Cashew cream is thick and creamy, full of good fats, and the perfect replacement for heavy cream or even coconut milk. It's easy to make, plant-based, and can be served as a pudding, beverage, dip or used as a thickening ingredient in recipes.
Cashew cream is a wonderful discovery. At it's simplest, it is a blend of soaked raw cashews, water, lemon juice and salt. The result is a light cream that makes the perfect healthier dessert for breakfast, especially swirled with melted healthy dark chocolate.
What is Cashew Cream?
Cashew cream can replace heavy cream in recipes. Vegans or those on a dairy-free diet love it because it's high in healthy fats so supports recipes as well as heavy cream.
The cream is made by blending soaked cashews with a liquid until it's smooth. It can be used as a dip - dessert or savory, to add a gravy to stews, pastas and soups, and to support any dessert recipe the way a heavy cream would or even coconut milk.
Ingredients
cashews: You'll need unsalted and unroasted cashews for this recipe. And you'll need to soak or boil them.
dairy-free milk: Ordinary cashew cream requires water but I used milk here to make the cream thicker. The higher the fat the better, so almond or cashew milk is my choice here.
maple syrup: Any liquid sweetener works here.
chocolate chips: melted and smeared on jars to create the parfait you see here.
Steps to Make
step 1: Soak your cashews. Place unroasted, unsalted cashews in a bowl, cover them with water, and place in the refrigerator to soak overnight. A faster method is to boil them in water for 15 minutes. They might not be as soft however as the overnight method.
step 2: Blend the ingredients. In a high speed blender, blend up the soaked cashews, milk, maple syrup, and vanilla.
step 3: Chill the cream.The blender warms up the whipped cream, so chill it in the refrigerator at least a few hours before serving.
Do you want a stiffer cream to be able to pipe? Try my Whipped Cashew Cream recipe.
FAQS
How Long Does Cashew Cream Last?
I refrigerate the cashew cream in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for a week. After that, I think it begins to taste a bit sour. I have had great success freezing it and recommend up to 6 months.
What is Cashew Cream A Substitute For?
I use it often in my desserts instead of whipped cream. Who needs a refined-sugar-filled, processed whipped cream when you can have whipped cashews? Cashew cream is also popular in savory recipe too though, a healthier replacement for dips, sour cream, ricotta, alfredo sauce, pesto and more.
Cashew cream is perfect in savory and sweet dishes. It can replace cream cheese, whipped cream, and all that is in between. And cashews are healthy, rich in many essential nutrients your body can't produce on it's own.
How Healthy is Cashew Cream
Cashews are also high in vitamins E, K, and B6, and essentials minerals, and protein - 40 grams per cup. And the added coconut cream adds more healthy fats and stiffening to the mixture.
Other Toppings
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📖 Recipe
How to Make Cashew Cream
Ingredients
For the cashew cream
- 1 cups cashews
- ⅓ cup dairy free milk I used cashew milk
- 3 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch salt
For the fudge ripple
- ½ cup chocolate chips melted, microwave for 30 seconds
Instructions
Prep
- Place unroasted, unsalted cashews in a bowl, cover them with water, and place in the refrigerator to soak overnight. Rinse the cashews thoroughly.A faster method is to boil them in water for 15 minutes. They might not be as soft however as the overnight method.
Make Cashew Cream
- In a high speed blender, blend up the soaked cashews, milk, maple syrup, lemon juice, arrowroot and vanilla.
Serve as a fudge ripple parfait
- Melt the chocolate and paint some on glass sides. Then pour the cream into the glasses and serve!
Storage
- Any leftover cashew cream stores up to a week covered in refrigerator or freeze for 6 months.
MGtopper
Amazing idea!
SarahT
You don't always have to soak cashews overnight. I boiled mine for 2 minutes, rinsed them and blended and my cashew cream was smooth. It does matter that your cashews are fresh.
Moria
I whipped it for a long time. And my cashews were raw from Whole Foods so they were fresh. Also I added some guar gum powder. Second of your healthy dessert rec ipes I've tried, love them all.
TomJerry
I am looking for easy healthy desserts to make and this is perfect! I used it as a dip for gingersnaps!