Last-Minute Vegan Cashew Cream Cheese

Call this whatever you like, a vegan cream cheese, a dip, a spread, or whatever. All I know is that it's yummy and it carries me through those days when my avocados are just not soft yet or when they are not in season (I'm based in Israel and we have food seasons). A girl's gotta have something to spread on her sourdough bread in the morning, you know what I mean. It is also just plain good! All the recipes I have found in the past require me to soak my cashews before but that requires me to plan. And I'm not good at that!

• Preparation Time: 15 mins
• Total Time: 15 mins
• Calories: 128 Calories

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups water
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 pinch salt (Optional)
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 cups unsalted raw cashews
• 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast (Optional)

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Combine cashews and garlic in a high-speed blender (such as Vitamix®); blend on high until cashews are reduced to crumbs, scraping down the sides of the blender in between blending. Add lemon juice and blend until well combined.

Step 2

Add water, 1/4 cup at a time, and blend until the mixture has a smooth and almost thick consistency; mixture will thicken further in the fridge. Mix in nutritional yeast. Add the last 1/4 cup of water only if needed; do not exceed 1 1/2 cups water if possible. Mixture should be completely smooth with no lumps remaining.

Step 3

Taste and add salt if needed. (The mixture will taste very lemony but will neutralize after 1 hour in the fridge.) Place in the fridge to thicken, about 1 hour.