After rinsing your soaked cashews, let them drain well and then lie them out on a clean tea towel to dry them off as best you can (they'll still be soggy).
Meanwhile put the 3 c of coconut (reserving the last cup and a quarter for coating at the end) in your blender and blend (tamp/blend/tamp) until it becomes smooth and buttery (turns into coconut butter) This will be easier with a high powered blender, it will just take a little longer in a regular one.
Add the melted coconut oil and cashews, blend until as smooth as possible.
Add dates, vanilla, lemon juice, lemon zest (reserving ⅓ of it for coating) and salt, blend until smooth.
Taste it to see if you'd like it sweeter (add another date) or sour-er (add more lemon juice).
Pour contents into a bowl and refrigerate for several hours (or freezer if you're impatient) until firm enough to shape.
The coconut oil 'splits' out of the mixture, which means there will be oily patches that will chill into hardened patches. I don't mind these, they're sort of reminiscent of chocolate chips when you bite into them. If you would prefer not to have them, once the mixture is semi-chilled (the coconut oil is just starting to harden around the edges) stir it up again well with a spatula and put it back in the fridge. If there is still liquid oil visible, repeat in half an hour and again if necessary until no liquid oil is visible.
Using a spoon, a teaspoon, a melon baller, your hands or a scoop (I used a '00' scoop -about ¾ tsp-sized) to shape the mixture into balls.
Mix the final cup of coconut and the zest from the remaining lemon together in a bowl.
Roll the fridge-temp or room-temp balls (I find if they're, the coconut doesn't stick as well) in the coconut/zest mixture, gently pressing it into them and shaping them. Transfer them to a plate or baking sheet.
Freeze on a baking sheet and once frozen, transfer to a freezer-safe container.
These last in the freezer for several months, the fridge for 2 weeks an at a cool room temperature for 24 hours.
Serve frozen, fridge-temp (my preference or room temp (as long as it's cool enough to keep coconut oil solid).
Recipe by The Crushing Cancer Kitchen at https://thecrushingcancerkitchen.com/nuts/lemon-coconut-truffles/