Boston Cream Pie

I know it's been almost a month, but I guess I forgot to post this! Since Michael and I only eat sweets on the holidays, I decided to make a Boston Cream Pie for Valentine's Day. I've never even made a regular Boston Cream Pie back when I wasn't vegan, so I made sure to really scope out a good recipe. I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out wonderfully!

My cake didn't rise as much as the original poster's did, but that's ok. This tasted exactly like those dairy-filled Boston Cream Pies I used to eat back in the day. The cake was light and fluffy, the filling sweet and creamy, and the ganache so rich and decadent. It took a bit of time making this but it was definitely worth every minute. 

Raw Peanut Butter "Cheesecake"

I don't think I can stress enough how much I love raw desserts. I especially love raw "cheesecakes" and I knew I wanted to incorporate peanut butter somehow. The peanut butter I used is made with roasted peanuts, thus making it technically not a raw "cheesecake". If you want, use raw peanut butter!

Crust Ingredients:
(I wrote this down somewhere but I can't find it. These measurements are guesses)
1 c. almond meal
1/2 c. pecans
1/2 c. dates
2 tbsp. water

Crust Instructions:
- Put all your ingredients into your food processor and let run into mixture is sticky and blended.
- Using your fingertips, press into a pie pan.
- Freeze while you prepare your pie mixture.

Cheesecake Ingredients:
3 c. soaked raw cashews (I let mine soak for 2 hours)
1/2 c. pitted dates
1/2 c. fresh squeezed lemon juice
3/4 c. raw agave nectar
3/4 c. coconut oil, liquified
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. pure almond extract
1/4-1/2 c. natural peanut butter, slightly melted (I did this by placing a measuring cup of peanut butter in a bowl of hot water)


Cheesecake instructions:
- Blend all ingredients except peanut butter in your food processor. Occasionally stop it to wipe the sides down and continue to let it run for 5 minutes or until completely blended and smooth. Make sure your dates aren't too chunky!

- Smooth into your prepared crust.
- Freeze for 10 minutes while your peanut butter softens a bit.

- Spoon your peanut butter onto your cheesecake and sort of cut into it using a knife.

- I tried to get a swirling effect.

- Freeze for 30 minutes and then transfer to your refrigerator. Leave chilled for at least 30 minutes or until ready to eat.

I love that I put that peanut butter in last. Sometimes there would be bites with a lot of peanut butter flavor and others that weren't so overpowering in flavor. That gave it a nice flavor -- finding the surprise bites of peanut butter was fun and delicious! I also want to mention that this was GOOD. Ok, it was better than good. Seriously. I ate almost the whole thing by myself in the course of a week. I am not ashamed of this.

Raw Cashew "Cheesecake"

You see that? That, my friends, is pure deliciousness. After much research on raw foods, I decided to make a raw "cheesecake". Since there is obviously no cheese in this pie, the only thing that makes it like a cheesecake is the texture. I was AMAZED at how this turned out!

Ingredients:


Crust:
2 c. raw almonds
1 c. pitted dates
3 tsp. raw agave nectar
coconut oil, for greasing

Filling:
3 c. soaked raw cashews (I let mine soak for 2 hours)
1/2 c. pitted dates
1/2 c. fresh squeezed lemon juice
3/4 c. raw agave nectar
3/4 c. coconut oil, liquified
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. pure almond extract
pinch salt

Instructions:
- To make your crust, place almonds, dates, and agave into your food processor and let run for a couple minutes. This should be crumbly.

- Grease a pie pan using a tiny bit of coconut oil and then press your crust mixture into your pie pan. You might have quite a bit left over like I did. You can save this to put in oatmeal! Yum.

- Pop your pie crust into your freezer while preparing your filling.
- To make your filling, toss all ingredients into your food processor and blend it all together! I made sure to process it for a few minutes to make sure the dates broke down quite a bit.

- Pour your thick filling into your crust.

- Freeze your "cheesecake" for an hour and then pop it into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

- Slice this into small pieces because it is filling! Top with fresh fruit or eat it plain. I used my hand blender to crush up some blackberries, blueberries, and a squirt of agave.
- Keep your "cheesecake" stored in the refrigerator!

Um... please go make this right now. Seriously. Also try not to eat too much of it due to the coconut oil! I am glad it's pretty filling or else I'd go and eat the whole thing in one sitting. I also can't believe the texture. It is thick like cheesecake and has a delicious cashew-coconut-lemon flavor. I can't wait to try out some more raw desserts!