Pumpkin Cashew Cheesecake (Recipe #147)

I have never had a vegan cheesecake and this recipe for vegan pumpkin cashew cheesecake was just delicious! I would like to note that it was quite expensive putting this cheesecake together because it called for 1.25 pounds of raw cashews. I would say this is probably the most expensive dessert in the cookbook Vegan for Everybody.

Anyway, the cheesecake was delicious. I started by soaking the cashews overnight. I put together a quick crust of graham crackers, sugar, and coconut oil. I baked that in the oven until it was beginning to brown. Then, I put together the filling. Basically, I added everything to my food processor and blended it together. The filling consisted of the raw cashews (rinsed), pumpkin puree, coconut oil, lemon, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger, nutmeg, allspice (I omitted this because I did not have any on hand), and dairy-free cream cheese. I blended everything together and poured it into the cooled crust. I put it in the fridge overnight and it set beautifully!

I made the pumpkin cheesecake to have a different alternative at Thanksgiving rather than a pumpkin pie. It was a really great alternative. I loved still having something pumpkin on the holiday, but I was very glad that I decided to try something new. I am also glad that I tried it because I have been wondering for a long time how to make a vegan cheesecake. This recipe was just really delicious. The only commentary that I have is that the cheesecake was slightly grainy because of the cashews. It was not very noticeable, but I was paying attention specifically for that. Other than that, the cheesecake was perfect!

Taste: 9/10

Level of difficulty: 1/5

Notes for next time: Remember to do the cashews and such in batches in the food processor.