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| -photo courtesy of Eating Rules- |
Wouldn't you know it! I received a post from a foodie blog I follow, Eating Rules, for a creamy, no animal protein, version of cream cheese. I was skeptical, but my attention was nabbed. I gave it a try and liked it!
Vegan Cashew Cream Cheese
by Sabrina Modelle of The Tomato Tart
2 cups (16 oz) Raw Cashews (This is different from the typical roasted & salted ones you snack on)
4 cups filtered Water + 1/2 cup more for blending
Juice of 1 Lemon
1 tablespoon White Wine Vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons Nooch (Nutritional Yeast)
1 teaspoon fine grain Sea Salt
- Soak raw cashews from four hours to overnight in filtered water
- Drain all water and blend with 1/2 cup filtered water, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, nooch and half of the salt until smooth. This will take at least 10 minutes in a food processor. Process until you have the consistency you prefer.
- You may need to add more water if your "cream cheese" is a bit too thick - for example, if it looks more like cashew butter than cream cheese. Be careful not to add too much.
- Taste-test for more salt, if needed, and blend to finish. You can add more, but you cannot take away.
- Remember the wangy flavor of dairy cream cheese? That's what you're going for. I was out of regular vinegar, but used Apple Cider Vinegar, instead. It took more to get the wang.
- Filtered water? I used the water filtered through my Brita, because I live in a 100+ year old house with old pipes. But, filtered water isn't a must.
- Once processed, I let it set-up overnight.
This is good! I enjoyed the nuttyness which still came through, probably due to me using a different vinegar. Those allergic to tree nuts would def need a warning label! I plan to use it in various cooking recipes in the future to see if it plays well with other foods.
