Monday 21 December 2015

Spiced pumpkin tofu cheesecake [v 0.1]

Spiced pumpkin tofu cheesecake 0.1

A photo posted by Vin G (@vinpous) on
Success! I wanted to make a vaguely xmass-y cheesecake for a small xmas party amongst friends, and thought that combining a pumpkin pie (something I've never made, let alone eaten) with a cheesecake would be a good suggestion. 

So first up, let me cite my references. I more-or-less adapted these recipes to suit myself. The pumpkin pie is not vegan, so fair warning.


I made one large-ish cheesecake and one small-ish cheesecake, and I had a surplus of pumpkin. So the quantities need some work. 

For the base:

2x packets of Arnott's NICE biscuits
1x cup of melted margarine. 

For the cheesecake*: 

2x 550g packs of firm tofu (I use Yenson's, it is good), drained.
~1.5 cups of brown sugar (I found out that apparently brown sugar outside of Australia is sometimes coloured with beef bone - what the fuck? - in any case, make sure it's coloured with molasses)
~2 tsp of vanilla essence
~2 tbsp of melted coconut oil
juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime*
the zest of one lemon*

For the pumpkin:

~1/2 butternut pumpkin, peeled, cubed, steamed, and somewhat cooled
~1 cup of brown sugar
~1-2 cups of coconut cream**
~2 'eggs' (I used egg replacer)
Spices

I used ground/powdered: ginger, cloves, allspice, cinnamon - don't be shy, flavour to taste.

Method:

- Pre-heat oven to about 375F (I was actually using an oven that is measured in fahrenheit).

- Oil-spray some pie tins/line with baking paper/whatever you do.

- In a food processor, blend the biscuits with the melted margarine, then pack into whatever pie dishes you're using. Scale ingredients accordingly. Pack it really tight.

- Once the food processor is clean, do the same thing with the cheesecake ingredients and make sure it gets really as smooth as possible. It helps if you break or cut up the tofu. And be patient. Put the resulting smooth goop into the now prepared pie tray thing.

- Again, once the food processor is clean, do the same with the cooked and cooled pumpkin, sugar, etc. 

- Dollop the pumpkin mix on top of the cheesecake mix that is in the pie tin, and swirl through the cheesecake mix with a spoon or spatula or whatever. I attempted to make that swirly latte thing.

- Bake for about 35-45 minutes until lightly brown and slightly cracked.

- Allow to cool, then refrigerate for a couple of hours to set. 

Enjoy.

* In future, it might be nice to add more lemon/lime goodness. Lots more. For that tangy cream-cheesy-ness.
** It might be nice to add some coconut cream to the cheesecake part too, to increase the creamyness.
A photo posted by Vin G (@vinpous) on