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"
SERVES 8
Crust
- 1 cup almonds
- 4 dates, soaked until soft with pit removed
Topping
- 3 apples, peeled and sliced thinly
- 1/4 cup agave (or liquid sweetener of your choice)
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
- 2 tablespoons coconut butter
- 1/3 cup crust
Filling
- 2 cups cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/2 cup coconut butter (softened in dehydrator)
- 1/4 cup agave (or liquid sweetener of your choice)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon 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 cup crust. Press over top of cheesecake. Return to refrigerator and chill for 2 hours before serving. Slice with sharp knife.
Flora wrote on July 10, 2013
I’ve heard that it can be used as thickening agent raw tapioca starch or arrowroot starch. is it safe? is it digestible? Thank you
Sarah wrote on December 17, 2012
Thank you for this awesome recipe 🙂 I made it for my co-workers and they LOVED it. On a sad note, I broke my food processor making the filling…it just took all the energy it had left to make the filling then it gave up! This gives me a great excuse to get a new, high-powered processor! Happy Holidays!
Susan wrote on December 17, 2012
Your food processor must have been on it’s last leg! Glad you liked the recipe. Cheers!
Angela wrote on December 12, 2012
Thanks Susan for replying I did a nutritional calculator and some of the ingredients were not on the list, but what I could enter did have show high calorie and carbs, I still want to make it and like to try more or the recipes on the web site. Thank you again.
Angela White wrote on December 11, 2012
Do you know what the nutritional information for this Cheese Cake?
Susan wrote on December 11, 2012
If you need the nutritional information, you can find a nutritional recipe calculator on-line, enter the ingredients and then divide by the number of servings. Remember that servings are typically much smaller than a traditional dessert because the nutrients are so dense, you don’t require much to be satisfied.
Sheila wrote on November 16, 2012
Susan, This will be my Thanksgiving dessert. It looks incredible. Just purchased your Rawmazing cookbook. Can’t wait to start testing the yummy recipes. Raw cooking is still intimidating to me, but I’m taking it little by little. Haven’t purchased a dehydrator, but I’ll experiment with a low setting on my oven until I get the hang of it. Thanks so much!!
Irina wrote on November 5, 2012
Susan,
What is the difference between coconut butter and coconut oil?
I thought it is the same product.
Susan wrote on November 5, 2012
Irina, thanks so much for asking. You can find the answer here: http://www.rawmazing.com/faq/
Carly wrote on September 24, 2012
“Although it’s fast becoming the preferred sweetener for health-conscious consumers and natural cooks, the truth is that agave is processed just like other sugars — and is no better for you than other sugars. And don’t be dazzled by the word “natural”; U.S. food regulators do not legally define the term, so it’s left up to manufacturers.”
Susan wrote on September 24, 2012
Please feel free to read the about agave section on the FAQ page.
Bart wrote on June 10, 2012
Looks very delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
Wanda Carroll Fanning wrote on May 16, 2012
This is the most amazing raw cheese cake, I added cranberry and apple toppings to the cheese cake as I was brending in. It gave it more flavor and I used up the extra bets left over. I love your sight !