Cashew Cream

Sandwich spread, salad dressing, dip!

Okay, my experiments with Cashew Cream have begun. We buy a ready made brand, but it seems like such a simple thing to make that it seems silly to spend money on it. So I’ve begun work on the recipe. This is my first effort. The taste was perfect! The only thing I might do differently is to use a little bit of silken tofu in addition to or instead of the soy milk. (Both are soy based, so this wouldn’t change the flavor, but it might give it a creamier texture.)

The beauty of making it myself is that once the base cream is made, I can season it however I want. I recently had a very disagreeable person tell me on social that, “You can’t just change the seasonings on a recipe!”

Yes, of course you can if you have working taste buds, grouchy lady. Of course you can. I do it all the time.

The only drawback to this recipe is that you have to remember to soak your nuts overnight. Um, your cashew nuts, that is.

Okay, so that said, here’s my recipe.

Cashew Cream

• 1 cup shelled cashews, unsalted, no oil added, one ingredient. Soak at least 24 hours in enough water to cover them. Do this in the fridge.

• 1/4 - 1/3 cup soy milk

• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/2 teaspoon dill

Method

Put two tablespoons of the soy milk and all the other ingredients into the blender and blend. On mine, I use the smoothie setting.

Stop, check the consistency, add another tablespoon of soy milk. Repeat this, one tablespoon at a time until it’s as creamy as you want it.

The Crucial FINAL Step

TASTE! Yes, my friends, you DO have the power to alter a recipe to make it taste the way you like it. My hubs asked for more garlic. My own tastebuds wanted a little more dill.

My next potato salad will use this in place of mayo, but I’ll add some dill pickle relish, shredded scallions, and a dash of ground mustard for that version.

Oh, and to make it really taste more like mayonnaise in any version, add some Kala Namak black salt, which has an authentically eggy flavor. (Mayo’s main ingredients are eggs and oil.)

You must taste every dish you cook and then adjust the seasonings. You will get better at this as you go along. I always take a tablespoon or so of any recipe, put in into a tiny separate dish, and try adding more of one seasoning or another. I’ve had four tiny dishes with four separate experiments going to decide what it needs more of.

Always remember too, you can’t take herbs & spices out once they’re in a recipe, so err on the side of too little, and add more until it tastes good.

So little effort, such a big reward!

It tasted so good, after I took the photos, I ate all the veggies, using the cream as dip. Freaking awesome.

• It’s way cheaper to make than to buy ready made

• The recipe gives you three times as much as a $5 container of pre-made.

• It’s far less processed than pre-made

• No other hands have touched it when you make it yourself.

• Use as a sandwich spread

• Use as a dip

• Use as a sub for mayo in potato or macaroni salads

OMG, I just got the notion to leave out the herbs, use agave or maple syrup and vanilla, and make a dessert frosting or pudding-like filling. I have to try that next!

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In my day job as a storyteller, it was my honor to have been nominated for the coveted RITA® Award 13 times. I won it once, for the first book in this series, Fatal Fixer-Upper. Right now, you can download it FREE.

She’s made a name for herself exposing phony mediums, psychics, and ghost busters in her column. He’s the phony ghost buster she can’t quite catch in a lie. But she never stops trying. They detest each other.

She’s spent every dime on a Saratoga county Victorian fixer-upper. But she didn’t know it came with roommates… of the angry, dead variety. Her house is haunted.

Who’s she gonna call?