Gluten Free + Vegan Cheesecake

Hi everyone! I'm super excited to be back guest posting for Gina and I am excited to share a recipe with you all today. 

When I blog recipes, they are always gluten, dairy, and soy free since I have allergies to all those foods. But fear not, I only blog recipes I know taste good! I also blog recipes connected to my Jewish heritage and that is what I have for you today.

This past week we celebrated the holiday of Shavuot, which is a celebration of our receiving the Torah/Commandments at Mt. Sinai. It's a very special holiday and one of the customs is to eat dairy meals (we don't mix milk and meat in Judaism and usually eat meat meals when celebrating). Some of the traditional Shavuot foods include blintzes (Jewish crepes), noodle kugels, and cheesecake. 

I was never a fan of the latter when I could eat dairy, but have been curious to try the raw cashew cheesecakes I often see around the interwebs, so try I did. I was super successful and had to share my successes with you! I mean, would you believe this beauty is dairy, gluten, and soy-free and not baked? 

Well, feast your eyes on it, because it is all of the above!

The process was quite simple too! I once made a real cheesecake and it was a fickle process, but this was easy-peazy. 

 Have food processor - will make vegan cheesecake...

 Totally justify this as healthy too - nuts, dates, coconut, a little maple syrup, and some orange juice.

I am pleasantly happy with this and even my non-healthy-food enthusiast taste tester deemed it good, but he refused to call it a cheesecake (-:

Gluten Free + Vegan Cheesecake
adapted from: Raw Blueberry Cheesecake

Crust ingredients:
1 cup dates, soaked overnight
2 cups, slivered blanched almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
zest of 1 orange
juice of 1/2 an orange

Cheesecake ingredients:
2 cups raw cashews, soaked overnight
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
juice of 1/2 an orange

Topping ideas:
fresh fruit compote
whipped topping
chocolate
the possibilities are endless!

Directions:
1. soak the dates and cashews, separately, overnight, drain and set aside
2. in a food processor or blender: blend the crust ingredients, scraping down the sides until blended and the nuts are pulverized.
3. press into a greased springform pan and set aside
4. in food processor or blender: blend the cheesecake ingredients until smooth, scraping down sides
**adjust sweetness to your liking
5. pour over crust and spread over evenly
6. wrap tightly in plastic wrap and put in freezer to set
7. remove from freezer and pan and serve with favorite toppings
8. Enjoy, enjoy!