From making your own dairy-free mylks to flaxseed eggs in baking, Sarah Edwards of Copper + Cloves recently shared simple swaps for plant-based eating.
Here she offers a healthy spin on the ultimate creamy indulgence – cheesecake – using all vegan ingredients. Over to her for an Avocado Lime Coconut Oil Cheesecake!
This no-bake, plant-based cheesecake is super easy to make and packed full of healthy fats and antioxidants. It is tangy yet sweet, with a slightly crunchy base and a hint of salt and spice – the contrast is so good!
This recipe is a great way to use up the creamy avocados we’ve been having this season, once you get tired of smashed avo on toast. Make sure you use really ripe ones- they should be soft and buttery, not hard and bitter. Take unripe avocados and wrap them in newspaper with a banana to make sure they ripen nicely.
Coconut oil is the other starring ingredient – liquid at room temperature, yet solid when put in the fridge, you can set a cheesecake without using gelatin, or baking it with dairy ingredients. Generally, coconut oil can be used in place of butter as a fat in baking too!
Avocado Lime Cheesecake
Equipment
- A pan for dry toasting
- A mixie
- 6-8 cupcake moulds (silicone or a metal muffin tray also works)
Ingredients
Base
- 80 g pitted dates
- 60 g cashews
- 25 g desiccated coconut
- 1½ tbsp sesame seeds (black looks great but either colour works!)
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp chilli flakes (optional – I like the hint of chilli heat to contrast with the sweetness, but you can simply skip this if you don’t like spice at all, or if you are making for children.
‘Cheesecake’ Filling
- 250 g avocado flesh (remove peel and stone)
- 70 ml jaggery liquid or honey
- 55 ml lemon juice
- 20 ml extra virgin coconut oil, in its liquid form (if your’s is solid, gently warm it)
- 1½ tbsp finely grated ginger
Optional garnishes
- more toasted desiccated coconut or grated fresh coconut
- toasted pumpkin seeds
- black sesame seeds
- grated lemon zest
- sprinkle of chill flakes
Instructions
- If you have silicon cupcake moulds these are brilliant. If you have a metal case, you just need to grease them with coconut oil before you start.
Start by making the base.
- Dry toast the cashews in a pan until golden brown. Remove from the pan.
- Now toast the desiccated coconut and sesame seeds until also golden. Remove from the pan and allow to cool slightly
- Pulse the cashews, sesame seeds and desiccated coconut in a mixie until broken up into little pieces, then add in the dates, salt and chilli flakes.
- Put a heaped tablespoonful of this mixture into each cupcake mould and press down to form an even layer about ½ inch thick. Put the cupcake moulds in the freezer while you make the creamy filling!
Make the filling
- Scoop out the flesh of the avocados and add it to your mixie jar. Now add the lime juice, jaggery syrup, coconut oil and grated ginger until it becomes smooth and creamy.
- Take your hardened base out of the freezer and pour the filling in gradually to the top of each mould. Once you have tipped in the filling, you could add a little garnish on each one – grate the zest of a lemon, throw over some seeds or scatter some grated fresh coconut on top.
- Now put the cupcake moulds back into the freezer for another 2 hours at least (though you can leave them there overnight – and in fact they will keep for weeks in the freezer). When you want to serve, either move to the fridge an hour before, or just take them out and leave at room temperature for around 10 minutes (depending on where you are in the country, you may want to leave them for more or less time).
Notes
Discover more plant-based swaps from Sarah, here.
About Sarah Edwards | Copper + Cloves
Founded by health & wellness coach – Sarah Edwards – Copper + Cloves is committed to getting people excited about eating fresh, whole foods, as well as championing a farm-to-table philosophy. Follow them on Instagram @CopperandCloves.
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