Sweet or savoury cashew cream recipe

If you’re looking for dairy substitutes, the great thing about this sweet or savoury cashew cream recipe is it’s so versatile. Once you have the cream base you can add maple syrup and cinnamon to sweeten it, or nutritional yeast and a drop or two of white wine vinegar to create a delicious savoury ‘cheese’ sauce that’s perfect for adding to soups, veg and pasta dishes.

If you’re going to make cashew cream or nut butters on a regular basis, I would definitely recommend investing in a really good quality kitchen processor. This is one of the few recipes where the tools you use really do matter. I used to try and make cashew cream in my old food processor. It resulted in a grainy, spoonable mixture that was passable – but nothing like the super smooth blend you get when using a superior extraction machine.

 Ingredients

200g cashew nuts

1 tin (400ml) coconut milk OR coconut cream (using cream will give you a thicker finish)

1tsp coconut oil (to help the cream ‘set’ in the fridge)

 Method

Soak the cashew nuts in warm water for two hours.

Drain and add the soaked nuts to your blender along with a tin of coconut milk or cream and a teaspoon of coconut oil.

Blend on the highest setting for 60 seconds. The finished cream should be a perfectly smooth consistency.

To sweeten the cream simply add a tablespoon of maple syrup and teaspoon of cinnamon. Or to create a cheese-style sauce, add a few drops of white wine vinegar, two tablespoons of nutritional yeast and a pinch of pink Himalayan salt.

Once you’ve added your sweet or savoury options, blitz again to create a perfectly combined, smooth sauce.

Prep time 2 minutes, plus 2 hours of soak time