Cinnamon Cashew Cream

Cashew cream is a dairy-free, cholesterol-free option to dairy cream. With a little lemon juice, it works in place of yogurt. In this recipe, add cinnamon and brown sugar with the lemon for a luxurious but healthy treat. Use it to top baked pears, apples, or sweet potatoes.

Active time: 5 minutes. Total time: 8 hours. Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients

cashew cream
1 cup raw cashews
water for soaking cashews and water to cover them to 1 1/3 cup
pinch salt

cinnamon cashew cream
1 cup cashew cream
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Method

1. Soak cashews in about 2 cups water until fully hydrated, from one to 24 hours.
2. Rinse cashews. Put rinsed cashews in a large measuring cup and cover with water to the 1 1/3 mark. Put cashews, water, and salt into a food processor fitted with a steel blade or into a blender. Processor for several minutes until smooth, scraping down the sides if needed. You have cashew cream!
3. Mix one cup cashew cream with cinnamon and lemon juice. Refrigerate or freeze the remaining cashew cream.

Tips and Notes

• If you didn't have time to soak the cashews for at least four hours, then process them briefly until they are in small pieces, let them absorb water for a few minutes, and then finish processing.
• Raw cashews have 20 grams protein per cup. Each serving of Cinnamon Cashew Cream has about 2.5 grams protein.
• This is a new recipe for me, so I'm just learning the delicious ways to use cashew cream. I've put it in burritos and used it to replace one cup of coconut milk in chocolate pudding. The results were delicious. Of course, you can always make a big batch of cinnamon cashew cream! Please share your ideas and results below.