Vegan Cheesecake Bars
Vegan cheesecake? Did you hear that correctly? Yes, you did!
Top it with berries, dulce de leche, melted chocolate, anything your heart desires, or leave it plain for that classic flavor.
This crust is soft and the filling is creamy and it has the perfect amount of sweetness throughout — if you prefer super sweet dessert, read the note on the recipe card for how to alter the crust.
What is vegan cheesecake made out of?
This filling uses soaked cashews and lemon juice to make a creamy tangy filling, reminiscent of original cheesecake. I could’ve opted for cream cheese, but I wanted to make sure that anyone could make this recipe, and not all vegan cream cheeses turn out the same in recipes.
What other flavors of cheesecake exist?
Oh, the possibilities are endless with this one. Examples of cheesecake flavors are plain, strawberry, chocolate, key lime, pumpkin. Any of these flavors can easily be added as a layer to this recipe in jam/liquid form below or on top of the filling.
Vegan Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 1/4 cup dates
- 2 tbsp runny tahini
- 2 tbsp vegan butter, melted
- optional: 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 2 cups cashews (soaked in hot water 30 minutes, then drained)
- 1/2 cup coconut cream from a can chilled overnight in fridge
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp lemon or lime juice
- 1 tbsp water
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Blend all crust ingredients in a food processor until broken up (it will not look like dough, more like crumbles). Press mixture into an 8x8 nonstick pan and place in the freezer.
- While the crust is freezing, blend all of the filling ingredients in a high-speed blender until thick and creamy.
- Remove pan from freezer and pour the filling over and freeze for at least 3 hours. Enjoy same day or freeze until a later date and remove from freezer 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
Taste a bit of the crust before putting it in the freezer. If it's extremely bitter or tastes too much like almond or tahini, add in a few tbsp brown sugar to even out the flavor. This recipe is plain and leaves it open to the readers/foodies to decide what they'd like to change.