Blueberry Cheesecake Bars {dairy free}

If you're not up for a tart or bars, you can make individual cheesecakes using a muffin or cupcake baking pan, or use a square pan, pie dish, or anything in between. I used an 11 inch x 7 inch (28 cm x 18 cm) non-stick tart pan, and if you want to make it really easy to remove the bars, I recommend lining your pan with parchment paper.

For the crust, I used a slight variation on my ginger snap cookie recipe for the crust and left it unbaked, but if you're not into raw cookie dough you can bake it for about 8 minutes at 350ºF (180ºC, or gas mark 4) to firm it up a bit.

Soaking the cashews: Place the cashews in a bowl and fill with water until the cashews are fully covered. Let them sit at room temperature for at least 3 hours, then drain and rinse.

Servings: bars

Calories: 277kcal

Equipment

Food processor or high speed blender

Ingredients

Crust

2 cups blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
⅓ cup maple syrup or honey
4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

Cheesecake layer

1.5 cups raw cashews soaked for at least 3 hours, or in hot water for 10 minutes
⅓ cup coconut oil
⅓ cup lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup maple syrup or honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Crust

In a mixing bowl, blend the flour, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Then add the honey and coconut oil and mix until well-blended.
Prepare a pan with parchment paper if it's a non-stick surface, and using your fingers, press the crust into the pan using parchment paper on top of the dough.

Cheesecake layer

Place all the ingredients, except the blueberries, in a food processor or high-speed blender and pulse or blend until the layer is very creamy in consistency. I usually process this layer for at least a minute or two. Feel free to add a tablespoon or so of water if it's too thick for your taste.
Pour or spread the cheesecake layer over the crust and even it out by shuffling the pan and using a spatula or knife.
Scatter the blueberries across the cheesecake layer and freeze the cheesecake for at least 4 hours.
Slice and serve. If completely frozen, thaw for 5 to 10 minutes at room temperature. Store covered in the freezer.

Nutrition