Cashew Cream

Cashew cream is a raw, dairy free substitute for (you guessed it) cream!  There are many recipes out there for cashew cream, they vary slightly but basically it's the same process in each. The first time I made cashew cream I used the recipe from Tal Ronnen's cookbook, "The Conscious Cook."  He explains the process well, but his recipe makes a lot of cream. I would rarely use it up before having to throw it away. Since, I've been making it in smaller batches. This  recipe will yield between 1/2 - 3/4 cups of cream. Here's how I do it.

Cashew Cream

1 C raw cashews
water

The night before you need the cream, put the cashews into a bowl and cover them with water. Store the bowl of cashews in the refrigerator. When you need the cream, drain and rinse the cashews under cold water. Place them into a blender and cover them with about one inch of water. Blend  until smooth. This usually takes two or three minutes. Next, strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve (if you have a Vita-Mix blender you won't need to strain it and you'll end up with 1 1/2 cups of cream). Once strained it should have the consistency of cream.

Note: It only keeps for two or three days.