Vegan Cheesecake

When I go to the states, I always check to see where the nearest Cheesecake Factory is. I love cheesecake. I am also trying to make a big step into the world that is vegan and since we all know dairy makes my skin breakout, I've been making the conscious effort to make vegan desserts.

Roll in yesterday when I got invited to a vegan potluck and decided to make a vegan cheesecake, which, by the way, was easier than a real cheesecake. Also, not filled with all the bad fats from milk and filled with good fats from chickpeas and cashews. Most vegan cheesecakes are no bake or raw and as much as I would like to try that, I wanted to make a true cheesecake, with a real cheesecake texture. Not light and fluffy, but dense and thick, like a real cheesecake.

Fair warning, this cake has no added sugar, the only sweetener is maple syrup and dates in the crust. So it's very tart, but totally delicious.

Ingredients: - 3/4 cup of oats

- 1/4 cup of almonds

- 1 cup of medjool dates (pitted)

- 2 cups of soaked cashews (drain it before you place it in the blender)

- 1 can of chickpeas (rinse and drain)

- 1 can of coconut milk (pefferably the kind that has set in the can)

- 2 tsp of vanilla extract

- 1 tbsp of almond butter

- Zest and juice of one lemon

- 1/3 cups of maple syrup

- 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar

- 2 tbsp of cornstarch

Equipment needed:

- Food processor (but if you have a blender with a pulse option it should also work)

- Blender

- 9 inch Springform pan

- Scraping spatula

How to make this:

1) Add the oats, almonds, and dates into a food processor. Pulse on high until everything is combined and forms into a dough.

2) Add this dough to the bottom of the springform pan. You may want to wet your hands to spread this out. Chill in the fridge.

3) Preheat the oven to 320 degrees fahrenheit.

4) In a blender, add the drained soaked cashews, chickpeas, coconut milk, vanilla, lemon, maple syrup, almond butter, apple cider vinegar, and cornstarch. Blend until smooth, you may ned to mix the mixture to get the blender moving again.

5) Pour the mixture into the springform pan and place in the oven for 50 minutes, or until the middle is firm to the touch and doesn't feel like it's uncooked.

6) Let it cool and place it into the fridge. Before eating just use a knife to remove the cake from the pan. Then you can remove the springform pan.

7) I added blueberry's to the top of mine and all I did was melt blueberries in the microwave and then I put them on top.

It's so good and so not the worst kind of cheesecake for you. I really hope you like the tartness of the cake and enjoy it as much as I did.

Thanks for reading,

Samantha