Line the bottom of the spring form pan with parchment paper for easy removal of the cake.
Pulse the 4 oz graham crackers, ¼ cup raw almonds, and ¼ cup melted coconut oil, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a food processer until it resembles course sand.
Safely remove the blade from the food processor and evenly press the crust mixture in the bottom of the pan. Use the bottom of a small round measuring cup to press it down and to get an even crust.
Freeze for 15 minutes. It will seem like it will fall apart when you’re pressing it into the pan, it won’t once it sets.
For the Graham Cracker-Free Crust
Put the 1 cup pecans, 3 tablespoon rolled oats, 1 tablespoon ground flax seed, 3 large pitted dates, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a food processor and blend until it looks like course sand. It will be slightly oily because the pecans will release their oil. Follow the instructions for the crust above.
For the Cheesecake Filling
Cover the 2 cups of cashews in water and boil for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cashews are twice the size of dry ones and soft and puffy.
Drain the water and place in a high-powered blender.
Add the tablespoon of melted coconut oil, 3 tablespoon lime zest, 1 tablespoon orange zest, ½ cup lime juice, 2 tablespoon orange juice, 2 to 3 tablespoon maple syrup or agave (it depends on how sweet you want this to be), 8 oz vegan cream cheese, and ¼ cup of the coconut milk and begin to blend on a high speed. Slowly add more coconut milk. You may not need all of the coconut milk if the milk is really watery. The filling mixture should be thick and completely smooth. You shouldn’t be able to detect any solid pieces of cashews. If you do, keep blending and add more coconut milk if the filling is too thick to blend well. and continue blending.
Total blend time will be approximately 2 minutes.
Evenly pour the mixture into the spring form pan and gently tap on a hard surface to even it out and remove air bubbles. Cover and refrigerate overnight or for 12 hours.
Once it sets it should be firm to the touch, and easy to slice.Top with lime slices and zest.
Notes
Grate the lime and orange zest before cutting the oranges to juice them. It will be much easier to grate them.
Feel free to use maple syrup or agave, you won’t taste the maple in this unless you add more than 3 tbsp. If you want a really sweet cheesecake, we suggest using agave.
The amount of water in full fat coconut milk varies, so go slow when you add it to the filling mixture. We recommend starting with ¼ cup and then adding more as necessary. The filling should be really thick and smooth. We use the Whole Foods-Soup setting on our Blendtec blender to get the ultra-smooth filling. If you don’t have a high-powered blender, scrape and blend on the highest setting for as long as it takes to break down the cashews.
Remove from the refrigerator just before serving. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. If it sits out at room temperature for more than 60 minutes, we recommend consuming it within a day.
Freeze it for up to 3 months in a freezer safe container. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.