This is one of those recipes that slipped out of my brain before I even realized what was happening. I was feeling ultra lazy, so I decided to experiment with using cashew butter for my vegan cheese (to avoid having to soak, drain, blend cashews). Why have I never thought to do this before??? It's the easiest, most delicious and quick vegan cheese I've ever made. The cheese is made of cashew butter, miso paste, nutritional yeast, rice vinegar and salt + pepper. It's a lot like pimento cheese: pliable, soft, tangy and savory. Perfect for vegan cheese stuffed squash blossoms! It would also be excellent stuffed into peppers, empanadas, and zucchini boats. I can't wait to try this cheese in everything!

Oh wait you guys know what squash blossoms are right? They're the flower of zucchini and squash plants. Generally they're a soft, dusky orange or yellow color. During the heat of the day they open up but during the cool hours of the day they remain closed and curled. They twist themselves into these gorgeous gentle spirals. They're flavor is delicate, a lot like sweet summer zucchini.

The most common way people in the U.S. eat these bad boys is stuffed with cheese and fried or baked. I've seen about a million iterations of chèvre or ricotta stuffed squash blossoms. Just search "squash blossoms" on pinterest and you'll see what I mean.

But there are loads of other things you can do with squash blossoms. E.g. shred them into soup, add them to pizza or smush them into a quesadilla. But, personally, I like to see the whole squash blossom as I'm eating it. It seems a waste to hide something so beautiful and delicate within a larger dish.

This, to me, is a classic way to enjoy these lil blossoms while the season lasts. These vegan baked squash blossoms are legitimately so freakin' good. I've witnessed people moaning over these at least three times on separate occasions! And each time they looked at me confused like "wait these are vegan whaaaaaaat????"

These are basically sex blossoms.

You heard me.

Some notes on this vegan baked squash blossoms recipe.

To stuff the squash blossoms, you gently cut a slit into each blossom lengthwise, peel the blossom open and add a marble-sized ball of the cheese. Then you fold the blossom petals over the cheese and gently twist the flower to close it up.

I chose to batter these blossoms in einkorn (which is an ancient wheat most similar to spelt). The batter is flour + water + spices. Here I use 1 cup flour, 1 cup water (give or take), salt, pepper and za'atar. I add my water a bit at a time until the mixture is the consistency of pancake batter.

I dip my blossoms in the batter, pulling the flowers over the lip of my batter bowl to shake off extra batter. Then I bake them on parchment lined baking sheets at 375F for about 20 minutes, until the coating is pulling away from the parchment and turning a bit golden.

Gluten free option: You could go for a chickpea batter instead of einkorn, which I've done rather successfully as well. Combine chickpea flour + water until you have the consistency of pancake batter (about 1 cup chickpea flour + 1 1/4 cups water). You'll have to adjust your cook time, baking until the batter is golden brown, browning a bit on top and the coating begins to peel away from the parchment paper. It takes 15-20 minutes at 375F.

Vegan Baked Squash Blossoms with Miso Cashew Cheese

Created by Renee on July 12, 2016

GF option: sub flour + water for 1 cup chickpea flour and 1 + 1/4 cup water. Add more water as needed to get a thick pancake batter consistency.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup runny cashew butter
• 1/8 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 teaspoons fresh mellow white miso paste (or chickpea miso)
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• salt + black pepper to taste
• 12 -15 squash blossoms
• 1 cup einkorn or spelt flour
• ~1 cup water
• salt + pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. Line two medium baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Stir together the cheese ingredients using a fork. Note: if your cashew butter is thick a la natural peanut butter, you’ll want to thin it out with 1-2 teaspoons neutral tasting oil (e.g. grapeseed, sunflower).
3. Use a teaspoon and your hands to form marble-sized balls of the cashew cheese. Cut a slit into each blossom lengthwise. Stuff one at a time by peeling each blossom open and adding a ball of the cheese near the base of the flower. Fold the blossom petals over the cheese and gently twist the flower to close it up.
4. Combine the flour and water with a fork until you have the consistency of pancake batter. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Dip each stuffed squash blossom in the batter, pulling the flowers over the lip of the batter bowl to shake off extra batter. Place the battered blossoms about 2 inches apart on your parchment lined baking sheets.
6. Bake at 375F on the middle rack of your oven for about 18-20 minutes, until the coating is pulling away from the parchment and turning golden. Let cool 5 minutes before eating. Enjoy!