Monday, April 7, 2008

Tofutti Cheesecake

Oh man do I love this recipe. I usually double it so its nice and thick, but depending on the size pan you use this may not be necessary (with a regular pie pan, this recipe is plenty, but I sometimes use a deep cake pan to get a really thick slice going). For anyone who misses cheesecake, this is the closest thing I can possibly imagine to it that you can make vegan at home. so good!

Ingredients:
16 oz. vegan tofutti plain cream cheese
½ cup sugar
½ lemon’s worth of juice
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
24 vegan oreos -OR- about 12 vegan graham crackers
½ stick vegan margarine

Instructions:
Mix the tofutti, sugar, lemon, vanilla and salt until well blended. Crush the cookies or graham crackers, and mix with ½ stick of melted margarine. Press this cookie mixture into the bottom of a deep cake or sprinform pan (8" round) to make an even crust. Pour the tofutti mixture on top. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes, then chill in refrigerator until solid (When you take it out of the oven it will not be set, but do not fear and do not overcook. Once it has sat in the fridge for a while it will set very nicely and you will be enjoying some creamy guilt- and cruelty-free cheesecakey goodness). I highly recommend adding some nice fresh fruit. A raspberry sauce sounds good right now (1/4 cup boiling water or so + 1/4 sugar or so + container of raspberries on high heat until they become syrupy=deliciousness!), but any fresh fruit would be nice. or chocolate. or brownies! i do like the vegan brownie cheesecake at red bamboo (well, technically from vegantreats.com i think). I'm rambling now. and getting hungry. oh dear...I'll probably dream about this dessert now.

8 comments:

Veggie said...

Tag! You're it! I'm tagging you to name five things about yourself that others may not know.

In the post, link back to my blog, and tag five others (also linking to their blogs).

Sorry if you've done this one before!

Unknown said...

This is delicious! I just had a slice a few minutes ago. YUM!

Anonymous said...

I just looked in the oven to check on my cheesecake after the first 35 minutes of cooking - It has boiled over and half the filling is on the bottom of my oven. Guess I'll be up late making a better recipe...after cooling and cleaning my oven.

Lauren Turek said...

I've never had an issue with the mixture boiling over (I make this recipe pretty regularly). Perhaps the pan wasn't deep enough? Or the oven was too hot? It's also a good idea, in general, when making pie to put the pie pan on a cookie sheet. I do that when I make fruit pies because they sometimes boil over and drip out onto the base of the oven. One thing you might try is using a small springform pan--the sides are good and high on those, and that would prevent any overflow.

Rabs said...

Hi there, I am planning on making this cheesecake for NYE tomorrow night. I was wondering if I let the cake sit in the fridge overnight, would that be okay? I am thinking of making it tonight so less work to do tomorrow. Thanks!
M.

Lauren Turek said...

Hi! Refrigerating the cake overnight would be just fine. It keeps well (it firms up best in the fridge anyway). Hope it turns out well!

Anonymous said...

Have you tried using the recipe on minis? What is the change in cooking time? I used gluten free ginger snaps for the crust, and added zest to the filling for a tart cheesecake and LOVED it. Also froze the leftovers, and enjoy the frozen texture, too.

Lauren Turek said...

Oh my gosh, ginger snap crust sounds amazing. I've never tried making it with minis, so I'd have to experiment a bit with the baking time to get them right.