Recipe for: about 2 cups of cream
Total Cook and prep. time: over night (or 1hr) + 15-20 minutes.
This is a basic recipe for a cashew cream that can be used to replace dairy cream in many recipes like lasagnas, soups, stroganoff, deserts, etc. Check out the 2 basic steps:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of raw cashews
- ½ – 2 cups of cold water (depending on the consistency of cream desired)
Directions (2 basic steps):
Step 1: Leave cashews covered with cold water over night or boil them for 1 hour before anything else.
Step 2: The next day or after boiling them, drain the water and place cashews in a blender or food processor with ½ a cup of fresh water and blend until smooth for a very creamy result. Keep adding water if you want a more liquid result.It took me about 5 min. from when I started blending everything until I got to the desired texture.
NOW STOP. Now you know how to make cashew cream. You can use it like this, even freeze it for later or you can keep adding ingredients to the blender and transform this base cream into a pesto, mushroom sauce, Alfredo sauce or a simple sweet cream.
Next, you will see 2 different options for “step 3” that I believe to be the most important in my vegan kitchen: the famous vegan Alfredo sauce and vegan Chantilly cream. I called them Alfredo’s Cousin Sauce and Cashewlly Cream.
ALFREDO’S COUSIN SAUCE
Pasta with Alfredo’s Cousin Sauce and Kale
Extra ingredients: (cashew cream +)
- 1 ½ tsp. of lemon juice
- 1 ½ tsp. of minced garlic or 2 cloves of garlic.
- ½ tsp. of salt
- ½ tsp. of pepper
- ½ cup of coconut milk (if on the base cream you only used ½ cup of water)
- 1 tbsp. of olive oil (optional)
If you want the texture to be more liquid, add more coconut milk.
Step 3: Blend all the ingredients with the base cream and warm up over stove.
Collard greens’ cuscous wrap with tomato sauce & Alfredo’s Cousin Sauce.
This Alfredo sauce goes very well with whole grain pasta and steamed vegetables! You can also use it on casseroles, pizzas, vegetables, enchiladas, lasagnas, in a sandwich or even in tacos. It is amazing!
CASHEWLLY CREAM
Strawberries topped with Cashewlly Cream
Extra ingredients: (cashew cream +)
- 3 tbsp. of honey or agave syrup (if you are diabetic use Stevia)
- ½ tsp. of vanilla extract (if you want, you can use orange extract or coconut extract for another taste profile)
Step 3: Blend all the ingredients with the base cream and put in the refrigerator.
You can use this cream over any dessert. I love it over fresh fruits like strawberries, peaches, mangos, apples or blueberries. Enjoy!!!
Something extra…
CASHEW MILK
To make Cashew Milk simply add more water to the basic cashew cream. Have in mind that to make cashew milk the ratio of cashews to water is 1 to 4. So, 1 cup of cashews will need 4 cups of water (5 cups of milk) You can add some flavor by adding 1 ½ tsp. of vanilla extract or 1-2 tbsp. of honey or agave, or even some chocolate! Try and see!
If your blender can’t totally break down the cashews you can strain the milk through a fine mesh strainer or cheese cloth. Store the milk in a covered container in the refrigerator and it can last 3 to 4 days.
ENJOY!
