Raw Dessert Time!

Hi guys,

Hope your weekend has started off well!  Last night Tom and I celebrated the beginning of his holidays with some veggie chilli and a couple of glasses of red wine.  But this morning, I was jolted out of my sleep by an exceptionally noisy cat at 5:00am.  Just too early.  As is often the case, my mind ran away with me and prevented me from falling back to sleep so I waved good bye to the land of nod.  Ugh.  I’m always a bit anxious before going away as well, even if it is to visit relatives.  I worry about whether or not I’ll get glutened, remembering to pack everything etc.  Anybody else the same?

My sleep-deprived self did manage to make it to the gym though for a bit of treadmill action and strength training.  Loving it.  Even better was my green smoothie, which I guzzled on my return- spinach, frozen banana, blueberries and apple juice.  Y’know, I think it was my first ever green smoothie!  Anyway, before we head off to rainy Wales,

Remember this?

Want a slice?

O.K.  Here’s the recipe that, hopefully, you’ve been waiting for:

Mango Cheezecake with a Chocolate-Coconut Crust

Crust

1 cup Brazil Nuts and Almonds, soaked for 6 hrs minimum and air-dried

1/4 tsp Sea Salt

1 cup Medjool Dates, pitted

1/3 cup Cocoa Powder

1 cup Dessiccated Coconut

Process the nuts and salt until finely ground, or desired consistency.  Slowly add the rest of the ingredients and process until combined.  The mixture should be quite dry, but able to stick together and be moulded without falling apart.  Put the mixture into a plastic-lined (I know, not eco-friendly) pie dish, and mould the mixture along the bowl to make a base and sides.  Place in the freezer to set whilst you make the filling.

Filling

1 cup Cashews, soaked for 2 hrs (no need to dehydrate)

Scant 1/3 cup Coconut Butter

1/4 cup Agave

1/2 Mango, chopped (the ripeness of the mango will determine the intensity of the flavour)

1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence

Juice of 1/2 Lemon

Put all the ingredients in your high-speed blender and blend away until thick and creamy.  No vita-mix necessary, which is good as I don’t own one…

Remove the crust from the freezer and pour the filling into the crust.  Cover and return to the freezer for 1-ish hours to set.  Once set (the filling should have the firmness of the usual non-vegan friendly cheesecake) remove from the freezer, and use the plastic to lift the pie from the dish.  Slice and serve with fresh blueberries.  Or puree the blueberries to make a drizzle.

I hope you love this as much as we did!  It reminded me of a New York Cheesecake but it’s been years since I’ve had one (and Tom didn’t agree).  However, he couldn’t believe it tasted so good without there being any sugar in it…

…and we both had more than one serving

I’ll be unplugged from my computer for the next few days so I will probably see you on Tuesday.  Hope you have a great weekend! xxx