Coconut Cheesecake with Chai Poached Figs

There's something about figs and cinnamon that just go so well together.  When I lived in Peru, my aunts would often whip up a massive big jar of poached figs, and they would flavour it with cinnamon sticks and cloves.  I remember we would sit in my grandmother's open kitchen, drinking tea and having the deliciously sweet poached figs on pieces of crusty bread.  It's such a wonderful memory and I wanted to recreate that feeling with this dish.
Whilst I no longer consume refined sugar, I did still manage to get the flavours right in this decadent dessert.  Now all I need is to be back in that little open kitchen, listening to my grandmother tell stories of my dad as a kid growing up.  Sigh.


Coconut Chessecake with Chai Poached Figs
Serves 2 (Makes 1x 12 cm tart)

Ingredients

Base
1/2 cup of raw macadamia nuts
1/4 cup of raw pistachio kernels
2 dates
pinch of sea salt

Filling
1 cup of raw cashews, soaked overnight and rinsed
1/2 cup of coconut yoghurt
1 TBS coconut oil
2 TBS rice bran syrup
1 sachet of stevia (1g)

Poached Figs

3 plump sun dried figs
1 tea bag of Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice tea
1 cup of boiling water

Topping
1 tsp shredded coconut

Method


Poached Figs

In a small bowl, add the figs, 1 cup of boiling water and the tea bag, leave to soak in that until you are ready to decorate the cheesecake.  The longer you leave it to soak the better.  Because the tea and the figs are naturally sweet, you won't need to add any sugar or other sweetener.  If you don't have access to Celestial Seasonings tea where you live, just use your favourite chai tea and add a stick of cinnamon and some whole cloves.  You can also make double the amount and just leave what you don't use in your fridge.  It will keep for ages and you can add it to your oats or on top of your favourite ice cream (raw vegan of course).  You could also use them on a fruit and vegan cheese plate.  Oh, the possibilities!

Base

Place some baking paper on the bottom of your mini tart pan.  I used the one with a removable bottom.  Set aside.
Place ingredients in the food processor and blend until it binds together when pressed.  Pour into your prepared tart case and press down with the back of a spoon or your fingers until even.
Place it in the freezer whilst you prepare the filling.

Filling

Place all the ingredients into a powerful blender and process until super smooth.  Scrape the sides down as you go so you don't miss any of the ingredients.
Take base out of freezer, pour in filling and return to freezer to set.
When firm, take out and decorate with quartered figs and some of the shredded coconut.
Drizzle over some of the tea.

This dessert can be stored in the freezer, without the topping.  Good to make ahead and keep there until you are ready to serve.  Take it out 30 minutes before you are ready to eat to allow for it to soften.

Decorate just before eating.

I made this dessert for the lovely people at the new 'cook' app for iOS 7.
It's a great app, so check it out, it's also free which is a bonus.
This dessert does have fructose in it so just beware, though I did try to make it as low fructose as possible with not as many dates or figs.

Hope you like it!

Peas, love and mungbeans

xxb