Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake

The other day, I found this beautiful book by Emily Mainquist called Sweet Vegan. This is a great dessert book which has wonderful vegan recipes as well as some gluten-free and raw recipes. The pictures are so beautiful that we were literally drooling over the pages. You want to wow your guests? Just make them one of Emily’s desserts!

Katie flagged all the recipes she wanted to make which were pretty much most of them and she wanted to make them right away. We decided to make the Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake because frankly, who could resist the allure of chocolate chip cookies and cheesecake together. Besides, Katie has never had cheesecake before.

This recipe is a bit more complicated that we are used to so we decided to make the cookie dough forms the day before. We made our dough into the two disk shapes from the springform pan, covered them and then placed then in the refrigerator until the next day.  We also did not have Cane Juice so we substituted the Cane Sugar instead and it worked just as well.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough for Crust

1 C    margarine (vegan brand)

¾  C  sugar

¾ C  brown sugar

3 tsp Egg replacer (2 eggs) whisked with 4T warm water

1 tsp  vanilla

2½ C   flour plus 1/8 tsp flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp     baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 C vegan chocolate chips (Divvies)

Cream the margarine and both sugars in the mixer. Add the Egg Replacer and vanilla until mixed thoroughly.  In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Slowly add flour mixture to the creamed margarine mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

Cheesecake Filling

24 oz tofu cream cheese, at room temperature (we used Tofutti)

¼ C evaporated cane juice or cane sugar

4 ½ tsp Egg replacer whisked with 6 T warm water

1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Pour into a bowl and chill.

 Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake How-To

Preheat oven to 325°F for dark springform pan and 350°F for a silver pan.

CRUST: Make the crust by dividing the dough into two pieces. Place a large piece of plastic wrap on the springform bottom. Press half the cookie dough into the shape of the pan.  Fold plastic wrap over and remove from pan. This forms the shape of the crust. Do the same thing with the second piece of cookie dough. Place both discs in the freezer for 15 minutes or place in refrigerator overnight.

CHEESECAKE FILLING: Now, make the cheesecake filling. Using a mixer, beat the cream cheese mixture on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the cane juice and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the egg replacer and whip for another 30 seconds on medium-high speed.

Unwrap one chilled cookie disc and place on the bottom of the pan. Spoon the cheesecake mixture on top.  Unwrap and place the second cookie disc on top of cheesecake mixture. Now it is time to bake our cheesecake.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes until the center is slightly firm. Cool the cheesecake in the refrigerator for 4 to 6 hours or overnight.

Remove the chilled cheesecake from the refrigerator. Transfer to a serving dish. Slice the cheesecake and dip the end in tempered chocolate (see below) and drizzle on cheesecake before serving.

Chocolate for Dipping

4 C  vegan chocolate chips

Add 1 cup of water to a saucepan and simmer on medium heat. Place 3 cups of chocolate chips into a stainless steel bowl and place on top of the simmering pot. Stir continuously until mostly melted. Remove from heat and keep stirring until the chocolate is completely melted.

Add the remaining cup of chocolate chips and stir until melted. The more you stir the better. Once all the chocolate is melted, test it with your finger. If the chocolate is cool to the touch, put a small amount on a piece of aluminum foil. If it hardens and is shiny within 2 to 3 minutes, it is ready. If it does not harden, continue to stir and add another ounce of chocolate, stirring until melted. Repeat until it is ready.

YUMMY!