Coconut, almond, and chocolate is the delicious flavor combination in my new no-bake cheesecake! It’s what happens when Almond Joy meets cheesecake and then goes vegan. It just doesn’t get much better than that!
Hershey came up with this great flavor combo back in 1946. Of course, being vegan means I haven’t enjoyed an Almond Joy in many years, which is one of the things that makes this new dessert so exciting for me.
It all happened back in July. I was making my Red, White, and Blue Vegan Cheesecake to take to my friend Lisa’s 4th of July party. I didn’t realize it until I’d already started making the cheesecake, but I was running low on maple syrup and wouldn’t have quite enough to finish.
I started rummaging through my cupboard to see what other sweeteners I had. As I went to grab the agave I noticed I had some Coconut Nectar and thought that might work well for my coconut layer.
Not only did the coconut nectar work, but I liked it even better than when I use maple. I had that coconut flavor in my mouth and thought, “OMG Mounds! No, Almond Joy! That’s my next cheesecake!”
At the end of August, I was scheduled to do a pop-up at a local brewery. I wanted to pair one of my dishes with one of their beers and they just happened to have a new toasted coconut beer — Guadalupe Brewery’s Coco Blonde. I’d never paired a dessert with a beer before, but I saw this as a good opportunity to give it a go. Well, guess what? They paired PERFECTLY!
The pop-up, if you’re wondering, went extremely well! I’d never done anything quite that big before but I thoroughly enjoyed it. And the cheesecake… definitely a big hit!
This cheesecake has a standard no-bake crust made of almonds and dates, only with non-dairy chocolate chips added in, just as I do for a few of my other desserts. The cheesecake portion isn’t super strong coconut, but just enough to give it a nice, coconutty flavor. On top, I added shredded coconut, chocolate drizzle, and almond halves.
Between the
Coco Joy Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the crust…
- 1 cup raw almonds
- 1 cup pitted dates
- 1/4 cup non-dairy chocolate chips soy-free if necessary
- pinch sea salt
For the cheesecake filling…
- 3 cups raw cashews soaked for at least 4 hours (overnight if using a standard blender)
- 1 cup, heaping shredded unsweetened coconut
- 3/4 cup *coconut cream see notes for instructions
- 1/2 cup coconut oil melted
- 1/2 cup coconut nectar I use amber
- 1/4 cup lemon juice, or to taste if using fresh lemon juice, start with less and add to taste
- 2 Tbsp coconut extract or to taste
For the topping…
- small handful shredded unsweetened coconut only about 2 Tbsp is needed
- 1/2 cup non-dairy chocolate chips soy-free if necessary
- 1 1/2 Tbsp unsweetened non-dairy milk I use almond
- 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
- 12 raw almonds, cut in half lengthwise
Instructions
- Line a 9" x 9" baking dish with parchment paper, leaving enough paper hanging on both sides to grab later. Rub coconut oil on both sides of the dish not covered by the parchment.
- In a food processor fitted with an S-blade, add all crust ingredients. Pulse until ingredients are combined and a dough can be formed when the mixture is pressed down on. Add the "dough" to the baking dish. Press down and spread the mixture until the bottom of the bakind dish is evenly coated with a crust. Add the dish to the freeezer or fridge.
- Add all cheesecake filling ingredients to your blender and blend on high until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the blender as needed. If not using a high speed blender this could take several minutes. Once smooth, taste and add more of any desired ingredient — lemon for more tartness and coconut extract for more coconut flavor.Remove the baking dish from the fridge/freezer and pour the filling over the crust. Add the dish to the freezer and freeze overnight.
- After freezing the cheesecake, remove from the freezer and let sit at room temperature for one hour.
- Gently run a butter knife along the cheesecake edges. Lift up on both sides of the parchment paper and carefully remove the cheesecake from the baking dish. Transfer onto a cutting board.
- Cut the cheesecake into 12 equal-sized bars. I do this by first cutting the cheesecake in half, down the middle, and then cutting each half into six bars. If smaller pieces are desired, slice each bar in half horizontally, making 24 2-bite samples. Sprinkle the cheesecake tops with shredded coconut.
- Prepare the chocolate drizzle. If the cheesecake is getting too defrosted around the edges, you can add it to the fridge or freezer while making the drizzle. Boil water in the bottom pot of a double boiler. Once boiling, turn heat to low and add the chocolate chips, milk, and maple syrup to the top. Whisk until melted and combined. Remove from heat.
- If the cheesecake was being chilled, take it out of the freezer/refigerator to finish decorating. You can drizzle the chocolate carefully with a teaspoon or by adding the chocolate first to a squeeze bottle. If using a squeeze bottle, make sure to let the chocolate cool slightly to avoid melting the bottle. Drizzle over the bars. Once finished add almond halves to the top of each bar (I add 2 halves for 12 bars or 1 for 24 samples).
- Add the cheesecakes to the fridge to let them fully defrost (about another hour or two) and for the chocolate to harden. Once defrosted, they're ready to enjoy! Store in the refridgerator for up to 5 days.