Summer Series: Lemon Cheesecake
YOU GUYS. THIS CHEESECAKE. It’s just so perfect I could CRY. But I won’t, don’t worry. Even my mother, who is the world’s harshest critic of my vegan creations, absolutely went nuts over it. It is just as good, if not better than real cheesecake.
I’ve had some truly horrible vegan cheesecakes, so this one made me very very happy. It was gone in just one day… I think I’ll make another one soon for my mother’s birthday (that’ll be my excuse, anyway).
Ingredients:
1.5 cups raw, unsalted cashews
1 cup vegan graham cookies
1 cup oats
6 Tbsp vegan butter
1 can coconut cream (14 oz)
2 packages plain vegan cream cheese (each 8-oz, so 16 oz total) - I used Miyoko’s
Zest of 2 lemons
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 cup maple syrup
4 Tbsp corn starch
A pinch of salt
Instructions:
Place cashews in a bowl and cover with boilnig water. Let sit for an hour, uncovered.
Meanwhile, to make the crust, place cookies, oats, and vegan butter in a food processor and pulse until mixed and crumbly.
Add about 1/4 cup water and pulse again until it forms a thick paste. If too solid or still crumbly, add more water. If too liquidy/soupy, add more cookies and oats.
In a spring-lock cake pan lined with parchment paper, evenly spread mixture. This is easiest if you scoop it into the lined cake pan, cover with more parchment paper, and use the bottom of a glass to press it down and spread it out.
Bake for 20 min at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, until nicely browned. When crust is done, remove from oven and reduce oven temp to 325 F.
Now rinse out your food processor, because next we make the filling!
After the cashews have soaked for 1 hour, drain them and add to your food processor along with coconut cream, vegan cream cheese, lemon zest and juice, maple syrup, corn starch, and salt. Process until well incorporated and creamy. Taste to see if you think it needs more maple syrup…
Pour into pan on top of pre-baked crust, and (using oven mitts!) firmly tap the bottom of the pan onto your counter top a few times to remove bubbles.
Bake for 50 min at 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Jiggle the pan to see how firm the cake is. It should be slightly jiggly but NOT liquid/soupy. If it is still soupy, bake another 10 min or so.
Let cool and refrigerate at least 2 hours before removing from pan and slicing.
Enjoy with some vegan whipped cream and chocolate, or topping of choice!
