You don’t need any fancy schmancy kitchen equipment for these mini “cheese”-bombs; only a 6-cup silicone muffin tray and a blender or immersion blender. And a freezer. But more on that later…
For the crust
Ingredients:
- 150 g soft dates
- 50 g almonds
- 50 g hazelnuts
- 30 g cashews
Instructions:
- Chop up the dates into small pieces. Chop up the nuts, too, depending on how coarse you want them. Combine dates and nuts into a “dough”. Spread into the muffin cups and flatten the crust using your fingers or a teaspoon.
- Place the tray into the freezer overnight.
For the compote
Ingredients:
- 2 ripe pears
- a splash of lemon juice
- ca. 2 tbsp sugar
- pulp of half of a vanilla bean
- a pinch of cinnamon
Instructions:
- Since our cheesecakes will be filled with a pear compote, we’ll make that before we address the “cheese component” of our dessert. Start by peeling and chopping the pears and basting them with a bit of lemon juice.
- Melt the sugar in the pan, add the pears and – while relishing that delightful sizzling sound – let them simmer briefly.
Season with vanilla pulp and cinnamon. Remove from heat and let cool. If stone-hard clumps of sugar formed in your compote, please remove them to spare your friends a trip to the dentist. - Take the muffin tray out of the freezer, but leave the crusts in the cups. Spoon one tablespoon of compote onto the centre of each crust.
For the “cheese”-mass
Ingredients:
- 100 g cashews, soaked (for at least two hours, preferably overnight) and drained
- 125 g coconut yoghurt
- 200 ml coconut milk or cream (ca. 18 % fat)
- 2 tbsp maple sirup
- 2 tsp coconut oil, tempered at room temperature
- 1½ tsp locust bean gum
Instructions:
- Blend the nuts, yoghurt, coconut milk, and maple sirup on the highest setting. Once the mass has a smooth consistency, add the coconut oil and, again, blend it on the highest setting. Lastly, add the locust bean gum and blend again.
- Pour the mixture into the cups to finally unite the crust, the compote, and the “cheese”. Place the tray into the freezer overnight.
For the decoration:
Ingredients:
- 50 g dark chocolate
- 1 tsp coconut oil (or margarine)
Instructions:
- Melt the chocolate and coconut oil (or margarine) in a pot.
- Take the muffin tray out of the freezer and remove the little cheesecakes.
- Decorate the cheesecakes with the chocolate. Add some caramelised pear slices.
- Your cheesecakes are finished now. Leave them at room temperature for at least 25 minutes before serving, or slowly defrost them in the fridge. Either way, they will be delicious.