I forgot my mom can’t eat cashews, so when I went out of my way to make her a carrot cake she could eat (no gluten, no sugar, no lactose), she couldn’t eat it! Well, she could eat the cake, but not the cashew icing.
So I used the same recipe as for the cashew-maple “raw” cream cheese, but used agave instead, and did an emergency substitution of hazelnuts I had previously soaked and frozen. I blended it with miso and let it drain in a sieve lined with cheesecloth just like the other recipe (for only about 5 hours since that’s the time I had), but the hazelnuts just weren’t as creamy. They had skins on them, which is bad for blending, and they’re just not as creamy as cashews, but my mom could eat it. So I made her carrot cake bombs instead in little ramekins.
Ingredients:
3 cups soaked hazelnuts (8 hours or overnight, then REMOVE THE SKINS!)
1 1/2 cups water
2 tsp miso
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp agave nectar (or a big squirt…aka “to taste”)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 salt
Directions:
Blend the soaked and drained hazelnuts with the water and miso, and pour into a sieve lined with a double layer of cheesecloth placed over a large bowl for at least 8 hours (up to 24).
The next day (or hours later if you’re an idiot like me) put the sieved hazelnut mixture in a large bowl (or blender) and blend them with the lemon juice, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt. Taste and adjust as necessary. I like things puckering so I generally end up adding more lemon juice (freshly squeezed only!), but salt is the second most likely ingredient you’ll need more of to make this taste like cream cheese. It should be the consistency of frosting, but if it’s not you could add coconut butter to make it firmer or a little water to make it more blend-able if it’s dry.
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