Dairy-free | Gluten-free | Soy-free| No-bake

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, the day to celebrate all of the fall foods, especially pumpkins. I figured out the most decadent fall dessert to let the season go with a bang! This would make the perfect dessert for holiday parties and fall gatherings.

Last week I shared my Vegan Thanksgiving recipes, and I promised that this week was going to be all about the dessert. So, here it is Vegan Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake! Back in high school, I discovered how perfect pumpkin pie is; no joke I could eat half of that Costco pie. But all that dairy and sugar? The perfect recipe for a tummy ache.

This year I wanted to try to make it, but I have to admit, I’m no pie baker. I definitely still need some practice. So I thought what else can I make, that it’s not traditional?

After seeing how successful my No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake was, I knew I had to make a fall version. Now, the idea of a vegan cheesecake is nothing new, I know. However, in all of the cashew cheesecake experimentation I’ve done so far through my vegan journey, I haven’t touched on pumpkin yet. And so, Vegan Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake was born! Creamy, rich, subtly spiced, and just the right amount of sweetness, filled with good healthy fats, protein, and fiber!

Oh, and did I mention that this is a no-bake recipe? Yup, just assemble the crust, blend the filling ingredients, and pop in the freezer for a couple of hours.

Now, let’s talk about the crust. I got two words for you: scrumptious & comforting. For this, I decided to go off the beaten path and created a crust by combining nuts, berries, and dates, making this cheesecake crust naturally sweet and hearty. However, you can totally try this with a more traditional graham cracker crust or make another creative crust, make it your own!

This was a hit among my family, my mom even said that this might be my best dessert yet!

The best part? You can have it for breakfast without an inch of guilt. Instead of having a slice with heavy dairy and sugar, you’ll have nuts, maple syrup & coconut. I hope you’ll love this as much as much as I did! 

Recipe: Vegan Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust:

• ½ cup cranberries
• 1 cup medjool dates, pitted
• 1 cup walnuts
• ½ cup cashews
• ½ cup pumpkin seeds
• Optional: ½ cup coconut flakes
• Pinch of sea salt

Cheesecake Filling:

• 1 ½ cups raw cashews, soaked & drained
• 1 lemon, juiced (approx. 2 Tbsp)
• ⅓  cup light or full-fat coconut milk
• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• ½ cup maple syrup or light agave nectar (plus more to taste)
• ⅓  cup pumpkin puree
• 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• cinnamon, to taste
• Pinch sea salt

Optional Toppings:

• Coconut whipped cream
• Cranberries
• Cherries (my fave)
• More cinnamon
• Pumpkin seeds

Procedure:

1. Line an 8″ diameter x 2.4″ depth Springform Pan (or 8×8 removable bottom pan) with parchment paper.
2. To a food processor, add dates and cranberries and blend until it forms a ball. Remove and set aside.
3. Then add the walnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, coconut flakes and salt to food processor and process into a meal. Add back the dates and blend until a loose dough forms – it should stick together when you squeeze a bit between your fingers. Tip: if too crumbly, add a few more dates,  if too sticky, add more nuts.
4. Add the crust dough to the pan, and press down with fingers to evenly distribute or use the back of a spoon to press down firmly. Also allow some of the crust to come up the sides, evenly. Set in the freezer.
5. After the cashews are soaked and drained, add to food processor with the other filling ingredients and blend until very smooth; this might take 3-5 minutes. If you find that the mixture is too thick or you have some trouble blending, add some more coconut milk.
6. After it’s completely smooth, taste and adjusts flavor/sweetness to your preference. Here you can add a bit more pumpkin puree, cinnamon, vanilla and/or maple syrup.
7. Pour filling into your parchment-lined pan. Tap a few times to release any air bubbles, then cover loosely with plastic wrap or aluminum paper and freeze until firm; for about 4-6 hours, depending on the size of the dish.
8. Once set, leave out of the freezer for a couple of minutes before serving, to soften up a bit.
9. Serve with your favorite toppings. I chose frozen cherries, and it was heaven!
10. Store leftovers in the freezer for 7-10 days, though let’s be honest, it will not last that long.
11. Enjoy!

Did you make this recipe? I would love to know how it turned out for you! Tag me in your Instagram creations for a chance to be featured in my insta stories! Use @veggiejeva and the hashtag #veggiejevaskitchen.

When you leave feedback it helps me improve and grow, leave me a comment below.

The post Vegan Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake appeared first on VeggieJeva.

I’m sometimes skeptical of “healthy” dessert recipes because some of them call for sketchy ingredients, that mostly turn out doing more harm than good. As always, I try to cook and bake with mostly whole ingredients and minimize the sugar in recipes, as some ingredients already add the perfect amount of sweetness.

I love apples, they’re actually one of my favorite fruits, but sometimes buying them in bulk results in some of them going bad faster than you can eat them. This is why I decided to give them a different use, rather than just eating them raw all the time.

The first time I ate apple crumble was deep in the Pocono Mountains while traveling in Pennsylvania; it was the best dessert I’ve ever had. But now that I think about it, that apple crumble probably had a lot of unhealthy animal-derived ingredients. So I came up with a recipe to make it waaaaay healthier & completely plant-based!

So let’s go over how to make this plant-based crumble! This apple crumble has whole ingredients like oats, nuts, seeds, cinnamon, coconut oil, and agave, and it’s by far the best healthy dessert-breakfast I’ve ever had. It’s free of refined sugar and the only sweetener is just a tiny bit of agave syrup, plus the natural sweetness of the apples.

I used my favorite honey crisp apples as the base, for that distinct natural sweetness & because their firmness is great for baking. For the topping, I used a mix of rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, cashews, and because I absolutely love chocolate, I added some non-dairy chocolate chips (unsweetened). Also, this apple crumble also turns out to be completely gluten-free!

Bonus! This works perfectly well for meal-preps, it can last you for about a week in the fridge.

Recipe: Breakfast Apple Crumble

Ingredients

For the base:

• 2 apples, chopped
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• Ground cinnamon, to taste
• Agave syrup, to taste

For the topping:

• 1 ½ cups rolled oats
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• 2 tbsp agave syrup
• 1 tbsp cacao nibs
• 1 tbsp flax seeds
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• Optional: pumpkin seeds, chopped cashews, chocolate chips, coconut flakes

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a loaf pan, add the chopped apples, the apple cider vinegar, the cinnamon & agave. Mix until completely combined.
3. In a bowl, mix all of the topping ingredients: rolled oats, coconut oil, agave, cacao nibs, flax seeds & chia seeds. Also, add your optional toppings.
4. Pour oat mixture on top of the apples. Cover with aluminum foil, to avoid the toppings burning.
5. Place in oven & cook for 30 minutes.
6. Once it’s done, wait until it’s completely cool to serve.

Did you make this recipe? I would love to know how it turned out for you! Tag me in your Instagram creations for a chance to be featured in my insta stories! Use@veggiejeva and the hashtag #veggiejevaskitchen.

When you leave feedback it helps me improve and grow, leave me a comment below.

The post Breakfast Apple Crumble appeared first on VeggieJeva.