Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake Bars
These NO BAKE, Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake Bars are bursting with flavor. The perfect summer treat full of fruity goodness. These bars are easy to make, freezer friendly, Vegan, Gluten free, Paleo and Refined sugar free.
Servings 10 bars
Equipment
- loaf pan (9x5)
- parchment paper
- high speed blender
- food processor
Ingredients
for the crust
- 10-12 pitted medjool dates
- 1/4 cup salted, roasted almonds
- 3/4 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup pecans
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon ground sea salt
lemon cheesecake filling
- 1 cup unsalted, roasted cashews soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes
- 1/3 cup canned coconut milk (the thick, creamy, top part)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil unrefined
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
raspberry swirl sauce
- 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon cold water
Instructions
- Boil 1 cup of water and pour over your cashews in a glass jar. Set aside and let soak for at least 10 minutes. Meanwhile, line a 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large food processor (high-speed blender can work too) add your dates, roasted almonds, almond flour, pecans, cinnamon and maple syrup. Pulse and blend until a sticky ball/ texture forms. Remove dough-like crust from food processor and transfer to your parchment paper lined loaf pan. Press down with your fingers and/or a rubber spatula until evenly distributed throughout the pan. Set aside.
- Drain water from cashews and transfer into your high speed blender along with coconut milk, coconut oil, fresh lemon juice from one whole lemon, lemon zest, maple syrup, vanilla and (optional) almond extract. Blend on high speed for 1-2 minutes or until creamy.
- Pour your lemon cheesecake filling into your loaf pan, on top of the crust. Make sure it's evenly distributed. Pick up your pan a few inches from the counter top and drop it. This ensures there are no air bubbles during the freeze time.
- Add your raspberries, maple syrup and water to the blender and blend on high speed until a raspberry sauce forms. Slowly and evenly pour your raspberry swirl sauce overtop of your cheesecake filling within the loaf pan. Now, to make that pretty swirl, use a fork or tooth pick and make figure 8 shapes. This will make the pink swirl look fancy and oh so pretty! This is optional, but after I finished making the swirl, I sliced a few raspberries in half and dropped into the bars just for some added color. Place in freezer for at least 3 hours or overnight. When ready to eat, remove from freezer and let thaw for 3-5 minutes before cutting into squares. Use a large knife to cut into 10 squares. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Roasted Almonds- you can evenly sub out roasted almonds for any other nut you have on hand. Walnuts, pecans and cashews will all work nicely with this recipe.
Almond flour- I haven’t tried swapping out almond flour with the crust of this recipe. However, I would assume coconut flour or hazelnut flour would work. If you try it, please let me know!
Pecans- similar to the roasted almonds, you can evenly swap out pecans with another nut, like almonds, walnuts or cashews.
Maple syrup- you can sub maple syrup for honey, just keep in mind the flavor will come out a bit different. Still sweet though.
Canned Coconut milk- you cannot replace coconut milk with another milk, it will not turn out as creamy in texture. However, you can use unsweetened canned coconut cream instead if you happen to have that on hand and not canned coconut milk. I used Wegman's organic, unsweetened canned coconut cream and it turned out great!
Lemon- Fresh lemon is super important in this recipe, so DO NOT swap it out with lemon concentrate. You can however, swap lemon out with lime if you don’t have any lemons on hand. Raspberry and lime also make a wonderful combo.
Almond extract- I debated making this optional because it doesn’t make or break the recipe. If you don’t have any on hand that’s okay.