Roopa
I had a birthday outing last night and a few of my friends can’t really eat dairy, so I decided to try out a vegan cheesecake recipe from Minimalist Baker. I adapted it a little based on what I had, but they turned out really well! I asked for some constructive feedback from everyone, and the general consensus was that they don’t really taste like cheesecake (and nuts are too dense to really have the same texture), but they were very good, particularly being a fairly healthy dessert. There is some pre soaking required and freezing required so it’s best to make them in advance, rather than continually having to swap freezers like I did.
I only had my phone camera sadly
INGREDIENTS
- 1.5 cups cashews (need to soak in boiling water for 1 hour)
- 1 cup pitted dates (soaked for 10 minutes)
- 1 cup almonds
- 1 large lemon (juiced)
- 1/6 cup peanut butter*
- 1/6 cup applesauce*
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp coconut milk
- ½ cup sugar**
DIRECTIONS
- Pour boiling water over the cashews and set aside for ~1 hour.
- Put the soaked dates into the food processor and form a sticky ball. Remove from food processor.
- Food process the almonds into a meal. Add in the dates and form a sticky mix.
- Put 1 tbsp. the date mixture into each slot of cheesecake pan. Press it down to form an even base.
- Blend the cashews, lemon juice, peanut butter, applesauce, coconut milk, and sugar together into a smooth mixture.
- Spoon the cashew mixture into the slots until full, and freeze for 4-6 hours.
*The original recipe called for 1/3 cup of coconut oil which I didn’t have, so I filled a 1/3 cup with peanut butter and applesauce instead.
**The original recipe uses agave or maple syrup to be truly vegan. Once again, I didn’t have these things, and I really was more focused on not having dairy.
Since I used peanut butter in the filling I didn’t bother to top them with anything, but you could use berries or anything similar. The cheesecake itself doesn’t have a very strong flavour, so it would pair well with a lot of things. I think the lemon was critical and really brought the flavours together. It also paired surprisingly well with the peanut butter!
Chateau Gateau 