My Second "Raw" Dessert Recipe (Sort Of): Orange Chocolate Cheesecake

So I thought this was my first "raw" recipe (not including salads and raw vegetables, of course), but then I remembered my raw chocolate mousse made from avocado, cocoa powder, lemon juice, agave nectar, sea salt, and shoya shoju (I think it's called)...but I did cheat and use tamari, and my cocoa was not raw cacao, and I probably added balsamic vinegar which is probably not allowed). All in all, not such a raw dessert.

So I started this one with good intentions too, like the mousse, but ended up cheating just as badly. I did learn some amazing things, though! Like soaking nuts in water starts a fermentation process and releases certain enzymes in the nuts that are not so great for you. It also makes the nuts lower in fat (I have no reference on this). It definitely makes the nuts easier to digest, so even if you don't care about fat and enzymes in particular, have some compassion for your stomach. At first when I read about the soaking it seemed like it would just make it easier to process the cashews in the food processor, and give a smoother texture, but at the time I was researching South Indian dosa and idli, which require soaking lentils and rice overnight to create a slightly fermented, subsequently pulverized flour that doesn't require a long cooking period normally associated with legumes and starch. It's pretty much the same idea.

So there was a traditional food culture to back up the "raw" food theory! That makes me pretty happy.

I usually hate orange and chocolate together, but there's really not much chocolate in this, and the orange flavour was fresh and sweet, without the processed sugar of a carton of fake juice. The nice thing was the recipe wasn't really that hard. It just took a fair bit of planning to have the nuts soaked. You can't leave them soaking forever, so once you start them soaking you're setting yourself on a cheesecake time line. The recipe came from a great website, Rawmazing, that I highly recommend for raw food questions, answers, techniques and recipes. I could also get very much into the whole "what is raw food" and the according debate about its benefits, but I'll let the website do my work for me.

Orange Chocolate Cheesecake (it wasn't really this orange...it's just bad lighting)

Crust:

• 1 cup Almonds*
• 1/4 cup Cacao Powder
• 3 Dates (I used about 6 since my dried ones were very small. Next time I want to make this recipe with fresh dates, the softer, squishy ones you can find in boxes imported from Iran. Then I will have to remove the pit, but leave the skin on to blend)
  

Combine all ingredients in the food processor. Process until ground fine. Mixture should hold together when pressed. If it doesn’t, add water, 1 Tbsp at a time until texture is achieved. I had to add about 2 tbsp of water, but another way to do this would be to use a little bit more agave and a little less dates if you want a lower glycemic index...or have no dates. I took the mixture out of the blender before realizing it needed a little water, so I ended up mixing it in with my hands. Kind of messy, but that's what baking should be. Set aside 1/4 cup of the filling AFTER processing to the RIGHT consistency. Press all but the 1/4 cup of the mixture into the bottom of 8" spring form pan. Place in refrigerator.

*The website author, Susan, soaks her almonds and dries them as soon as she gets them. From reading through the comments on the recipe page I found out that this means she soaks them overnight and then dehydrates them right away for the same harmful enzyme-reducing reasons described above. You can also make this recipe with un-soaked and un-dehydrated almonds. Variations on Susan's method include soaking the almonds 2 nights before making the recipe, (the cashews below don't need to be dehydrated afterward, so you can soak them just one night in advance) and then dehydrating the day before. If you don't have a dehydrator there are methods to dehydrate by placing the almonds in your oven overnight (or many hours, until dry. I'm not so comfortable with leaving the oven on overnight either) on the lowest possible temperature with the door open slightly. What I did, because I'm not a raw foodist, was soak the almonds one night before, like the cashews (but in a different bowl) and then toast them in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven, turning them until they were aromatic and dry. I like the extra flavour created by the toasting, like my hazelnut chocolate mousse birthday cake. I also think this is easier for you digest, but I'm not basing that on a whole lot of scientific evidence either.

Filling:

• 3 Oranges (make sure you have very good oranges. "Good" in this case just means juicy, not dry, and of a flavour that you like. Some people like sweeter ones, some like tangier, etc. Not all oranges are created equal, so buy an extra one or two to test first. If you like the flavour, go for it. Don't leave them in the fridge for months waiting to be used. They last, but they do dry out)
• 2/3 cup agave nectar. This was my downfall. I used 1/3 cup of honey instead. I thought it was plenty sweet, but apparently it's probably the reason my pie didn't solidify as well in the fridge. It changed the consistency of the dish. There are other ways to solidify, though, like Irish Moss, a kind of sea vegetable, and I wonder about agar-agar, which often replaces gelatin in raw and vegan recipes. Honey is fine as long as you don't mind more of a pudding than a cake.
  
• 2 1/2 cup cashews (soaked at least 3 hours or overnight). I thought the consistency might have been messed up because the cashews were so liquidy, but apparently that's fine.
  
• 3/4 C Coconut Butter (I also thought I may have screwed up here, by using earth balance instead of coconut butter, since I'm sensitive (digestion) to coconut. Note, coconut butter is not coconut oil, and there are other possible substitutions. I'm a huge fan of my earth balance substitution, though, because it worked well for the same reason that French orange sauces finished in butter work well on chicken and fish (trust me and just try it if you don't know what I'm talking about), like in my roasted cornish game hen recipe where I thought it would suck but ended up being delicious. Sometimes orange surprises me.
  
• 1/2 t. Sweet Orange Essential Oil (optional as it is not raw but still very healthy, apparently). I think you could also use an orange extract, but better would be Grand Marnier or Triple Sec, both of which are orange-flavoured liqueurs. Neither of which are particularly good for you or "raw", however...
  

Grate the zest off of all the oranges. You should have at least 3 tbsp. Be careful to only get the orange part as the pith (the white) is bitter. Squeeze the juice out of all the oranges. You should have about 2/3 cup. Drain the cashews that you've soaked at least 3 hours and place them with the agave, coconut butter, zest, essential oil, and agave and orange juice in the food processor and process until very smooth. You need a very powerful food processor (like a VitaMix - very expensive...) or blender to get this really smooth. I ended up with a grainy texture but I kind of like that. The mousse doesn't evaporate like air, so you don't over-eat as much of the high-fat treat at a time.

The food processor is the great thing about raw recipes. There are no complicated cooking processes of double boilers, or candy thermometres, or incorporating egg whites without collapsing. There are no beating to the obscure "stiff peaks" phase. Nothing gets "over-cooked". The worst you can do is leave things soaking a few days too long, which causes a bit too much bacteria and fear of contamination. Still, a few days is a lot better window or error than a few seconds with traditional baking techniques. So, hurray.

Pour the filling from the blender into the crust, and sprinkle the extra crust on top. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

Oh, I was so happy and satisfied. I had it for dessert when I was already pretty full. You don't want to eat this when you're very hungry because you'll end up eating WAY too much. It's a treat, so treat it as such.