Cashew Cheese and Vegan Mac n’ Cheese Balls
The Jewish festival of Shavuot (festival of weeks) comes around seven weeks after passover. In Israel, I always felt like this one-day holiday was lost in the blink of an eye and in the US the two-day celebration seems to fall short of the prep and attention other major holidays get. Shavuot is unique in that it’s the one time that holiday classics are dairy dishes like cheesecake and blintzes, not fun for the increasing number of people that live a dairy-free life, but this recipe is perfect for those of you that want to indulge without reaching for the lactaid.
Since we discovered cashew cheese, we have been enjoying faux-dairy favorites like vegan cheeseburgers or dairy-free mac and cheese a little too often, and now that my wife has gone gluten free too, it’s nice to have found a comfort food classic that doesn’t feel like an alternative. Vegan mac and cheese is awesome. Vegan mac and cheese balls are just decadent.
My recipe for vegan cashew cheese does call for soaking the cashews overnight but if you’re preparing in a vitamix, you can soak for two to three hours and still get a smooth and creamy result. If you don’t have a vitamix, you can prep the cheese in a food processor too.
- 2 cups cashews
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon sea salt (or slightly less)
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- Optional: 2 to 3 more tablespoons water if needed to facilitate blending
- Soak the cashews overnight
- Put all of the ingredients in the vitamix and pulse until smooth
Once you have a batch of cashew cheese, you’re all set to make a batch of my vegan mac and cheese. I made a double batch using gluten free quinoa pasta, making sure I would have enough for dinner and enough leftover to make these mac and cheese balls.
- 2 cups of leftover mac and cheese
- Olive oil spray
- Using a measuring cup, spoon 1/3 cup mac and cheese into your hands and roll into a ball.
- Put into cupcake liners.
- Spray with olive oil.
- Bake in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes or until brown and crunchy on the outside
Serve to kids or adults alike, these are a treat. I don’t believe that kids and adults need to be eating different food, but from time to time, I’m more than happy to eat off our our son’s plates!
