Well I've been busy decorating for Christmas, and blue is a predominant colour this year. So in the spirit of icicles and a blue Christmas, here are my Vegan Raw Ice Blue Lemon Cheesecake Bites.
I used a delicious combo of pistachios, shredded coconut and dried apricots for the base. But you can use almonds and dates, or any combination of nuts and dried fruit that you have on hand.
The filling is a nice lemon cream using cashews and stevia to sweeten. Again you can swap to lime if you prefer, just use 2 instead of one lemon. And you can also sweeten with your preferred sweetener. E.g. Xylitol, rice malt syrup, maple, coconut sugar.. I just use stevia as it's so low in calories, which means I get a healthier treat more often. And because I make them in snack size mini muffin moulds, it's the same as eating a snack box of nuts in my mind. But much more delicious!
The whipped coconut cream is optional, and more if you are serving them as a dessert or snack to family and friends. Store them in the freezer without the coconut cream, and just add that before serving. Otherwise just eat them as is. Raw treats are quite rich, so you really only need a small amount to fix those dessert cravings.
Again feel free to make into a small round cheesecakes or small square pan.
If you have any leftover base, I just roll them into balls, and keep them in the freezer for snacks! So there's definitely no waste!
I hope you give these a try
Jo xx
Ice Blue Lemon Cheesecake Bites
(Makes 12 mini or 1 small round cheesecake)
Base
1/2 cup pistachios
1/8 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup dried apricots chopped (soaked overnight or 15mins in boiling water and drained
1 Tbsp granulated stevia
Blitz pistachios in a food processor for 1 min until they become a fine crumb
Add in remaining ingredients and blend again
Press into the base of molds/ tin using your fingers until firmly packed
(I had extra base leftover. Depends on how thick you like it)
Put in the freezer while you make the filling
Filling
1 cup cashews (soaked for 6 hours or overnight) then rinsed and drained
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup Stevia icing mix (or normal stevia) (or natural sweetener of choice)
Juice and zest of 1 large lemon (1/3 cup juice, 1 Tbsp packed zest)
1/4 tsp salt
Blend all ingredients in a Vitamix blender until smooth
Add more sweetener or lemon to taste
Divide in two. Add natural blue colouring to one half
Spoon over base
Freeze for 3 hours or overnight until firm
Store and eat straight from the freezer or thaw for a few minutes if desired.
*My molds were 5cm/2inch wide
Sweet Coconut Cream icing
1 can full fat coconut cream (chilled in the fridge overnight)
1/4 cup stevia icing mix or regular icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Scoop out the thick part of the coconut cream, blend with electric hand beaters with other ingredients until whipped
Pipe on to Cheesecakes