I made this cheesecake for a potluck organized by the awesome folks at VINE Sanctuary and it was a hit. A big hit. And you should have seen some of the incredible food brought by everyone; I ate so much I almost needed to be carried out. I wish I’d remembered to take a picture of the spread. For anyone who thinks vegans are sitting at home crying in their salads, you are terribly mistaken. There was lasagna, 7 layer dip, rice crispy treats, cheese balls, couscous salad, mac & cheese, coleslaw, cookies, donuts, and yes, some darn good salads that would make your taste buds sing. Vegan eating is good eating!
And if you’re looking for an amazing sanctuary to support, VINE is the best. The work they do and the love & respect they give the animals in their care is outstanding.
I found these cookies awhile back and was completely blown away. Vegan. Organic. No hydrogenated anything and no corn syrup. And most of all, freaking delicious. I mean, like sit on the couch with your favorite show and eat the whole package delicious. Forget all about those other sandwich cookies that you love because they are accidentally vegan. I’ve tried the Strawberry Shortcake (which I used in the this recipe), the Vanilla Cupcake and the Chocolate Peanut Butter and I’ve loved them all.
The kinds folks over at Tasty Brand who created these cookies have given me some free product coupons and cool hats to pass on to you, my awesome readers, so you can give these cookies a try. Or their Fruit Gummies and Fruit Snacks which are also vegan. Sweet! Literally :-D.
Want to win two free Tasty Brand product coupons and a Tasty hat?? I’ll be picking two winners, just head on over to my Facebook page here and check out the pinned post on how to enter. It’s really simple. Just leave a comment and like my page and you’ll be entered. Easy Peasy!
This cheesecake is super creamy, tangy, and with the strawberry jam swirl and strawberry cookie crumb crust, very fruity. A perfect complement to any party spread or to just straight out indulge :-D.
- 1 package Tasty Brand Strawberry Shortcake Sandwich Cookies, set aside 5 whole cookies for decorating
- 1 sleeve graham crackers (9 crackers, equivalent to 1¼ cup crumbs)
- ⅓ cup vegan butter or margarine, melted
- 2 12oz packages firm silken tofu (Mori Nu Brand preferred)
- 2 8 oz containers vegan cream cheese (Tofutti Brand preferred)
- 1⅓ cup cane sugar
- ⅓ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup strawberry jam
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a food processor or blender, pulse the graham crackers and cookies together until coarse crumbs.
- Combine the cookie crumbs with melted butter and mix well.
- Press crumbs into the bottom of a 9" spring-form pan.
- Bake crust for 8 minutes then set aside to cool. Leave oven on.
- In a food processor or blender, combine the tofu, vegan cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, and vanilla extract. Blend until completely smooth. Make sure to check it for graininess as it may take a little bit for the sugar to completely incorporate. There should be no graininess at all and if there is, keep blending until there isn't.
- Pour filling into prepared crust and smooth top.
- Microwave, or heat lightly, the jam for about 10 seconds so it can swirl easily.
- Drop dollops of jam on top of filling and using a chopstick or thin knife, gently swirl the jam into the filling to make a pretty design (see video for visual how-to).
- Place spring-form pan on a baking sheet before putting it in the oven in case of minor leaks.
- Bake for 50 minutes, or until cheesecake is set around edges and jiggles just a little in the middle. It will not be set all the way through, this happens once it cools. (see video for demonstration of jiggle).
- Let cool completely and then chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of 5 hours to set.
- Serve with ½ a cookie pressed into the top of each slice and drizzled with chocolate, if desired, or as is.
Both the cheesecake and cookies look like the bomb! Can’t wait to get a bite of either of them!
Thank you! I’d love to hear if you make them 😀
I haven’t had a cheesecake like this for yeeeeears, you’ve got me crazy a strawberry cheesecake now! Looks amazing Jenny <3
Thanks!! I hadn’t either, which is why I had to create one :-D. I had kind of forgotten how awesome cheesecake is lol.
This cake is absolutely gorgeous! You really nailed the feathering technique on top. Almost too beautiful to eat. Almost!
Sounds like it was a great potluck – I love potlucks. Especially vegan ones – they always have so much good food and this one doesn’t sound like it disappointed 😉
Thanks so much for sharing this at Healthy Vegan Fridays – I’m pinning!
Ah, Kimmy, you’re too sweet :-D. Thank you. The feathering technique is super easy – grab a chopstick and swirl! Vegan potlucks at the best because I can eat everything without worry and that I do lol. I need more of them in my life for sure!
Well I’m totally strawberry obsessed right now! How delish!
Thanks! Strawberries are awesome 🙂
This looks so good! Those cookies look divine, too 😀
Thanks! :-D. The cheesecake is for sure divine. The cookies are just straight up fabulous lol.
I can definitely see why this would be a big hit–it looks amazing! <3 + yay for animal sanctuaries! <3
Thank you! Animal sanctuaries are the best!! I wish there were a million more of them so we could rescue every poor soul.
Is there eny way to make this wonderful cheesecake gluten free as well ?
There are two main ingredients that have gluten that I think you could replace, although I don’t have specific substitutions. The Strawberry Shortcake sandwich cookies are not gluten free, so you couldn’t use those. This will change the overall flavor of the cheesecake since the strawberry cookie crust is what makes this a strawberry shortcake cheesecake. You could replace these with gluten free sandwich cookies – which ones I’m not sure but I’m guessing you won’t find another strawberry shortcake flavor since that is unique.
The second thing is the graham crackers. I don’t know of any vegan gluten free graham crackers but also I’ve never looked so they might exist. The only vegan ones I know of are the Nabisco original but they are definitely not gluten free. Maybe you could find a recipe to make your own. Or, you could substitute with a gluten free cereal that you like – 1 1/4 cups.
Alternately, if you know of a premade gluten free graham cracker crust that you like you could use that. Again, it will diminish the strawberry shortcake-ness of the cheesecake, but it will still taste good :-D.
Let me know if you give it a try – I’d love to hear!