Description
The perfect snack! These mini Vegan Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins are the most fantastic bite for an afternoon craving. They’re created with a cookie & date base and filled with a lemon-y vegan cheesecake made from cashew nuts.
Ingredients
- 250g vegan friendly cookies
- 5 medjool dates
- 200g fresh blueberries
For the cheesecake filling:
- 100g cashews, raw & soaked
- 2 tsp agar powder
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 50ml maple syrup
Instructions
- Soak the cashews for a minimum of 4 hrs. Alternatively, boil them on the stovetop for 20 minutes.
- Start by creating the cheesecake base: Place the vegan cookies into a food processor and process until the cookies are all crumbled up.
- Add the pitted medjool dates and process further until fully combined. You should end up with a sticky & thick texture. Divide the base mix into 6 muffin tins and firmly, but evenly press it against the bottom and sides of each muffin tin. Place everything in the fridge whilst you’re preparing the cheesecake filling.
- Place all ingredients for the cheesecake filling into a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. This can take a couple of minutes on high speed. To get everything super smooth, ideally blend it for about 10 minutes. As Agar Agar needs to be heated to be ‘activated’ please see my notes about the activation process below.
- Carefully remove the cheesecake bases from the muffin tin and fill them with the cheesecake filling.
- Decorate with the blueberries and place the cheesecake muffins in the fridge to set for an hour before serving.
Notes
Similar to other gelatine replacements in vegan cooking and baking, Agar Agar requires to be dissolved and then heated in order to be ‘activated’ and bring out it’s gelatinous properties. You will see that in my original recipe, I am not heating the mixture after blending, which is because my high-speed blender heats the cheesecake mixture throughout the long blending period. You will need to blend the mixture for about 5-10 minutes – depending on your blender – in order to get the cashews & co completely smooth, and in my blender this creates a friction heat and my cheesecake mixture comes out hot by the time it’s done.
However if you’re using a different type of blender or are unsure if your mixture has been heated enough to activate the Agar Agar, I recommend transferring it to a nonstick saucepan after the blending process. And heating it through on a low/medium heat until it begins to become thick and gelatinous. Stir frequently to avoid the mixture setting to early and once your cheesecake mixture is ready, you will need to work quickly in transferring it to your muffin tins as Agar Agar quickly sets once it starts cooling down.
If you don’t want to work with Agar Agar, you can replace it with cornflour or Vegeset (contains Karageenan), however these also need to be heated through to be activated.
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