In just the last 18 months, we’ve made cashew-based cheeses<\/a> and sauces<\/a> and dressings<\/a> and dips<\/a> and even beverages<\/a>. But today, I wanted to kind of make it “official” by sharing the foolproof base recipe that I always have on hand.<\/p>\n Makes about 2 cups<\/strong><\/p>\n Soak the cashews! Place about 1 1\/2 cups of cashews in a container with warm water and soak for at least 2 hours. This is incredibly important because it will soften the cashews, allowing them to be fully<\/em> blended \u2013 no one likes little chunks of cashews in their sauces. <\/p>\n Then, drain the cashews and add all ingredients (cashews, water, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, black pepper, and salt) to a high-powered blender like a Vitamix and blend until smooth. This will likely be very thick and you will need to manage the speed to ensure that it continues blending. If it’s wayyyy too thick, add a little more water.<\/p>\n I’ve found this specific list of ingredients to be the perfect combo. The nutritional yeast adds a distinctly cheesy taste, the garlic and salt intensify the flavors, while the acid from the lemon juice and apple cider vinegar brighten things up. In all, it’s an extremely flavorful base recipe that can be pulled in a million different directions. <\/p>\n Chill. Spoon the cheese into a jar or container and refrigerate. I don’t know exactly why, but cashew cheeses become much<\/em> better after refrigerating for several hours. The texture improves and the flavors meld together perfectly. <\/p>\n The final texture will be solid, but spreadable. You can easily thin it out (such as for pasta sauces) by adding more water. If stored in a sealed jar, the cheese will last for about a week in the refrigerator. <\/p>\n <\/center><\/p>\n Now that you have a whole jar of cashew cheese, how do you use the stuff?! Obviously, you can just spread onto crackers and enjoy, but if you’re feeling a little more daring… <\/p>\n See what I mean about this being the vegan mother sauce? There are at least 2.7 million ways this basic sauce can be used… what are your favorites? <\/p>\n If there is one ingredient most essential to creating yummy plant-based dishes, it is definitely the mighty cashew. Cashews are such a stellar ingredient in vegan cooking because they have… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[26],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneingredientchef.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5749"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneingredientchef.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneingredientchef.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneingredientchef.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneingredientchef.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5749"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oneingredientchef.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10520,"href":"https:\/\/oneingredientchef.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5749\/revisions\/10520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneingredientchef.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneingredientchef.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneingredientchef.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneingredientchef.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Cashew_Cheese\"](\"https:\/\/oneingredientchef.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Cashew_Cheese.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIngredients:<\/h4>\n
\n
\n
![\"Cashew_Cheese_Cracker\"](\"https:\/\/oneingredientchef.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Cashew_Cheese_Cracker.jpg\")
<\/p>\nStep One<\/h4>\n
Step Two<\/h4>\n
Step Three<\/h4>\n
Cashew Cheese Tips & Ideas<\/h3>\n
\n
![\"Cashew_Cheese_Spread\"](\"https:\/\/oneingredientchef.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Cashew_Cheese_Spread.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"