Dairy-free cheesecakes – Lazy Cat Kitchen

For the past month and a half, I have hardly had sugar. I don’t miss it that much if I am honest, but I still love coming up with dessert recipes so the moment I dreamt up these dainty dairy-free cheesecakes, I knew I had to share.

These little dairy-free cheesecakes are really easy, quick and fun to make and delicious to eat! My key consideration was simplicity so the base is simply made out of crushed biscuits bound together with melted butter. I used supermarket ginger snaps as they are (like many commercial biscuits) accidentally vegan and because I like them, but any biscuits will do. Take your pick!

The cheesecake layer comes together in a blender in seconds. It’s silky, creamy, tangy and sweet – delicious and hard not to gobble up with a spoon! I pre-bake the biscuit base for a few minutes then top it with the cheesecake base. Bake for a few more minutes and voila! You are done and have a tray of cute dairy-free cheesecakes to decorate and devour.

These dairy-free cheesecakes travel well so taking them to a picnic is a great idea although I do recommend using a plate as the base is nicely crumbly. They also freeze well so if you are by yourself and are worried about having so much temptation in your peripheral vision, simply pop a few of them into the freezer and one day you’ll remember that you did that and you’ll run to your freezer with a spring in your step and your day will suddenly get so much better. Trust me, I have done that more times than I can count.

MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS

CASHEWS: These dairy-free cheesecakes use cashews for creaminess so that’s one of this recipe’s key ingredients. Cashews are are very neutral in flavour and fatty, which results in a beautifully rich and creamy cheesecakes. If you cannot tolerate nuts, you can get a similar effect with sunflower seeds – like cashews, they will need to be soaked first too.

LEMONS: I personally like my cheesecake to have quite a bit of a tang and so I used zest of two small lemons and quite a lot of lemon juice. You can use less if you prefer but I find the outcome really well balanced. You can also use a zest of an orange alongside one lemon, I really like that combination and use it a lot in my vegan cheesecakes.

VEGAN BUTTER: A bit of vegan butter – I used Naturli, but Flora and Violife also work well – helps to make these dairy-free cheesecakes more indulgent. It is also what turns a bunch of cookie crumbs into a crispy base. I recommend using vegan butter that comes in a block, rather than a tub, as that’s the type I tested this recipe with. I am fairly certain that coconut oil will also work well. I recommend using the refined type of coconut oil as it is devoid of coconut fragrance and flavour.

SUGAR: Caster sugar, also known as superfine sugar, is what I used to sweeten both the base the and the cheesecake filling of these dairy-free cheesecakes. You can use any sugar you like, including coconut sugar if you prefer a less refined option, but be aware that the cheesecakes will look a little less appetising as brown sugar will make the mixture darker.

VANILLA: A couple of teaspoons of good vanilla paste or extract is a lovely addition here. I used paste but extract, powdered or vanilla scraped out of the pods are all great. I wouldn’t bother with the synthetic equivalent (vanillin) but it’s up to you.

PLANT MILK: I used almond milk to allow all of the ingredients to blend up nicely. To be honest any type of plant milk will work here as long as the flavour is fairly neutral, even water will do at a push.

VEGAN BISCUITS: Instead of making my own shortbread base for these little cheesecakes, I went for a simple biscuit base. I used bog standard supermarket ginger snaps as they happen to be vegan but any vegan biscuits will do. And if you are making these dairy-free cheesecakes for a gluten-free friend (or foe), be sure to buy gluten-free biscuits.

STRAWBERRIES: I wanted to make these as simple as possible so I decorated them with beautifully red strawberry halves as it is very much the season for strawberries in the UK right now. You can use other fruit too and if you would rather turn these dairy-free cheesecakes into little desserts why not serve them with a generous spoonful of fruit compote. It can be made with frozen fruit outside of the season.

HOW TO MAKE IT?

1) MAKE & BAKE THE BASE

Grind the biscuits finely in a food processor then trickle in melted butter while pulsing a couple of times. Your biscuit base should resemble wet sand.

Line each muffin hole with a strip of paper for easier removal then spoon in a slighly heaped tablespoon of the mixture into each hole. Compact the mixture using back of a dessert spoon or your fingers, bake for about 3-4 minutes then cool a little before the next step.

2) MAKE THE FILLING

Place all of the cheesecake layer ingredients, apart from the strawberries, in a blender. Blend until creamy and silky smooth. Distribute the filling between pre-baked biscuit bases and bake for about 12-15 minutes.

3) COOL & DECORATE

Once baked, allow these dairy-free cheesecakes to cool down completely. Ideally, you want to allow them to sit in the fridge overnight to increase their creaminess, but that’s not necessary, as long as they are cold they are good to eat.

Top them with fresh fruit – I went for strawberry halves – or serve with a fruit compote if you want to turn them into more of a dessert.