I’m a big fan of creamy desserts. I love anything sweet with a smooth texture, and I LOVE cheesecake. Cheesecake gets a bad rep for being unhealthy and full of fats and sugars. But there are always alternatives to eating an “unhealthy” cheesecake.
This recipe for my vegan strawberry vanilla cheesecake bars is here to save the day! Finally you can have your cheesecake, and eat it to! While these are filled with some fat, they are good for you fats from healthy and natural ingredients like cashews and coconuts. They are also refined-sugar free, and gluten-free. What more could you ask for?
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PinIngredients
Crust:
- 1 cup pecans
- 1 cup medjool dates
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
Filling:
- 1 1/2 cups cashews, (soaked in water for 4 hours or overnight)
- 1 large can coconut milk (just the cream off the top)
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup strawberries
Instructions
- Lets start by making our crust.
- Add your pecans, dates, salt, and cinnamon to a food processor and pulse until it forms a dough.
- Line an 8 x 8 inch pan with parchment paper and press your dough into the bottom of the pan.
- Place in the fridge while you prepare the rest of your cheesecake.
- Strain your cashews, and pour them into your food processor, or a high speed blender.
- Pulse them until they form a smooth cream.
- Next add your coconut cream, maple syrup, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla extract and pulse together until creamy.
- Pour out half your filling into your pan, placing the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes to firm up quickly.
- Next add the strawberries to the remaining half of your filling and pulse until smooth.
- Add your strawberry layer to the pan.
- Allow to firm up in the fridge overnight for a creamy cheesecake texture, or in the freezer for a couple hours for more of an icecream type of texture.
- Cut into bars, and serve.
Liked the recipe for these vegan strawberry vanilla cheesecake bars ? Check out my vegan raspberry cheesecake bars too!
Hi – when do you add the lemon juice?
Thanks!
Hi Marian, you can add the lemon juice when you add the lemon zest, vanilla..etc!