Whether or not you prescribe to the notion of New Year diets, it’s nearly impossible to avoid evaluating your health habits in January. There’s always a big shift in attention toward food, well-being, and exercise on blogs, in ads, and often with loved ones. Every year, I re-center on nutrition, and fitting in more healthy foods. Which is why I was enamored by this dairy-free cashew whipped cream recipe, and the book it’s from, Food as Medicine.
Ridiculously Simple Cashew Whipped Cream with No Added Sugar
Food as Medicine: 150 Plant-Based Recipes for Optimal Health, Disease Prevention, and Management of Chronic Illness was written by dietician Sue Radd, PhD. It’s a beautiful collection that showcase plants in a variety of flavorful ways. Sue keeps things mostly dairy-free, with the occasional option for some cheese thrown in. But overall, I found it quite inspirational for healthy, dairy-free needs.
The publisher said I could choose any two recipes to feature, and I simply had to pick this dairy-free cashew whipped cream for one of them. It’s clean and basic, yet so unique, creative, and nutritious. Because we still need at least a little dessert everyday, right? Sue enjoys this no sugar added whip with fresh fruit, but you can also dollop it atop some whole grain pancakes, waffles, or even nutritious brownies!
Special Diet Notes: Cashew Whipped Cream
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, grain-free, peanut-free, soy-free, vegan, plant-based, vegetarian, added sugar-free, oil-free, and paleo-friendly.
- 1 cup raw cashews (do NOT soak)
- 4 canned pear halves, drained
- ½ teaspoon alcohol-free vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- Put the cashews in your food processor, and grind until completely powdered. It's okay if it begins to clump, but you don't want any nut chunks remaining.
- Add the pear halves and vanilla and puree for a few minutes, or until smooth and ivory in color, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Transfer the cream to a glass jar and refrigerate. It will thicken as it sits. You can whip again, as needed.
Substitute ½ cup of apple juice for pears.
Substitute peanuts or almonds for the cashews. If using peanuts, rub off their skins first. If using almonds, blanch and rub off the outer skins for a whiter color.
Alisa's Tip: If you are worried about grainy cashews, then grind the cashews in a spice grinder or food processor into a powder. Then add the pears and vanilla. Do NOT soak the cashews.
More Cashew Dairy Alternative Recipes
Vegan Cashew Sour Cream
Easy Homemade Cashew Milk
Dairy-Free Goat Cheese Alternative
8 Comments
Can you use a fresh pear versus canned?
In theory, yes, but I would use very ripe pears, and you might want to cook them first to soften. They might work fine fresh, but will be more granular. We haven’t tested this.
If you soak the cashews, it doesn’t work the same. This adds extra moisture and will result in a puree. If you pregrind the cashews and blend well, it does not end up grainy. You can blend again once it’s been refrigerated for a few hours (this will produce a similar effect to soaking), if preferred. I added a note to her recipe to make sure others do not soak. Please try the recipe as written and review that! Thank you.
This was apleasant tasting puree of pears and cashews. I certainly would never describe it as whipped, which implies it is fluffy and airy, which it was not. I did soak the cashews over night, without which it would probably have been grainy and separate
So didn’t really taste so great….very cashewy..perhaps if the cashews were soaked first? I added more and more.vanilla and some maple syrup. Just didn’t work well though . I added cocoa and a little extra maple syrup made mousse! It’s good!
I’m sorry their recipe wasn’t to your liking, but glad it worked as a mousse! If you soak the cashews, I would skip the pears and blend with regular sweetener instead. When soaked, the cashews absorb a lot of water. So if you add the pears to water-logged cashews, it will be much thinner.
To label it as sugar free misreading since everyone knows canned pears, even drained are high in sugar.
It says “no added sugar” and added sugar-free. The title does not state sugar free. There is still pears in pear juice, drained.