Passion Fruit Bliss

We deliberately planted several passion fruit vines along the back boundary of our property that backs onto a lane way. Many children walk to school along the lane way and we planted it with them in mind. Some of my fondest memories as a kid were picking fruit on the way home from school. So I wanted to give the local kids the opportunity to experience the same thing. Almost all of our fruit trees are planted along the boundary of our double block property for the same reason.

The kids don’t seems to be taking advantage of the passion fruit vines at the moment as they are loaded up with large purple passion fruits. It gets me thinking about what to do with them all. There are only so many smoothies you can have in a day. So I decided to make
a Lemon & Passion fruit Cheezecake. Notice the ‘z’ - this ‘z’ is commonly used in the world of raw food. It describes traditional foods like cheesecake – but reminds you there is something different about this kind of cheesecake!

I very rarely make anything but raw food desserts for myself these days. I figure if it satisfies my taste buds (and they can be fussy!) and if it contains some nutrients and is good for you, then why not!

I also love Raw pies/cheesecakes because they are quite simple to make, they allow all sorts of variations and they keep quite well for 4-6 days (depend on the fruit content – certain fruits can ‘turn’ quicker than others like strawberries – they are quick to turn!) so I can have a piece a day (I love my sweet treats!).

Lemon and Passion Fruit Cheezecake

Crust:
2 cups almonds (dehydrated - if you have a dehydrator)
½ cup desiccated coconut
5x tbs dehydrated coconut sugar (mixed with hot water to make a syrup) or agave, maple syrup
7tbs coconut oil
1 tsp ‘fine’ good salt

Filling:
1.5 cups macadamia nuts (you can also use cashew or a mix of the two)
1 large lemon (or aprox 85mls) juice & zest
½ cup coconut oil
¼ cacao butter
¾ cup coconut sugar syrup/white agave syrup
1 vanilla bean, de-seeded
3x small firm but ripe banana’s

To make the crust:
Process the almonds in a food processor until they are a fine meal but before they begin to turn to butter. Be sure to stop the machine and scrape the almonds down from the side of the food processor bowl.

Then add the coconut, and the rest of the ingredients. Wiz for 1-2 minutes until the mixture form a crumbed texture

Then spoon into a shallow flan dish with a movable bottom. Pinch out the edges first to create the rim of the cheese cake base and even out rest of mix loosely across flan dish.

Press base of the crust flat and even across the flan dish. Return to the edges to form a neat rim. Push the base of the edge at the same time flattening the top of the rim of the crust to create a 2mm-3mm crust.

Place in the fridge to chill.

To make the filling:
Process the macadamia nuts in a food processor until it resembles a fine meal. Be sure to push the macadamia nuts down the side of the food processor to ensure they all become processed evenly. Then add the coconut oil to assist in creating a smooth paste-like texture. Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Then pour into cheese cake crust - taping pie flan on the bench to ensure the filling fills all the groves and space. Place it in the fridge to set over night or at least 3 hours.

If left over night it will have time to fully set and will cut perfectly. If you just can’t wait and don’t mind how it presents then you can eat it sooner – I know I have!