Vegan Blueberry Cheesecake w/ Macadamia Nut & Berry Topping

Adapted from a Berry No-Bake Cheesecake on Sweet & Healthy Living.

 This is the first time I've used the NuNatural's product:

Stevia More Fiber Baking Blend

 I can say now that I'll be using it again, and again, and again now.

I was a little concerned that the powdered Stevia would be bitter or not sweet enough for the cake.

Especially because there are no other 'sweet' ingredients except the dates.

It was neither bitter nor unsweet, it was perfection.

The Stevia held the no-bake cake together well and gave the berries a great sweetness.

I would compare the taste to a Blueberry Cream Pie!

Yum...........
So how can you make this wonderful Dairy, Sugar and Gluten free Cheesecake?

Wash off your fresh blueberries but air dry them before
using them in this recipe so they don't add a lot of water.

This is the cheesecake batter before adding in the blueberries. It will be less
smooth than dairy cheesecakes but taste even better ((I think)

This is the final cheesecake batter layer being spread on.
Fresh blueberries were dropped on throughout each layer.
See difference here between the 'blueberry flavored' batter and the plain.

Rough chop the nuts, you don't want them too crumby like dust.

Blueberry Cheesecake with Macadamia Nut & Berry Topping

Vegan, Dairy and Gluten Free

Crust
This recipe is basically the Raw Caramels shown here

1 Cup Raw Unsalted Sunflower Seeds

15 Pitted Medjool Dates

2 Tbs. Olive Oil

2 tsp. Liquid Vanilla Stevia

1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder

1 Tbs. Finely Ground Coffee or substitute like Cafix

Pulse Sunflower Seeds until pulverized. Add in the dates

and pulse until lumpy batter forms. Add in other ingredients and

continue pulsing until smooth.  Chill for 30 minutes and then press

into bottom of springform pan to about 1/2 inch thickness. 

Freeze until firm.

Cheesecake Filling
2 Cups of Cashews - soaked 2 - 8 hours in filtered water, drained
1 Cup of Chopped Dates soaked 30 minutes and drained

1/4 Cup Lemon Juice

1/3 Cup melted Coconut Oil

Pulse all ingredients until a smooth batter is obtained, scrape down sides of blender

Add in:

1/3 Cup Nut Milk of choice

8 oz. Non Dairy Cream Cheese like Tofutti brand

1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 Cup of Powdered Stevia More Fiber Baking Blend from NuNaturals

Pulse together with first ingredients until smooth

To have a Blueberry Flavored layer to the cheesecake:

Seperate out 2 cups of the batter and set aside.

Add 1 Cup of fresh Blueberries in with the remaining batter and pulse until smooth

To assemble the cheesecake:

Remove the chilled crust in the springform pan and set on an even surface.

Spoon out enough of the set aside, non blueberry flavored batter to cover the

bottom crust about 1/2 Inch thick.

Freeze 30 minutes to firm batter again.

When cake is firm, add spoonfuls of the blueberry flavored batter in different

areas of cake on top of first layer of plain flavored batter using about 1 cup of

blueberry flavored batter.

Spoon the remaining plain flavor batter inbetween the blueberry batter and on top of

the fresh blueberries.

Sprinkle of few fresh blueberries on top of the batter.

Spoon the remaining plain flavor batter inbetween the blueberry batter

and on top of the fresh blueberries.

Freeze again.

Pour on remaining Blueberry flavored batter over entire cake and smooth to

cover the previous layers.

Freeze at least 5 hours until whole cake is solid.

Topping

1 Cup of Macadamia Nuts, roughly chopped (see picture)

1/2 Cup Fresh Blueberries

1/2 Cup Fresh Raspberries

Top the firm frozen cake with berries and nuts - pressing down lightly to top the cake.

Freeze again for 1 hour, remove springform pan exterior.

Store in the freezer or cut into slices and freeze slices well wrapped.

This one is a keeper.  Adapt the berries to suit your own likes.

Another cheesecake posting you may enjoy:

Raspberry Mocha Cream Cookie Dough Cake

ENJOY!

Chewy Dandelion Root Brownies with Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl

Can you believe I'm keeping "On Track" with these gorgeous squares of chocolaty goodness?

Dandelion root is God's perfect detoxifier for liver / blood. 

The root powder is especially effective for removing toxins. 

Readily available today at health food stores or on line.

A few years ago, I really got obsessed for a few months with growing my own dandelions

to have a clean source of root, flower etc.  It proved to be an extensive project.

Not worth the time when you can get quality Dandelion products from health food stores

these days or on-line.

 Dandelion Root is one of those wonderfully nutritionally packed ingredients that can hide in your baked goods or hot drinks and really give a vitamin and mineral boost to your food.

More information on Dandelion Root: http://www.livestrong.com/article/343007-the-advantages-of-dandelion-root/

Nut Butter (Peanut in this case) Swirls through the Cocoa Brownie
See this post for Nut Butter recipe:  http://cannedtime.blogspot.com/2012/06/raw-vegan-caramels-with-chocolate-nut.html

 Full pan of brownies shot below shows the Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirled through the batter.

Chewy Dandelion Root Brownies w/ Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl

Gluten Free and Very Low Sugar

Combine Wet Ingredients in a blender or food processor and mix until a smooth batter is formed:

1 Cup filtered Water

3 Eggs (or egg substitute)

1 tsp. Liquid Vanilla Stevia + 1 tsp. Plain Liquid Stevia

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

15 Whole Pitted Dates

1/3 Cup Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Melted Coconut Butter

Combine Dry Ingredients in a bowl and sift together to fully incorporate:

1/2 Cup Dandelion Root Powder

1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Sea Salt

1/2 Cup Ground Flax Seed

1 Cup Spelt Flour or other Gluten Free Flour

1/2 Cup Coconut Flour

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry, stir well and form a wet, thick batter. 

Pour batter into a well greased, 9 X 9 pan and bake at 250 for about 45 minutes.

Check for doneness.  Do not over bake, they will be moist until the cool some.

Makes 12 good sized brownies.  Store covered and refrigerated for up to 1 week.

These brownies turned out surprisingly 'normal' tasting considering the vast array of ingredients.  Lots of substitutions could be made if you don't have certain items.  But if you do, I'd recommend these 'as is' for a healthy, gluten free, Very low sugar snack or dessert.

The Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl makes them fudgie and sweet.

Nut Butter recipe is here: http://cannedtime.blogspot.com/2012/06/raw-vegan-caramels-with-chocolate-nut.html

Another great Dandelion recipe from Canned Time check out:  Dandelion Greens Strawberry Salad!

Enjoy!

Raw Vegan Caramels with Chocolate Nut Butter

These Raw Vegan Caramels are adapted from a recipe at Averie Cooks

These are beautiful little bites of chewy, sweet goodness.

I took Averie's advise and added some homemade chocolate butter on top

just to make them even more perfect.

I made a chocolate sauce by blending sugar free peanut butter with cocoa powder and

NuNaturals Liquid Vanilla Stevia

The main sweetness comes from ground up dates.

Make sure if you're using whole dates to remove the pits.

Thanks to NuNaturals, they are sugar free except for the date sugar.

When you have the 'caramel' dough, flatten it out on a stick free surface to about 1/2 inch thick.
Refrigerate to firm the caramel.

 I combined the dates with sunflower seeds.  Blend the Sunflower Seeds first and then add in the other caramel ingredients. 

I had better success pulsing the blender much of the time until a paste formed.

The original recipe calls for pine nuts, but I'm saving money using sunflower seeds but
I'm sure that these would be even better using Pine Nuts.

Raw Vegan Caramels with Chocolate Nut Butter Frosting

Caramels

1 Cup Raw Unsalted Sunflower Seeds (or Pine Nuts)

15 Pitted Medjool Dates

2 Tbs. Olive Oil (if using Pine Nuts, omit the oil)

2 tsp. Liquid Vanilla Stevia

Pulse Sunflower Seeds until pulverized.  Add in the dates

and pulse until lumpy batter forms.  Add in other ingredients and

continue pulsing until smooth and lay out on a non stick surface.

Push batter down to form a large 1/4 inch thick rectangle.  Refrigerate for

30 minutes to firm up caramels before icing.  Cut into squares.  Store in a

sealed container.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting

16 oz Jar of Natural Peanut Butter

1/4 Cup Palm Sugar or other sweetener

1/4 Cup plus 2 Tbs. Cocoa Powder

1 tsp. Liquid Vanilla Stevia

1 Tbs. Non Dairy Milk

Pinch of Sea Salt

Blend in a food processor until smooth.  Store in a sealed container

in the refrigerator or freezer for up to 2 months (they won't last that long but they could)

See the original recipe for other options and flavors. I think next time

I will make a smaller batch and use the Pine Nuts.

I'm also thinking that some coarse Sea Salt sprinkled in would be a great addition too!

Guilt free, Dairy Free, Gluten Free delicious little bites of sweet enjoyment!

Fantastic heathy recipe.  Thanks again Averie....

Enjoy!

Make sure you've entered to win in the NuNaturals giveaway!

Apple Berry Upside-Down Cake - Dairy and Gluten Free

Apple Berry Upside-Down Cake

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Vegetable Spread or Butter
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1/3 Cup Coconut Palm Sugar (or regular)
1 Vanilla Gluten Free Cake Mix (or regular)
3 Eggs cracked and beaten slightly
1/3 Cup Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Milk of choice ( I used Coconut this time)
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. NuNaturals Liquid Vanilla Flavored Stevia

1 Granny Smith Apple sliced in 1/4 inch slices.
About 10 ripe Blackberries

Melt 1/2 Cup Vegetable Spread or Butter on low in an 10" Iron Skillet.

Mix in 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar

and 1/3 Cup Coconut Palm Sugar with the melted butter.

Stir and allow the sugar to melt down on low heat.

If you don't have Palm, all Brown Sugar is fine too.

While the sugars are melted down, mix the cake batter and slice apples

Cake:       Mix together all ingredient in a bowl to form a lumpy batter.

1 Vanilla Gluten Free Cake Mix (or regular)

3 Eggs cracked and beaten slightly

1/3 Cup Olive Oil

1/2 Cup Milk of choice ( I used Coconut this time)

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. NuNaturals Liquid Vanilla Flavored Stevia

Set batter aside, stir the sugar butter mixture, slice up apples.

When the butter and sugar is mixed and melted together, arrange apples and blackberries on top of the sugar mix. 

You can keep the pan on low heat this whole time.

When fruit is arranged, slowly pour cake batter on top of fruit

(mine floated up some into the batter so I didn't invert the cake after it baked)

Cover the pan loosely and cook on low for 30 minutes or until cake is firm to the touch.

It will look slightly underdone compared to most cakes because of the sugar / butter mix

but let it rest and it should be okay.

This cake was so moist, sweet and fruity.  Really made the whole house smell like a fresh bakery...

The cinnamon, apple and berries, along with the vanilla cake, delicious!

I'm keeping this in the fridge, it's going quickly.

I'll definitely be trying this same method with other fruits and cake flavors too.

Thanks for all the NuNaturals Giveaway entries!

Coconut Butter Biscoff Spread Fudge

 Dairy Free if you don't add the Jiff Mocha Cappuccino icing, and "no cook" fudge with 
just 3 ingredients?  Awesome..........

 This fudge was inspired by Chocolate Covered Katie's Triple Chocolate Nutella Fudge but.....

I like this one even better!

 If you want to make it a little more decadent, and don't mind the dairy, spread a little

Jif Mocha Cappuccino  spread on top........yum!

 The combination of Coconut Butter, Biscoff Spread and Mocha is....well......
you'll have to try it yourself to realize just how great the taste is!

The recipe for this fudge is still in my head, as easy as it gets:

1 Cup Biscoff Spread, softened slightly in the microwave (maybe 10 seconds, not melted)
1 Cup Coconut Butter (Manna is a great brand) Melted inside a bowl filled with warm water
1/4 Cup slivered Almonds

Blend together Biscoff and melted Coconut Butter in a mixer. 
Stir in Almonds to mix through.
Pour the fudge into a lined freezer safe container and freeze
to set the fudge.

Optional icing:   Jif Mocha Cappuccino or melted Chocolate
Store in the refrigerator or freezer in an airtight container.

Enjoy!


This post is linked to Allergy-Free Wednesdays