Pie-a-Day Goes Raw

Ani Phyo is the author or Ani's Raw Food Desserts: 85 Easy, Delectable Sweets and Treats.  Ani's version of a raw pie is the Strawberry Kream Cheezecake.

Crust:
1 cup almond meal
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup pitted Medjool or other semi-soft dates

Filling
1 Tablespoon grated lemon zest
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cups cashews
3/4 cup filtered water
3 Tablespoons liquid coconut oil
Seeds from 2 vanilla beans or 2 Tablespoons alcohol-free vanilla extract
1/4 cup lecithin powder

Topping:
1 1/2 cups strawberries 1/3 cup agave syrup

To make the crust, combine the almond meal and salt in a mixing bowl. Sprinkle a pie pan lightly with some of this almond meal. Add the dates to the remaining almond meal and mix into a dough with your hands. Press the dough into the bottom of the pie pan as thinly as possible. The crust should reach at least halfway up the side of pan. 

Make the filling, combine the zest, lemon juice, cashews, water, coconut oil, and vanilla in the high-speed blender and blend until smooth. Add the lecithin and blend to mix well and thicken. Scoop onto the crust. Refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours to firm up the filling.

To make the topping, combine the strawberries and agave syrup in the blender and pulse only a couple times to coarsely mix into a chunky sauce.

To serve, remove the cheezecake from the fridge, pour the sauce over the filling, and enjoy immediately.

The assembled cheesecake will keep for 2 to 3 days in the fridge. The filling and crust without the sauce will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge and several weeks in the freezer. The strawberry sauce will keep in the fridge a couple days when stored separately.