July 21, 2018 was the anniversary of Barre and Brunch!!
Thanks so much to everyone who has followed along on my food and fitness adventures over the past year. It truly means so much when people comment, message, or tell me they have tried recipes or workouts I have posted, or that they enjoy my Instagram account. It was such a fun and rewarding first year and I’ve learned SO MUCH about health, fitness, and cooking!
To celebrate, I made healthy coconut cashew cheesecakes! I brought them for the teachers at Barre and Soul tonight. I went to Angel’s restorative yoga class, which is so amazing and both restful and inspiring.
These cheesecakes are vegan and gluten free with no added sugar, and so tasty and quite simple to make! The hardest part is waiting to eat them.
Note: If you don’t want to make the crust, you could use a cookie or snack bar to save time! I think a peanut butter or chocolate flavor would be great!
Recipe
Makes five mini cheesecakes
Ingredients
Crust:
½ cup chopped dates (about 4-5 pitted dates)
2/3 cup slivered raw almonds
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 cup of water
Filling:
1 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup full fat coconut cream
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp of cashew butter
A spoonful of coconut flakes
Dash of cinnamon
Steps
Preparation: Soak the chopped dates and cashews in *separate* bowls of boiling hot water for at least 10-15 min (I left them in much longer, so take your time setting up everything else!)
To make the crust:
1. Strain dates and add to a food processor with the rest of the crust ingredients.
2. Blend until the mixture is sticky and dough-like. Spoon into cupcake liners in a muffin tin (or do what I did and put parchment paper in small glass bowls because I didn’t have a muffin tin at the time). Flatten the crust with the spoon.
3. Toast the crusts for a few minutes until they are slightly golden brown and the texture of cheesecake crust.
To make the filling:
1. Strain the cashews and add to the food processor with the rest of the filling ingredients. Blend until smooth.
2. Fill the crusts with the filling, add any toppings, then freeze for at least 1 hour. My toppings were crunchy peanut butter, coconut, and dark chocolate.
3. Enjoy!
Blowing out the candle for Barre and Brunch's 1 year!