ROSEWATER AND RASPBERRY CHEESECAKES with a graham cracker crust | recipe
When I'm craving something sweet, the satiation process begins with the making; a combination of time, patience and minimal effort, and ends with the presentation. Somehow I feel more deserving of indulgence when I've waited in agony for it. Am I alone in this? This recipe takes little to no kitchen skills, but a whole lotta patience, as like most raw desserts, it requires time in the freezer. But half the pleasure in these cute little treats is had just by looking at them. I love pretty sweet things, and I am so not a baker, so here I got my fix with some ombré and topping the hell out these babies, unnecessary to taste, but I eat with my eyes.
Ingredients
1 cans coconut milk, full fat
2 cups cashews, soaked overnight
1 tbs rosewater
1 vanilla bean or vanilla extract
1 tbs coconut sugar, maple syrup or agave
1 cup fresh raspberries
1 tsp beetroot powder or red food color (entirely unnecessary, for aesthetic purposes only)
1 packet of graham crackers
1 tbs coconut oil
1 tsp almond extract (optional)
dash sea salt
lime zest
optional layer:
1 cup creamer
1 tbs cacao powder
60 g dark chocolate
1 tbs syrup
pictured with:
toasted almonds with sugar and cinnamon
piped coconut whip
Instructions
- Soak cashew and chill coconut milk overnight or for at least 2 hours.
- Begin by processing graham crackers, coconut oil, almond extract and sea salt until well blended and crumbly. If you have a food processor to do this, that is the best way to go about it but you can also smash the graham crackers in a ziplock bag with a rolling pin and then combine them with the rest of the ingredients in a mixing bowl.
- Pack the bottom of a 9" spring form pan or 3 mini spring forms with the crust mixture and bake at 350 F for 5 minutes. Let cool.
- Skim the fat off the top of the can of coconut milk making sure to use as little liquid as possible. Combine in a high powered blender or food processor with the cashews, rosewater, 1/4 tsp beet root powder, vanilla bean and sweetener, until smooth.
- For an optional layer: combine chocolate, maple syrup and creamer over a double boiler. Poor over crust and chill in the freezer for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Poor a 1/2" layer of cheesecake mixture into your pan. Freeze for 30 minutes.
- Add 3/4 tsp beetroot powder to the mixture and blend.
- Poor a 1/2" layer of cheesecake mixture into your pan. Freeze for 30 minutes.
- Add raspberries to the remaining mixtures and blend. I like leave a few raspberry chunks remaining.
- Poor your final layer into your pan and pop it in the freezer for a final 2 hours.
- Top with somethin' pretty, I chose coconut whip, toasted almonds dusted with cinnamon and sugar and lime zest. I've already given you a lot of work to do so I didn't include these two processes but I will if anyone is curious, just leave me a little comment!