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This strawberry cheesecake parfait is a vegan version of the classic strawberry cheesecake. Made with filling cashews, fresh strawberries, and naturally sweetened with monk fruit!
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Valentine's Day is near. Whether you are single or have a significant other, it's important to celebrate love. But sometimes those Valentines Day meals can get you off track with your New Year diet goals. Not this cheesecake parfait. This strawberry cheesecake parfait gives you the same taste of indulgence without screwing up screw up your goals.
This smelled so GOOD while cooking!
Vegan Curve Building Ingredients:
Cashews
If you have a curvy vegan pantry you must keep cashews in them. A good source of healthy fats and protein. A calorie dense food. One serving has 5 grams of protein and 160 calories.
Monk Fruit Sweetener
The star of this recipe! Monk fruit is made from Lohan Guo Monkfruit, a fruit native to Chinese culture. It is known as the longevity fruit because where it's grown the residents are reported to have lived to be 100 years old or more. (Source) Monk fruit contains antioxidants called mogrosides which makes it sweet. Mogrosides which are metabolized that does not causes sugar spikes or feeds candida. This sweetener has zero calories
Cacao Butter
I added melted edible cacao butter to give it a white chocolate taste to this cheesecake parfait and boy is it good! But this ingredient is optional if you don't have any on hand. Cacao is reported to reduce stress levels and it makes some pretty nice DIY beauty products.
Because this cheesecake parfait is based on an actually cheesecake it has 3 steps to it; the crust, the filling, and the strawberry topping. I got the idea from watching all those cooking shows and how the constants would always do "deconstructed" versions of a recipe. Hey it works! Enjoy and happy Valentine's Day!
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? Tell me how it turned out for you! Was it a hit or miss? What do you think about having a cheesecake parfait? Have you ever tried one before? Tell me about it. Leave a comment below, rate it, and PIN IT! Also tag a photo @_VeganWithCurves and hashtag #VeganWithCurves on Instagram so I can see it!
Appliances used in this recipe:
- Vitamix Certified Reconditioned Two Speed Blender
- Hamilton Beach 12-Cup Stack and Snap Food Processor (70725A)
For more of my recommended cooking tools, visit the resource page at CURVY VEGAN KITCHEN.
[clickToTweet tweet="A vegan cheesecake parfait! Healthy and indulgent! #veganwithcurves #veganrecipes" quote="Healthy AND indulgent vegan cheesecake parfait! "]
Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait
Ingredients
- For Crust
- 1 cup walnuts
- ¾ cup dates
- ¼ teaspoon salt (I use pink Himalayan Sea Salt)
- For Strawberry Topping
- ½ water water
- 3 tablespoons Monk Fruit Sweetener (or sugar of your choice)
- 1 cup fresh strawberries
- For Filling
- ¾ cup cashews (soaked for a couple hours or boiled for 2 minutes to soften)
- ⅓ cup melted cacao butter (optional)
- 2 tablespoons fresh squeeze lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup plant based milk (any plant based milk will do)
- 4 tablespoons Monk Fruit Sweetener (or sugar of your choice)
- ¼ teaspoon salt (I use pink Himalayan Sea Salt)
Instructions
Start with making your crust
- Add 1 cup of walnuts, ¾ cups of dates, and ¼ teaspoon of salt to your food processor and blend until fully combined. The walnuts and dates should be fully processed together so that it is sticky. Set aside.
Next make your strawberry filling and melt your cacao butter
- Combine ½ cup of water and 3 tablespoons of Monk Fruit Sweetener sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Make sure the sugar is fully dissolved in water.
- Mix 1 cup of strawberries into saucepan and bring to a boil for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until strawberries sauce is thick and syrup like, for about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- If using cacao butter, add ⅓ cup to a double boiler over medium high heat and stir till melted. (or you can microwave it.) If not using cacao skip this step.
Last make your "cheesecake" filling
- Grab your ¾ cup soaked cashews (NOTE: if you don't have time to soak your cashews for a couple of hours you can boil them for a couple minutes to soften) and add to your high speed blender.
- Next add ⅓ cup of melted cacao butter (optional), 2 tablespoons of squeeze lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1 cup of plant based milk of your choice, 4 tablespoons of Monk Fruit Sweetener, ¼ teaspoon of salt to your blender with cashews and blend till smooth. Add more milk if needed to fully blend but not too much. You want it to be thick so you can enjoy it as a parfait otherwise you will end up with a smoothie. (which can still be good!)
- Now begin to layer your parfait. Grab 2 glasses and add your crust first (as little or as much as you desire), then cheesecake filling, and last top with strawberry topping. You can either serve immediately or put in the refrigerator to chill. Filling and syrup will keep for 24 hours. The reminding crust will keep for up to a month in the freezer. Enjoy!
Notes
- Calories 748
- Fat 64 g
- Carbohydrates 32 g
- Fiber 7 g
- Sugar 16 g
- Protein 12 g
- With the crust portion it can be optional. If you choose to make it you will have a significant portion left over. Roll these into snack balls and pop in the freezer. They will keep for month.
- You can use almonds instead of walnuts for the crust
- Raspberries or blueberries can work with this too.
- Any plant based milk will do but coconut milk will give it more flavor especially if you are not using cacao.
- You can used thawed frozen berries instead.
- You could add protein powder to this if you like!
Nutrition
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