Day 5 of real food remixed recipes “Thanksgiving Edition”.
So far we’ve looked at some appetizer ideas to serve pre-main course, as well as main course side dish ideas like a paleo-friendly mashed potatoes & gravy recipe, as well as sweet potato casserole recipe with real food homemade marshmallow.
Today, we’re going to tackle this amazingly delicious no bake pumpkin cheesecake tart.
I mentioned in the sweet potato casserole post yesterday, if you had to make just one of these real food remixed recipes, make the sweet potato casserole. Well, this is in that category as well. This was hard-to-put-the-fork-down good!
This no bake pumpkin cheesecake is paleo & vegan ingredient-friendly, gluten free and dairy free.
Ingredients for crust:
½ cup raw almonds
½ cup raw cashews
½ cup raw macadamias
3/4 cup pitted dates (about 8 dates)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Zest of 1/2 orange
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange juice
Directions for crust:
1. Put all the nuts in a food processor and process into crumbs
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until everything incorporated and mixture holds together
3. Take mixture and press into an 11 inch removable bottom tart pan evenly and put in the freezer (love using these removable bottom ones, so easy to get any tart/cake out of the pan)
Next you can start your filling…
Ingredients for the filling:
1 cup raw macadamias
2 cups raw cashews + a small amount for garnish
1 – 1 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
Zest from 1/2 orange
2/3 cup coconut sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin
Kitchen notes: notice the 1 – 1 1/2 cups almond milk. You can add 1 cup first and blend (see directions below), and then add 1/2 cup from there if it’s a little too thick.
Directions for filling:
1. Blend all ingredients in food processor until creamy. The mixture will have some texture because of the nuts. (this is where you’ll check the nut milk kitchen notes above)
2. Remove your crust from freezer and add filling, smoothing it around evenly. Sprinkle with a small amount of reserve chopped cashews. Return to freezer for a few more hours.
3. To serve, remove from freezer and let it set at room temperature for 10 – 15 minutes before slicing into serving pieces. Keep it stored in the freezer.
Enjoy!
love this! this is a 100% raw dish too, right?
Hi Bree, glad you do 🙂 canned pumpkin puree is not raw but everything else is
Great recipe! So easy! But for example, what can you replace macadamia with?
Thanks Christina! I’m assuming for the filling and not the crust? really you could do any combination of a soft nut. cashews and macadamia are really soft, blend well and turn really creamy in other words. Almonds are a little harder, but you could try..you just want it to get really creamy so an almond will take a little while longer blending to get there (especially with the skins).
If you have specific thoughts on what you want to try as an alternative that I didn’t mention, just let me know in the comments and I can give you my feedback before you start it..
This recipe looks amazing, I wanted to bake a traditional pumpkin pie but this has added much needed excitement. Getting back to the nut substitution. I have people who just flat out do not like cashews and I would replace the cashews with the almonds, this is including the crust. Unfortunately I do not have the time to do a trial run and I do not want to end up crying while shaking the food processor. What about pistachios? What are other soft nuts can I use?
shaking the blender.* I do not own a food processor.
Pistachios should be fine, probably delicious actually. Oh man but you’re putting me on the spot Beka!! Don’t want you to cry and beat up your food processor if it doesn’t work 😉
I don’t know from experience, but just “thinking with my tongue” on how that would taste, and that seems like it should work replacing cashews for pistachios. I’d up the macadamia to 2 cups instead of 1 cup, and then 1 cup pistachios. If you use almonds for the filling, I would soak them 3-4 hours first to soften them up (and they need to be processed really well if they have outer skin). Walnuts are another soft nut, but i’m not a huge fan (personal taste preference)
Re: blender.. saw this comment after I left mine above.
Depends on the blender, it’s a high output motor like a vitamix, should be fine. if it’s not, you can always soak the nuts for 3-4 hours. this will soften them. you’ll be scraping the sides most likely though.. I’ve mentioned in other posts before (like when I make homemade nut butter), my blender has a 60-second cycle, and I let that run 5 or 6 times, each time scraping the sides or pausing in between cycles to scrape the sides.
This along with the apple pie has saved my Thanksgiving contributions. Thank you very much Jon!
You’re welcome Beka, have a great Thanksgiving. Let me know how that recipe change up goes for you. Cheers
I’ll be making this. Seems easy for a kitchen rookie like myself. Can’t get any easier than blend everything and put in freezer! Thanks for the recipe, Jon.
Ha! yeah when you put it like that, it is only a few steps, huh? If you’re a kitchen rook you should be able to tackle this one no problem. Enjoy my friend!
Instead of using canned pumpkin puree can you use cook pumpkin (butternut or Jap) and then puree it yourself?
Hi Brooke, that should fine.. canned pumpkin is essentially cooked/pureed pumpkin so if you want to do your own you should be good. let me know how it tastes like that (especially if you do butternut.. sounds unique in taste!)
Wow! You just helped me decide on which pumpkin dessert I will be taking to my Mom’s house this year. Double goodness: delicious AND healthy!
Sorry Costco…….your pumpkin pie ain’t gonna cut it this year! Thanks a million Jon!