Raw Vegan Blueberry Cheesecake Squares

Fresh
Summery
Slightly Sweet
Little bit tart
​Swirly
Twirly
Gumdrops
....
Just kidding on that last part 

No. I'm not crazy, just FYI. Thats a reference to Elf ya'll. Who out there did NOT know that? Have you not seen that movie? Cause it's gooooood. And random quotes from it will probably get stuck in your head. Like that one. No, not gum drops at all. But dreamy swirls yes.
I love making these swirls in raw desserts- ever since I figured out how to do it.
SO FUN. 
But I am an artist. So anytime I get to use painting type skills in my food- I love.
You can do it too! It's quite easy.
If you have a tooth pick or anything similar you can do it too.
But if you want to skip that step in this- you totally don't have to do that. You can leave the top all purple from the blueberry mix and still will be looking super pretty! I mean, the color.
Oh my. Colors reallllllly get the best of me.

Ok enough enough- on to the recipe.
Completely raw.
Completely vegan.
Completely good. 
...My non vegan- dessert loving boyfriend approves. 

​
Try it out and let me know what you think! 
Please leave any questions below. And if you do make this recipe, be sure to tag me on instagram & #thedailykale or Facebook so I can see your recreations!

RAW BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE SQUARES
Recipe by : Krysten Jorgensen, The Daily Kale

Ingredients:​

For the crust:

• 1 cup almonds
• 2 tbsp. coconut flour or unsweetened shreds
• 10 pitted dates or roughly 1/2 cup
• Pinch of salt

For the filling:

• 1 cup cashews 
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
• 1/4 cup water + 1-2 extra tbsp water
• 2 tbsp unsweetened coconut shreds

For the top filling: 

• 1/2 cup thawed frozen or fresh blueberries

Directions:

1. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Make sure it's lined both ways so this won't be touching any of the actual pan.
2. For the crust: In a food processor, blend just the almonds for about 10-15 seconds until they are in fine/little bits. Add in the rest of the crust ingredients and blend for about 15 seconds until evenly combined. Add in 1-2 tbsp. of water so that the crust starts to form when you blend it for another 5-10 seconds. Now you've got your crust. 
3. Place the crust in the pan. And push with your fingers or fist to flatten it out evenly so it's covering the entire bottom of the pan. 
4. Place all filling ingredients inside of the food processor and blend until completely creamy & smooth. Add in the extra tbsp of water if it is not creamy/silky. Keep blending until it's evenly blended. I let my processor run for about 1 minute. Making sure it's as creamy & combined as possible.
5. Set a side about 2 tbsp. of that mixture. *optional for swirls on top* skip this step if you don't care about the swirls.
6. Pour half of the filling into your loaf pan on top of the crust. Use a spatula to make the filling even out. Or tap the pan a couple of times on the counter until it evens out.
7. In the food processor, blend the other half of the filling with the blueberries until it's completely creamy & smooth. Optional- add an extra 1-2 tbsp melted coconut oil, if for any reason it's not smoothing out.
8. Now pour the blueberry mixture into the loaf pan.
9. Take the optional 2 tbsp. of middle filling that you've set aside earlier. Drop about 1 tsp or less of it in different spots all over the top. Play around with the toothpick and draw different swirls, dragging it into the purple. It will start to create beautiful swirls. You don't actually have to do swirls, you could do abstract lines, or any decoration really. Have fun with it :)
10. Set in the freezer for about 2 hours.
11. Take out and cut into squares or whatever shape you'd like. You can even cut it like an actual cheesecake slice. 
12. Store in the freezer in an air tight container for about a week. Take it out about 20 minutes before enjoying, so that it has time to thaw.