Vegan Cashew Cheesecake
Crust:
18 vegan graham crackers or other cookies, crumbled
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon agave or maple syrup
Filling:
1 (10-ounce or 300 g) package silken tofu, pressed lightly to remove water
2/3 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight and drained
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/3 cup raw sugar or other sweetener
3-1/2 teaspoons Ener-G Egg Replacer (no water added)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1. Crust: Combine all crust ingredients in a large bowl. Mix until well incorporated, and then press into your pie dish. 2
. Filling: Combine soaked cashews, silken tofu, canola oil, and lemon juice in a blender; pulse until completely smooth and creamy. (This works best if you have a powerful blender or food processor. You may have to leave it in the blender for a few minutes to completely smooth all granules of cashews.)
3. Transfer mixture to a bowl and whisk in sugar, Ener-G, vanilla, and salt until completely dissolved. Make sure there are no lumps or sugar crystals. You may want to let it sit for a few minutes to fully dissolve. Carefully spoon into the crust.
4. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes, until set (doesn't jiggle when you move the pan). Remove from oven and let cool.
5. Place in fridge and chill for at least five hours. This is meant to be served with a fruit or syrup topping of your choice.
Source of recipe: I don't like using Tofutti large amounts because the regular version is hydrogenated, and it is also very expensive. So I came up with this Tofutti-free version that WON'T cost you $18 for the filling! This recipe was modified from: http://bakingbites.com/2005/09/imbb-19-i-cant-believe-its-vegan-cheesecake/
SO HOW'D IT GO?
This was so good. I guess it probably doesn't taste like non vegan cheesecake but I was very happy with the results and will be making it again soon.
Awesome!!! Followed the recipe but substitued ground flax for Ener-G. Took it to dinner with a bunch of omnis and they ate it all up and loved it. This is my new favorite cheesecake recipe now!
As promised I tried this recipe yesterday. I substituted 1/2 cup cashew butter for the pre-soaked raw cashews. I also substituted Chia seeds (1 Tablespoon) for the Ener-G Egg Replacer powder. I used 1 teaspoon vanilla in place of the lemon juice, and added 1 Tablespoon fair-trade cocoa powder. Blended that all up together, and then poured it over 1/4 cup fair-trade chocolate chips which I'd sprinkled over a store-bought graham crust.
While it was baking, I made a blueberry sauce to pour over it, as recommended in the recipe! (bring to a boil 1 dry pint fresh blueberries, 2 Tablespoons sugar, 2 Tablespoons lemon juice in a saucepan, boil for 5 minutes while stirring frequently, blend the mixture with a blender or hand blender, and let cool to room temperature or chill in the fridge).
Just divine! We couldn't wait longer than 1 hour of chilling in the fridge before we tried it. Half the cheesecake disappeared between two people...
Lovely, rich flavour but without being too "heavy", which is the complaint of many dairy-based cheesecakes. So satisfying. Thanks again!
The only thing I'll change next time is to make my own crust instead of using a store-bought one. We could taste how artificial and overly-salted, overly-sugared it was in comparison to the rest of the natural, good ingredients.
Thank you for this. I really appreciate the non-Tofutti approach! I'm currently living in a place where I can't even buy vegan cream-cheese, even if I wanted to, so the Tofutti-dependent recipes kind of frustrate me. Besides - we can do better than pre-packaged processed foods in vegan desserts, can't we? It hardly takes more effort to mix cashews, tofu & egg replacer than to whisk Tofutti with other ingredients!
I won't be following your recipe exactly because I've got my own 'thing' in mind (some sort of chocolate-blueberry cheesecake that uses chia seeds for egg replacement), but I'll be generally following the approach you took.
Will be substituting cashew butter as I don't have the time to pre-soak cashews - I want this TODAY! :)
Yummy! This went fast. It obviously isn't exactly like non-vegan cheesecake, but still very good! My omni family members ate it all up.
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