TRY THESE: CREAMY COCONUT VEGAN CHEESECAKES

Hard to believe these are vegan - but amazingly they are! The very talented Bex Traynier has made these tasty treats, so if you're looking for something to impress your friends with - give these a go!

Ingredients

BASE

125g raw walnuts
175g pitted dates (sticky)
Pinch of salt

FILLING

190g raw cashews
75g Coconut Oil , melted
140ml full-fat Coconut Milk
50g Coconut Cream (optional – just makes the mix extra creamy!)
110g agave nectar or maple syrup (or Coconut Honey /Syrup !)

FLAVOUR  OPTIONS (or try your own!)
40g fresh blueberries and 1 tsp Coconut Sugar (for compote)
40g (2 tbsps) ground ginger

Method

1. Prepare cashew nuts by soaking in boiling water for 1hr. Drain and set aside.
2. Blend the dates in a food processor until the mix forms a ball. If your dates aren’t very sticky/moist then you can sit them in some warm water for 15mins prior to blending (make sure you drain them properly if you do this). Set mixture aside.
3. Blend walnuts until fully ground, then add dates back in to processor, along with salt, and blend until the mixture resembles a loose dough (should stick if pressed together).
4. Lightly grease a muffin tin (can use coconut oil for this). Spoon in 1 heaped tbsp of base mixture into each hole and press in firmly with fingers.
5. Blend all filling ingredients until smooth. You can add more coconut milk if the mixture turns out thick (which may be the case if you’ve used coconut cream!).
6. At this point I split my filling mixture in half and added the ground ginger to one batch (blending for a few seconds to evenly distribute the ginger), and added the blueberry compote to the second batch. Compote was made by heating the coconut sugar and blueberries on a low heat for 5 minutes until blueberries had softened. You could try nut butter or a raspberry compote as your cheesecake flavors – the possibilities are endless!
7. Pour filling mix into each muffin slot, cover with cling filling and pop in the freezer to set (I always leave mine overnight).
8. Once set, run round each cheesecake with a knife and pop out. Leave out of freezer for 1hr to soften before devouring! Store in freezer for up to 2 weeks.