Make Tofu Cheese Pie
Have you ever wanted to enjoy delicious cheesecake or cheese pie but have had to pass because you're a vegan or lactose intolerant? This alternative cheesecake has no cheese - just tofu, juice, berries, and walnuts, and pumpkin or other spices. This recipe has a moderate difficulty level and serves 8 to 16. See Step 1 below to get started.
Ingredients
- 1 tub (16 oz) of tofu
- 1/2 can frozen apple juice concentrate
- 1/2 can or 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)
- 1 cup blue berries or strawberries
- Ready-made graham cracker pie crust
- Fresh fruit (optional)
- Syrup (optional)
- Vegan whipped topping (optional)
- Walnuts (optional)
Steps
- Preheat oven to {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}.
- Blend the tofu with the frozen apple juice concentrate and pumpkin puree in a blender until smooth.
- Add the blueberries or strawberries to the silky, liquid tofu and apple juice concentrate mixture. Pour the mixture into the graham cracker pie crust.
- Top with a little spice such as, cinnamon, cloves, or pumpkin pie spice mixture. You can substitute the pumpkin with pureed sweet potato, yam, or cooked butternut squash. They should all be pureed. And you can use any type of berry, or substitute chopped walnuts for the berries, or add 1/4 cup chopped walnuts to the mixture along with everything else.
- Bake the pie until the tofu becomes solid like a cheesecake and you can stick a fork in it without it being watery. It can take 40 minutes to an hour. Watch it as it turns a light brown on top or at least becomes solid.
- Let it cool and refrigerate overnight.
- When chilled, it should be solid like a cheesecake.
- Slice and serve as you would a slice of pie or cake. You can top with fresh fruit, syrup, whipped topping, or eat as is.
Tips
- The graham cracker crust may be baked or may be refrigerated instead if gelatin is used. Without the gelatin, you'd have to bake the tofu mixture to have it solidify. It tastes better when chilled overnight.
- Some people add unflavored or flavored gelatin to the tofu mixture and refrigerate without baking until solid. You can try it either way and decide how you like it better, baked until solid or solidified when flavored or unflavored gelatin is added and the mixture is refrigerated. Vegetarians will want to use fruit pectin or carrageenan as a thickener instead of gelatin, which is an animal by-product.
- Make your own crust by mixing crushed graham crackers with 1/2 cup of olive oil and a cup of almond meal and press into a pie plate (metal or glass baking dish for pies). Optional: sweeten crust with fruit juice concentrate such as apple or white grape juice concentrate, if desired.
Things You'll Need
- (optional if buying crust) Pie pan
- Blender
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