Cashew Goat Cheese

Come on, are you really that surprised that my first recipe post is cheese?

Gooey, spreadable, melt-in-your-mouth delectable cheese...

...made of cashews. (And don't you love my totally ironic Hickory Farms cheese spreader from my pre-vegan days?)

If you are vaguely familiar with some basic vegan tricks, you know that nuts can be (with a little help from the black arts) transformed into cheeses. Now I'll admit, this is the first time I've successfully done it myself. I've failed miserably at nacho cheese, macaroni and cheese, cheddar cheese...basically any cheddar-based sauce I've tried to make over the past year just ends up tasting straight like nutritional yeast and processed nuts. But sometimes I need that cheesy gratification, and I hate (though I am not innocent) depending on the processed bags and blocks in the sad little vegan section at my local Sprouts. 

Because I really want some damn cheese. 

So, I went for a different cheesy craving that I've missed during cliche girly wine nights: goat cheese. I successfully found and tweaked and adapted this recipe off one of my personal go-to blogs, C'est La Vegan, and ended up with a recipe so simple, even the most untalented of vegan cheese connoisseurs can handle it.

Fair Warning: while the steps are super easy and the ingredients are basic, as always when working with nuts, the process itself can take a while. Between the soaking, setting and chilling, it will take you a day or two (or in my case three) to reach the end product. But trust me, it is totally worth it. 

First, soak the cashews overnight. This is always the worst part, because I tend to forget the whole overnight soaking process until I actually wake up in the morning. Vegan problems. 

The next morning, drain, rinse, and drain the cashews. Then collect alllllll these crazy ingredients. Really complicated right? 

And don't be terribly lazy and skip out on juicing a fresh lemon. Trust me. 

Place the cashews, lemon juice, salt, pepper, water and oil in your food processor and blend for six minutes.

The original recipe reiterates the importance of blending for a full six minutes, otherwise it will not hold together in the end. I don't like to take many chances meddling with the process of cheese-making given my background in sucking at it, so I recommend doing the same.

After patiently waiting, and successfully annoying your household, you'll end up with this tantalizing little mixture. Try not to lick the blades.

Next, scrape the mixture into a layered cheesecloth...

...and form a cute little cheese log. I like to make mine ultra pretty by using mismatched old rubber bands to twist off the ends. 

Then, you wait. And you wait. And you wait just a little bit longer. It needs to set at room temperature for about twelve hours. Set the strainer over a bowl for it to drain (though mine didn't really produce any actual liquid). 

I just made it easy on myself and did this step right before I went to work that evening, so I would refrain from poking at it. 

I also added an extra step after setting at room temperature, and put it in the fridge to chill overnight, just to make sure.

Next, you're finally ready to bake it. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Unwrap the log from the cheesecloth, then re-wrap in a new cheesecloth and twist off ends (sans pretty rubber bands, obviously). Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 35-40 minutes until it is set, but still soft. Turn it at least once during baking time. 

Cool, then chill back in the fridge for a bit. 

Now for the fun part. Cover it all up in some dill, and grind some extra black pepper all over it. I tried to actually roll it, but it's significantly easier to just sprinkle and press until the whole log is a beautiful mossy green. 

Note: you can also use fresh dill, and it would probably be even more fabulous. The dill in my herb garden, however, didn't exactly survive our last heat stroke out here in the desert, so I just went with the dried dill that I always have on hand. 

Wrap in saran wrap and put back in the fridge to chill for as long as you can stand it, until it's time to serve it.

Voila!!

Note: I have a weakness for Triscuits. I'd like to blame my lack of homemade crackers for this post on not yet replacing my dehydrator... but really, I just can't stop eating Triscuits lately. But serve with anything, or just grab it by the handfuls and stuff it in your mouth by itself. Either method works. 

I can't tell you exactly how close this is to goat cheese because I can't remember exactly what goat cheese tastes like. But, I can tell you it is really really (I mean like, REALLY) amazing. All the dairy-grubbing people in my house were impressed, and admitted they could be easily fooled into thinking it was an actual cheese spread, had the ruse not been foiled by the fact that I'm the one who served it. 

Now, go soak those nuts!




Cashew Goat Cheese
adapted from C'est La Vegan
makes one 6-inch log

Ingredients:

3/4 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup canola oil
juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons water
2-4 tablespoons dried dill
extra freshly ground black pepper (optional)

Soak cashews overnight in a container full of water, making sure there are a few inches of water covering them.

Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again. Put cashews, oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and water in a food processor and blend for 6 minutes. Mixture should be smooth, creamy, and have a dough-like consistency.

Scrape cashew mixture into layered cheesecloth and form a 6-inch-long oval loaf, twisting the ends to secure. Place the log in strainer over bowl, and let stand about 12 hours at room temperature. Then, chill a few more hours in the fridge, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unwrap cheese from the first cheesecloth, and re-wrap into another cheesecloth and twist ends (make sure to not secure with rubber bands during this step).

Bake 35-40 minutes, turning at least once, until the cheese has set firmly, but is still soft. Cool. Chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

Unwrap cheese and place back on parchment paper. Sprinkle and press dill all over the log until it is completely covered. Grind desired amount of extra black pepper over the top. Wrap in saran wrap and chill in fridge until ready to serve.

Enjoy!