White Wine & Pecan Cashew ‘Cream’ Cheese Ball
Ingredients:
1 cup raw cashews (soaked for 2-4 hours and drained)
3-4 tablespoon dry white wine (or water)
1/2 tablespoon warmed coconut oil (this helps it become smooth and thick once chilled)
1-3 probiotic capsules, depending on the strength (at LEAST 10 billion organisms all together)
1 tablespoon shallot, finely minced (about 1 medium sized shallot)
1 tablespoon garlic, finely minced (2-3 large garlic cloves)
1 tablespoon chives, minced
3 tablespoon oil of choice
1 teaspoon or more coarse sea salt to taste
fresh ground pepper to taste
Coating: 1 cup pecans, finely chopped
Method:
Before starting, be sure that your blender/food processor, bowl and utensils are clean and dry.
1. Put the cashews, white wine, coconut oil and the powder from the pro-biotic capsule(s) in a high powered blender or food processor.
2. Add the water/white wine and puree the mixture, stopping often to stir as needed. I find you have to do this less if using a food processor. Add more water, only if you absolutely need to! The less water you use the better the cheese will ‘set up’ later. Blend until it is VERY smooth and creamy. Depending on your food processor, this could take up to 5 min. Be patient…trust me it’s worth it for that creamy goodness!
3. Once smooth, transfer the mixture to a medium sized bowl and cover with a flour sack towel or or lid. Place the bowl in the oven with the light on and allow it to ferment for 12-16 hours. I leave mine overnight. If you have a dehydrator, you could put it in there as well (it may take less time to ferment in there).
4. When the ‘cheese’ is ready, cook the minced onions and garlic in about 3 tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Let them slowly cook for about 10 min (Unless they begin to burn). Try to adjust the stove temp so that they cook slowly the whole time.This way they will turn a nice golden color and get crispy once cooled. Drain the onion mixture and let cool on a paper towel.
5. Wipe out the pan (I always use cast iron) and pan roast the chopped pecans until they are nicely toasted. Careful not to burn them. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside to cool.
6. Stir the onion mixture into the cashew cheese, add the minced chives, salt and pepper to taste, then chill the mixture (sometimes I put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes) till firm, then form into a ball.
7. Press the raw/roasted pecans on the outside of the cheese ball. Wrap and chill well until ready to serve.
Mmmmm – that sounds delicious. I'm going to have to try it.
I made this yesterday and it is divine! Who doesn't love a cheese ball? As a vegan who eats largely raw, I have had and made my share of nut cheeses. This takes the cake. Thank you!
I am SO glad you liked it! It has been my cheese salvation. Did you make it completely raw (onions and all)? I have made it with raw chives before, leaving out the cooked shallots and it was still pretty fabulous.
I did cook the onions and garlic, but left the chives raw. I'm excited to try your ricotta next. In my family, I'm the raw vegan, my son (6 year-old) is a GF/DF/SF cheese and chocolate craver, and my hubbie is a chef, who just now is opening up to trying a GF lifestyle. I managed to save him a few bites of the cheese ball and he loved it, so there is some trust now that alternatives can be great!
this looks absolutely incredible!! i'm like, officially obsessed with your blog. i made the butternut squash fries a few months back but i haven't been back since…and i don't know whyyyy!!!
just curious–where do you find these probiotic capsules?
CupcakesOMG!
Most health food store should carry them in the refrigerated section(some regular, but they are more likely to not have the refrigerated kind). Jarro is a good brand. There are tons on the market and pretty much any will do.
Is it ok to leave the bowl in the oven without an oven light on? Does the light actually help the fermentation process? I haven't made nut cheese before and want to follow every step to the letter, but unfortunately, don't have an oven light.
YES! Absolutely, it will work just fine. You may need the oven light in the winter if your house is very cold. The cold will slow the fermentation but it will still get there. Sometimes I just turn the oven on to warm and then turn it off just beforeI put the cashew cheese in. That way it starts out in a slightly warm environment. It will ferment either way.
thank you!
Probably not necessary based on your previous reply, but though you might be interested… I read a trick online for baking bread once that you can wet a tea towel and heat it in the microwave for about a minute to create a nice warm moist environment in there. Then you leave the hot wet towel sitting in there and quickly put in your loaf of bread and it stays nice and moist and humid for close to an hour while it rises. The same idea might work for this, but I guess you'd have to take out the cheese and re-heat the towel every hour or so. It's been a handy trick though… I wish I could just turn my oven on super low!
Do you need the probiotic?
You can just eat it as is..tastes great. I just pop it the fridge if I want to stiffen it up a bit. However if you want a cheesy fermented taste and the benefit of fermentation, than you need to add something to help the fermentation to take place. In this recipe I use a probiotic because it is easily accessible and gluten and dairy free. If you try to ferment it without the probiotic it will just spoil.
Thank You! Can't wait to try it 🙂
Jenni, this looks amazing! I can't wait to give it a try. I have been seriously missing cheese. Now I'm going to check out your cashew ricotta. 🙂
Do you think I could use Yogurt Starter for the probiotic? This is the one I have: http://www.giprohealth.com/yogurtstarter.aspx. Thanks!
Starlene, I have not tried it but I can't imagine why it wouldn't work. Would love to hear the results though!
Oh! I am going right now to remove those raw cashews I've had stashed in the freezer so I can try this out tomorrow! I'll report back and let you know how it goes. 🙂
Hi again! I'm back to report how it worked out to use the Yogurt Starter. It worked great! I put up a recipe review on my blog if you want to see photos. Mine was too wet and I ended up dehydrating after the fact! 🙂 But I did get two lovely cheese balls in the end, and they are SOOO delicious. At the "too wet" point, this recipe is a perfect substitute for onion dip. Thanks for this great recipe, Jenni!
Awesome post. I am curious if there is any reason that the yogurt starter would make it runnier than any old probiotic. It never turns out runny for me, quite the opposite, it's usually so thick that it takes me forever to blend it. Maybe just the doubling of the recipe made the difference. It does make a nice onion dip though, that's the truth!
Jenni, I was thinking of one thing that may have made the recipe different. I used raw cashew pieces. I wonder if they could have soaked up more liquid than whole cashews? OH, and I also soaked my cashews more like 5 or 6 hours. Maybe that is what did it? It wasn't really runny, just sloppy wet. I can see in your photo that yours is pretty thick. I am sure I will make this recipe again. I'm out of raw cashews at the moment though. 🙂
If you leave it to ferment too long would that make it spoil? I have made fermented foods a few times and I really like them, but the cheese ball tasted really bitter….kinda like…sorry, but vomit, so I threw it out. I really want to figure out what I did wrong because it looks so delicious!!!!!
Yes, if you leave it to long it can spoil. It is also important to be sure the bowl you are using is very clean. Any bacteria present will present mor possibilities for spoiling. Try it with only soaking the cashews for 2-4 hours next time.
Hi! I’ve made this twice before, both with raving reviews- so I know it’s yummy. I’m wondering how much time would be gained by using the dehydrator? I will I know when the cheese is “done”?
Using a dehydrator may or may not save time. It’s just another option.