It was an Easter miracle this year, with my family making the trek up to Harlem (from Brooklyn and the Upper East Side) for a humongoid Easter din. It's weird because we're all a bunch of godless heathens, but like most ethnic Catholics, we feel a strange obligation to make a big meal and hang out together on most big religious holidays, so that's what happened. But enough about that. Let's talk about this dope fucking berry lime cheezcake:
I actually don't remember where I got this recipe from (sorry vegan blog land!), but it was described as tried and true and universally loved, even by vegan treat haters. I had all the ingredients on hand, so it fit the bill for Easter din. It was super duper easy: you just throw two containers of Tofutti cream cheese, two cups of powdered sugar (!!!!), and 8 tablespoons lemon or lime juice into a blender (I did mostly lime and some lemon - the recipe called for all lemon, but my Dad is a big key lime pah fan, so I thought this would be good). Meanwhile, back at the lab, you mix two tablespoons of cornstarch with four tablespoons of Tofutti sour cream, add that to the business in the blender, and blend a bit more. Then, splash in a teaspoon or so of vanilla extract, or better yet the smashed-vanilla-bean equivalent, and blend that shiz 'til it's good and...blended. Then pour it into the crumb pie crust of your choosin' (I went with a storebought graham cracker pah crust, but I bet a homemade crust, like made with, say, those Anna's Swedish gingersnap cookies, would be super nummers). Pop it into a preheated 350 degree ov, and bake for at least twenty minutes, but as long as it takes to "set," i.e. not be all wiggly in the middle. For me, this took almost an hour. Plus, the batter yielded more than I could fit in my pah shell, so I filled two lil' ramekins and baked them in a baño María alongside the big poppa. These served as a delish test run situation for me and the BF to nom on while we watched a really good movie and recovered from our late night cleaning and dish washing marathon on Saturday.
The one downside to baking it for so long was that, although it finally set, the top looked ugly as sin. And on Easter, no less! That's when Mister Berry Compote topping layer comes to town. I just winged it for that: I took a bag of frozen organic mixed berries (this yielded way too much by the way, one could definitely halve it), thawed 'em a bit, put them in a saucepan with just enough water to barely cover them, brought that to a low boil, added some blueberry jam, a squirt or two or three of agave nectar, and a few spoonfuls of cornstarch, and simmered it all until it was all bubbly and num nums. At some point during this whole production, the BF got in there with the immersion blender (he loves to immersion blend) and pureed it so it would spread evenly over everything. Then, I let it cool to room temp (it thickens a bunch when you do so) and poured it on my cheezcake. After letting it sit in the fridge uncovered for about twenty minutes, it was ready for familial nommings.
The result? Definitely creamy yet light in that vegan junk food way, this bad boy molests your teeth with its sugary wrongness, almost even a back-of-the-throat-tickling-sweetness, but with some real nice tartness from the lime and berry action. The one downside was that it wasn't quite cheesecake-y in terms of the texture. The taste was rad and luscious, but it could almost pass for a traditional key lime pah, which sure isn't a bad thing, but I'm anal and my quest for perfect cheesecake mimicry will have to carry on. Also, I was an Iron Chef and made several other items to nom on, including:
Rosemary ov Fries
Balsamic-glazed 'fu [public service announcement post to follow, and thanks to Muffin, my carnivorous friend, for learning me bout this marinade!]
And the ever-popular sproutz
I actually don't remember where I got this recipe from (sorry vegan blog land!), but it was described as tried and true and universally loved, even by vegan treat haters. I had all the ingredients on hand, so it fit the bill for Easter din. It was super duper easy: you just throw two containers of Tofutti cream cheese, two cups of powdered sugar (!!!!), and 8 tablespoons lemon or lime juice into a blender (I did mostly lime and some lemon - the recipe called for all lemon, but my Dad is a big key lime pah fan, so I thought this would be good). Meanwhile, back at the lab, you mix two tablespoons of cornstarch with four tablespoons of Tofutti sour cream, add that to the business in the blender, and blend a bit more. Then, splash in a teaspoon or so of vanilla extract, or better yet the smashed-vanilla-bean equivalent, and blend that shiz 'til it's good and...blended. Then pour it into the crumb pie crust of your choosin' (I went with a storebought graham cracker pah crust, but I bet a homemade crust, like made with, say, those Anna's Swedish gingersnap cookies, would be super nummers). Pop it into a preheated 350 degree ov, and bake for at least twenty minutes, but as long as it takes to "set," i.e. not be all wiggly in the middle. For me, this took almost an hour. Plus, the batter yielded more than I could fit in my pah shell, so I filled two lil' ramekins and baked them in a baño María alongside the big poppa. These served as a delish test run situation for me and the BF to nom on while we watched a really good movie and recovered from our late night cleaning and dish washing marathon on Saturday.
The one downside to baking it for so long was that, although it finally set, the top looked ugly as sin. And on Easter, no less! That's when Mister Berry Compote topping layer comes to town. I just winged it for that: I took a bag of frozen organic mixed berries (this yielded way too much by the way, one could definitely halve it), thawed 'em a bit, put them in a saucepan with just enough water to barely cover them, brought that to a low boil, added some blueberry jam, a squirt or two or three of agave nectar, and a few spoonfuls of cornstarch, and simmered it all until it was all bubbly and num nums. At some point during this whole production, the BF got in there with the immersion blender (he loves to immersion blend) and pureed it so it would spread evenly over everything. Then, I let it cool to room temp (it thickens a bunch when you do so) and poured it on my cheezcake. After letting it sit in the fridge uncovered for about twenty minutes, it was ready for familial nommings.
The result? Definitely creamy yet light in that vegan junk food way, this bad boy molests your teeth with its sugary wrongness, almost even a back-of-the-throat-tickling-sweetness, but with some real nice tartness from the lime and berry action. The one downside was that it wasn't quite cheesecake-y in terms of the texture. The taste was rad and luscious, but it could almost pass for a traditional key lime pah, which sure isn't a bad thing, but I'm anal and my quest for perfect cheesecake mimicry will have to carry on. Also, I was an Iron Chef and made several other items to nom on, including:
Rosemary ov Fries
Balsamic-glazed 'fu [public service announcement post to follow, and thanks to Muffin, my carnivorous friend, for learning me bout this marinade!]
And the ever-popular sproutz
Also, if you go to last fm and select "calypso tag radio," your parents will probably go bonkers. At least they will if they're anything like my 'rents. The old folks love calypso! A good time, therefore, was had by all. Happy second birthday, Jeebis!
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