This cheese is wildly delicious. It is one of those “can’t put it down” foods. Take one little bite and see what I mean.

Balsamic Apricot Cheese

Apricot Cheese Ingredients:
1 cup soaked cashews
¼ tsp. Himalayan sea salt
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. onion powder
2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
1 tbsp. chopped rosemary
½ cup filtered water

Directions:
Soak the cashews for 4 hours prior to this recipe. Drain the water from the cashews. Put all the ingredients into a high speed blender and blend until creamy. Set aside.

Take a serving plate and place two food molds on it. These round molds measure 2.75” dia. X 2.1” high.

Agar Ingredients:
1 ½ tsp. agar powder
1 cup filtered water

Directions:
Place 1 cup filtered water and 1 ½ tsp. agar powder into a pan. Turn on the heat to high and whisk constantly while heating. Once the water boils, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Continue whisking during this procedure. It is done when it resembles heavy thick glue. Also note that when it is time to add the agar to the cheese, turn the blender on the lowest speed possible.
Now, turn the blender on low and pour in the agar into the cheese while scraping the sides down. Mix for 30 seconds until evenly incorporated. Remove from the blender as soon as possible and pour into the molds. Smooth the tops of the cheese with a knife until the top is nice and flat. Cover the molds on the plate with saran wrap and place in the refrigerator for 4 to 6 hours. Remove from the refrigerator and remove the molds by pulling them straight up. The cheese will come right out. Garnish with the remaining sun dried tomatoes.
This cheese has a shelf life of 4 to 6 days in the refrigerator. Make sure to store in an airtight container.

Note: Agar powder is a vegetarian substitute for gelatin. It is a vegan, gluten free food and is used in this recipe to mold the cheese and hold the shape.

Balsamic Sauce Ingredients:
15 large dried apricots slices
2 tbsp. balsamic vinaigrette
1 tbsp. agave
1/8 tsp. Himalayan sea salt
¼ cup filtered water

Directions:
Place all of the ingredients into a high speed blender and blend until creamy. Put into an air tight container and store in the refrigerator.

Garnish Ingredients:
¾ cup apricots
3 to 4 fresh rosemary spears 4” high.

Directions:
Chop the apricots into little pieces. Place in an air tight container and set aside.

Assembly:
Take a pastry bag with a 2A tip. Place the balsamic vinaigrette sauce into the bag. Take the cheese from the refrigerator and place it on a decorative plate. Remove the molds from the cheeses. Go around the top of the cheese in a circular motion from the center, making a spiral, until the whole top is covered with the sauce. Repeat this for the other cheese. With the cheeses sitting side by side, place decorative drops 1” apart around the circumference of both cheeses at the bottom. Take the apricot pieces and gently cover the plate without disturbing the decoration already there. Take the rosemary spears and place one spear in the center top of each cheese, making sure they are pushed in enough to be secure. Take another spear of rosemary and pick the florets from the sides of each branch. Place those on the outside top edge of each cheese spaced ¼ inch apart. Then place rosemary florets in the center top of each decorative drop. Note: Please refer to the photo for decoration.

Can be stored in the refrigerator in an air tight container for 4 to 6 days.

Note: Because this recipe uses agar which is a vegetable gelatin, it is not 100% raw.