Cheesecake

This is gleaned from several online raw recipes and the crust is a simple basic graham cracker crust. Make certain you check the ingredients of your graham crackers. We tend to buy organic brands of graham crackers merely because the ingredient list is much shorter and contains stuff you'd make crackers with, instead of 40% plus of chemical additives (who even knows what they are anymore? But high fructose corn syrup isn't going to make you feel any better, I will tell you that.)

New Morning Honey Grahams are what we use. Love the short ingredient list. Unless you're throwing it together yourself with a million wonderful real ingredients, the shorter a processed food ingredients list is, the better off you are. This is a general principle we follow and it has made a big difference over time. It makes it easier to eliminate mercury if you're body is given real nutrients with which to fuel itself, and not a bunch of non-food items. :)

Cheesecake

Crust:

1-2/3 graham cracker crumbs (put 1 packet in a ziplock and use a rolling pin to make crumbs, save extra for mini-jam-pies, coming later)
1/4 cup evaporated cane juice (organic sugar)
1/3 cup melted butter

Mix together crumbs and sugar then add butter and stir very well. Pour it into a 9 inch pie pan or cheescake pan, smash it down with your hands so it evenly covers the bottom (and sides, if you're using a regular pie pan) and set in fridge until needed.

Filling:

3 cups cashews soaked (at least one hour)
3/4 cup of lemon juice
3/4 cup of raw honey, agave, or maple syrup
3/4 cup of coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon nutritional yeast (optional, but yummy)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 vanilla bean, scraped

Tablespoon or 2 of water if mixture needs a bit more liquid. May not be necessary depending on how saturated your cashews are, wait until the end to add this.

Put everything in your food processor and process for several minutes until the mixture is completely smooth and homogenous. Make sure to scrape the edge down at some point in the middle of the processing.

Pour into the prepared pie crust pan and smooth it out. Place in the freezer for 1-2 hours, or until set. Pie can be kept in the fridge after, although it will last longer if it is stored in the freezer.

Serve with blueberries or raspberries rolled in sugar over the top if you like.

Cheezers!
~Miriam

© 2012, Miriam Mason