Raw Shamrock Cheesecake

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!  I am not Irish, but that does not mean I am going to miss out on making a beautiful green dessert to celebrate.  I have seen so many different Shamrock Shakes posted this week, and I thought about making one for myself, but I thought a Shamrock Cake would be better.  Same delicious flavor, but even more delicious.  

I wanted to make a raw cheesecake, have it be a beautiful shade of green, and have the most luscious vanilla mint filling.  No chocolate in sight here, just pure vanilla and mint which are so lovely together. I thought about making a uniform colored filling, but swirls are so much more fun, so I used spinach to color the filling different shades.  

I even made the crust green with pistachios to keep with the theme.  Plus, I love their flavor so I could not resist.  The cake turned out beautifully, almost too pretty to eat, but that never stops me.  

Who needs green beer when you have a dessert like this?  No green food coloring in sight, sweet and heavenly, this was the best St. Patrick's Day dessert I have ever made!  I went back for seconds...and thirds...it was that good.

Raw Shamrock Cheesecake (vanilla mint cheesecake)
Makes one 6 inch cake

Crust:
1/2 cup raw pistachios, soaked and dried

1/2 cup sprouted buckwheat, dried in the dehydrator (or additional coconut or pistachios)

1/2 cup dried finely shredded coconut

1/8 teaspoon sea salt
10-12 soft medjool dates, pitted and chopped

Filling:

1 1/2 cups raw cashews (preferably soaked overnight and drained)

1 1/2 cups young coconut meat (or additional soaked cashews if unavailable)

1/2 cup coconut water

1/2 cup raw coconut nectar, raw agave nectar or raw honey

1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp raw coconut oil (warmed to liquid)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract and seeds from half a vanilla bean

1 tsp peppermint extract (divided)
One large bunch spinach

Lightly coat a 6 inch spring form removable bottom pans with coconut oil. To prepare the crust, process pistachios, buckwheat and sea salt in a food processor until the nuts are fine crumbs, then add the dates and process until the mixture holds together when squeezed between your fingers (if not holding together, add more dates). Firmly press crust into the bottom of the prepared pan, and set aside. 

To make the filling, drain the cashews and combine them with coconut, coconut water, coconut nectar, sea salt and vanilla in a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. With the processor running, add the coconut oil, and process for a minute until blended. Remove the filling from the food processor and divide into 3 bowls. Place one back into the food processor and add 1/2 tsp peppermint extract and a handful of spinach (enough to tint the filling pale green).  Process until smooth and uniform in color and place back in the bowl.  Add the second bowl to the food processor and add 2 large handfuls of spinach (you want this batch to be darker green) and the remaining 1/2 tsp mint extract.  Process until smooth and place back in the bowl.  To assemble cheesecake, drop the different colors of filling over the crust by the Tbspful and when they are all used up tap the bottom of the pan on the counter to level.  Swirl with a knife starting at the outside of the circle and working your way in in a spiral fashion.  Place the cheesecake in the freezer to firm up for about 4 hours until set before unmolding.  Store leftover cake in the fridge!