American Recipes / Autumn / Classic Recipes / Desserts / Gourmet Recipes / Thanksgiving / Vegan Recipes

Pumpkin Cheesecake Ⓥ

A sweet, creamy blend of pumpkin, tofu, cashews, and banana, topped with candied pecans.

Yield: 8-10 servings

Time: 1½ hours plus time to chill

Tools

  • blender
  • rubber spatula
  • small bowl
  • spoon
  • medium bowl
  • fork or two butter knifes

Ingredients

  • ½ cup raw cashews, soaked in water for at least 2 hours
  • 1 package silken tofu, 12 to 14 oz, drained
  • ¼ cup mashed banana (about 1 medium banana)
  • ½ c sugar
  • ⅔ c dark brown sugar, divided
  • 3 T coconut oil at room temperature
  • 2 T arrowroot or cornstarch
  • 2 T lemon juice
  • 2½ t vanilla
  • ¼ t orange extract or 1 t grated orange zest
  • ¼ t sea salt
  • 1¼ c pumpkin purée
  • ¾ t cinnamon
  • ½ t ginger
  • ¼ t ground nutmeg
  • 1 graham cracker crust, baked and cooled
  • 1 T margarine
  • 1 c pecans, roughly chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Drain the cashews and place in blender along with tofu, banana, white sugar, 1/3 c brown sugar, oil, arrowroot, lemon juice, vanilla, orange, and salt. Blend until very smooth.

Transfer 1/4 c of this to a bowl and set aside, then add pumpkin and spices to the batter still in the blender and blend well.

Spread pumpkin batter evenly over the crust, then drop spoonfuls of reserved batter all over the top. Use the spoon handle to swirl the two batters together for a marbled effect.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, place remaining 1/3 c brown sugar in medium bowl along with margarine and a dash of salt. Cut the margarine into the sugar until the mixture resembles chunky wet sand, then stir in the pecans.

Remove the cheesecake from the oven, cover evenly with sugar-pecan mixture, and bake another 20-25 minutes, until slightly puffy and golden around the edges.

Let cool, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours (ideally overnight).

Notes


Vegan Pie in the SkyA comment on the candied pecans: they are very sweet and delicious, reminiscent of pecan pie. I don’t have a huge sweet tooth and found them to be a bit much; in fact, I feel like they detracted from the pumpkin flavor. My husband, who does have a huge sweet tooth, agreed with me that the pumpkin was somewhat overshadowed, but he still liked the pecan layer. Just some food for thought.

Recipe from Vegan Pie in the Sky (read my review).

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Vegan pumpkin cheesecake