This delicious vegan cheese is a breeze to make and satisfies that primal craving for cheese and crackers at the cocktail hour.  I have combined several recipies to come up with this one.  My sources were Basic Raw Cashew Cheese from the Blender Girl, Classic Cashew Cheese from NutritionStripped, and Vegan Cashew Cheese from One Green Planet.  Thank you to those sites for the inspiration! 

Ingredients

1 cup raw cashews, soaked in cold water for at least an hour, drained and rinsed
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 small cloves garlic, roughly chopped*
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
1 Tbsp herbes de Provence or 1/4 cup minced fresh herbs of your choice (parsley, rosemary, oregano, thyme, etc.)
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
up to 1/4 c water

Method

Combine all the ingredients, except the water, in a food processor and blend until combined.

Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and keep blending until the desired texture is reached.

Taste for seasoning, adding additional salt, pepper, lemon and mustard as desired, and  continue blending.

Total blending time might be about 3 minutes.

The cheese can be eaten right away, but it will have a firmer consistency once it is refrigerated.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Serve the cheese with crackers, crusty bread, pretzels, or vegetable crudites, or make a sandwich out of it.

*If you are not planning to eat the cheese within a day or so, you may want to use just one clove of garlic since its flavor intensifies with time.