LAVENDER LEMON "CHEESECAKE"

I was going to wait until I'd made two desserts to share them here, but I'm so excited about this lavender lemon cheesecake that I'm sharing it today! The recipe I used is from the blog This Rawsome Vegan Life, which is one of the first two blogs I ever followed. After following it for 5+ years, I finally decided it was time to make a few recipes from it this year so put this as #8 on my birthday list.

This cheesecake... it's magical. Magical, not only tastes incredible, but because for being raw and vegan and mostly nuts and dates it tastes exactly like the real cream cheesy thing. It really is nuts! The only reco I have for making this on your own is making sure that you have a really good food processor or blender to make sure everything is really smooth.

Here's the recipe with a few notes for directions/substitutions I made.

LAVENDER LEMON CHEESECAKE

Crust:
1/2 cup dates
1 1/2 cups nuts (I used 1 1/4 cup of walnuts and 1/4 cup of almonds)

Cheesecake:

3 cups cashews (I soaked them in warm water for 2 hours)

3/4 cup lemon juice

2/3 cup maple syrup

3/4 cup melted coconut oil

1 teaspoon salt

Dried lavender (the original recipe calls for 1-3 teaspoons - I did 4 + extra for garnishing)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cover the inside of a cake pan with wax paper (I used a 9-inch springform pan, although next time I'll be using an 8-inch springform pan for a slightly thicker cake). Pulse dates and nuts in a food processor/blender until you get a sticky mixture that you can pat down into the bottom of the cake pan. Set in fridge/freezer to chill. 

Blend all cheesecake ingredients together until smooth and creamy. Pour onto the crust in the cake pan and set in the freezer until it has the hardness you want (it was 3 hours for me - although I ended up storing leftovers in the freezer too). Pop the cake out of the pan, peel off the wax paper, slice and eat/enjoy/experience the magic. 

Recipe from This Rawsome Vegan Life 

PS: This Rawsome Vegan Life's Instagram account is amazing.