Pistachio Nut Cheese with Cranberry Jelly

This Pistachio Nut Cheese with Cranberry Jelly can be the perfect festive vegan Christmas appetizer. It is sliceable, but also spreadable. You can enjoy it on toast with veggies or on a cracker.

Course Appetizer, Condiment

Cuisine American, Dairy-free, Egg-free, Gluten-free, Grain-free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword nut cheese, pistachio cheese, pistachio nut cheese, vegan christmas appetizer

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings cup

Calories 122kcal

Author My Pure Plants

Equipment

Ingredients

½ cup Pistachio nuts don't worry if salted, soaking will wash that away
1 cup Dairy-free milk 2,3 dl - homemade cashew milk recipe
2 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
2 tsp Miso paste
1 tsp Lemon juice (freshly squeezed) or apple cider vinegar
½ tsp Salt
¼ tsp Garlic powder
1 Tbsp Agar agar powder

Optional ingredients

1 Tbsp Spirulina powder or
1 Tbsp Spinach powder
½ cup Cranberry jelly homemade Cranberry Jelly recipe

Instructions

First, you need to soak the pistachio nuts in hot water for 5 minutes to soften them a bit. Dissolve miso paste in ¼ cup hot water.
Then take a thin and tall container (I got mine with my immersion / hand blender) and add soaked pistachios, dairy-free milk, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and salt. Blend with a hand blender until smooth.
Take a frying pan and heat it to medium heat.
Add the blended pistachios mix and heat it to medium heat.
When hot, add the dissolved miso paste. Stir to combine.
Add the optional spirulina or spinach powder for a green colour boost here.
Finally, add the agar agar and stir to combine. After 5-6 minutes of cooking pour the nut cheese mixture into a silicone mold. Watch out, as it sets pretty quickly. Enjoy!
If you make this pretty Chrismas Wreath-like Nut Cheese with Cranberry Jelly -> First, make the cranberry jelly and pour it at the bottom of the silicone mold. Wait for it to be set before adding the pistachio nut cheese mixture on top of it.

Video

Notes

Hand blender vs Vitamix - You will get a very smooth nut cheese texture if you have a Vitamix. However, you need to double or triple the recipe to make it work there. We found that if we need only one nut cheese bundt, we can totally get the right texture with a hand blender as well.
Milk or water - Adding water would be a more frugal approach, but the difference between using milk or water is significant.
Sliceable and spreadable - If you had 1 Tbsp of agar-agar, you get a nut cheese that is really easy to slice. If you want it to be closer to a cream cheese consistency, you should add 1 Tbsp starch instead.

Nutrition