Vegan Lime Cheesecake Bites
One of the first recipes we published on our website was our lime cheesecake with DoTerra essential oil, which received a lot of attention from the public. I have been thinking about trying a vegan version of this cheesecake and, after a few experiments, I came up with these yummy bites, super simple and made just with a handful of ingredients.
They’re a perfect summer dessert, very refreshing and excellent for when you would like something sweet at the end of your meal or in the mid-afternoon but you’re not too hungry and don’t want anything heavy.
By cutting your cheesecake into bites, you can choose to have as little as 1 square and satisfy in a healthy way your sweet cravings.
Also for this vegan version I used DoTerra essential oil: I always prefer using essential oils for no-bake desserts to avoid “killing” the benefits of the oil with high temperatures and since this cheesecake doesn’t require to be baked, it is just one of those desserts in which you may want to add a few drops of your favorite oil.
The lime essential oil is extracted from the rind of the limes so it basically replaces their zest and it also gives the filling a much smoother aroma, removing a little bit of the “stingy” taste of the lime juice.
Although I found it a great addition to this cheesecake filling, lime essential oil isn’t really “essential”: if you do not have it, you can still make your cheesecake as good by adding the zest of 2 limes to the filling and use the zest of your 3rd lime for decoration.
Make sure to store your cheesecake (cut into bites) in the freezer and thaw it ahead of time when you plan on having some!
And please do not think of skipping the soaking step (for the cashews) as that is essential to obtain a creamy filling!
Prep Time | 30 minutes |
Servings |
bites
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- 1 cup rolled oats
- cup Raw Pecans
- 1 cup Medjoul Dates about 10~11
- 1.5 cups Soaked Raw Cashews
- 3 Limes - Juice
- 1 Lime - Zest
- 3 drops DoTerra Lime Essential Oil
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil or Miyoko Vegan Butter
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Ingredients
For the crust
For the filling
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- First thing you’ll have to do is soaking the cashews in room temperature water for at least 2 hours: I soaked mine overnight for better results. This is an indispensable step to obtain a creamy filling, so be sure not to skip it and to possibly allow more than 2 hours for soaking.
- The other ingredient that needs soaking is the dates, although they will need far less time than the cashews: I’d say 1 hour is plenty.
- Once your dates are ready, you can start preparing the base: simply put in a blender the ingredients for the base and blend till you reach a sticky dough that stays well together and is not crumbly. You should be able to remove all the dough from the blender leaving the blender perfectly clean, without any dough residue.
- Spread the dough on the bottom of a square pan, previously lined with parchment paper: I helped myself with a rolling pin. I actually started spreading the dough in the pan with my hands, then I removed the whole parchment sheet from the pan (or it will take you forever to just do it with your hands), flattened the dough with the rolling pin trying to respect the shape of my pan, cut out the excess borders from the sides and added it back into the middle of the base, then rolled again to flatten it evenly and placed it back into the pan. You do not need to raise any border.
- Cover the base with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to settle while you prepare the filling.
- Once your cashews are ready, blend together all of the filling ingredients, EXCEPT the lime zest (that you will use as decoration) AND the lime essential oil, to avoid having residues of it on the walls of the blender and therefore wasting it. If you’re not using the essential oil, you would want to add to the blender the zest of 2 limes and keep the zest of 1 lime for decoration.
- Once you have reached a creamy filling without clumps, you can pour it directly onto the base.
- If you have a good blender, this shouldn’t take you too long but you may need to help the blender with ether a stick – like the Vitamix has – or stopping the blender, mixing with a spoon and starting the blender again a few times. This is the perfect consistency for the filling:
- You’ll now add 3 drops of essential oil directly onto the filling (if you’re using it), mix with a spoon and spread it evenly onto the base.
- Garnish with some lime zest, cover with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and place in the freezer to thicken, for at least 4 hours.
- Remove the freezer, lay your cheesecake (with parchment paper on) on a cutting board and cut it into desired size squares with a large knife. At this point, you can eat it immediately or put the cut squares back in the freezer in an air tight container to eat at a later time.
- Remember to let thaw 5~10 minutes before eating it.
- Enjoy!