Vegan Herbed Cashew/Almond Goat Cheese
This version with half chashews, half almonds, is a little lighter than how I used to make it with 100% cashews. The almonds take an extra minute to pop the skins off, but not really that big of a deal. Nuts soaked overnight will work best but if you are in a hurry, I've had great luck soaking the nuts in boiling water for 2-4 hours. I also don't use a blender for this... it's just a pain getting it out and pushing it down, the food processor works the best for this method.
Ingredients
- 7 oz cashews soaked overnight
- 6 oz almonds soaked overnight
- 1/2 cup Organic Coconut Oil melted
- 1/2 cup Fresh Lemon Juice
- 2 teaspoons Sea salt
- 4-6 Tablespoons water
- 1 Tablspoon dried Dill
- 2 Teaspoons dried thyme
Instructions
- Soak nuts overnight in fresh clean water. Keep them covered in the fridge.
- Weigh out the nuts after soaking. Drain the nuts from their liquid, rinse cashews and almonds under cold water, and drain again.
- Pop skins off the almonds and discard skins. Rinse almonds and drain again.
- Soaked almonds with skins removed.
- Place the nuts, coconut oil, fresh squeezed lemon juice and salt in an 11-14 cup food processor. Process for 30 seconds. stop and push down the sides. Add 4 TBL water to the mixture and continue to process. watch for the nuts to completely combine and move freely in the processor. if it's too thick, add 2 more tablespoons of water to free it up.
- Process for a full 5 minutes. At the end add in the herbs. I should look very smooth but a little bit dry.
- To make log of cheese: Lay out a sheet of plastic wrap and scoop out 7 oz (3 large scoops) of the cheese mixture.
- Fold over the plastic wrap and push air out towards the sides.
- Twist the ends of the plastic wrap in opposite directions until you get a tight sealed roll. Refrigerate at least 4 hours. Overnight is best.
- To make a formed bowl of cheese: Line a wide or shallow bowl with plastic wrap and pour cheese mixture in. Smack down on a table to release air bubbles. Pull plastic from the sides over the cheese and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 4 hours. Overnight is best. To release mold, open wrapping and turn bowl upside down on serving plate. Tug on plastic or hit the bowl to release cheese.
- Garnish with more herbs.
- Use your imagination with flavorings with this cheese. Fresh or dried herbs, fresh cracked black pepper, or red pepper flakes are all favorites around here. Just on it's own is perfect too!
