Healthy Pumpkin “Cheesecake”

I love holiday desserts but have been experimenting with limiting the amount of sugar in my diet for the past few weeks and came across this recipe in a recent Barre 3 newsletter.  I’m going to try it out tomorrow.  What are you making for turkey day?

Pumpkin Cream Cheesecake

recipe provided courtesy of Andrea Nakayama at Replenish PDX (www.replenishpdx.com)

 

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups raw cashews, soaked one to three hours
1-1/2 cups pureed, cooked pumpkin
1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk *
1/2 cup gently melted coconut butter (Artisana brand or Nutiva Coconut Mana)
30 drops liquid stevia, vanilla flavored or 3 tablespoons raw honey
2 tablespoons liquid vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preparation:
1. Drain the soaked cashews, discarding the water. Place the nuts into a food processor and process them until a butter forms.
2. Add the remaining ingredients to the processor and process until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Taste to be sure that it meets your tastebuds. Since all pumpkins will be of varying degrees of sweetness, you’ll want to be sure that you’ve satisfied your taste buds before pouring the mixture from the food processor.
3. When the mixture meets your taste requirements, pour or spoon the contents of the bowl into a rectangular glass container in which you can store the cream “cheese”.
4. Allow the “cheese” to set in the fridge for at least two hours before trying to slice. You can store it covered there for up to four days. (Ours didn’t last so long!)
* Look for Native Forest brand coconut milk which doesn’t have BPA in the cans.