Blog

This was my second attempt at making vegan miniature cheesecakes. The first attempt was edible, but the issue was that the top was gum-like, and the whole thing would then deflate in the center as they cooled. I crumbled Oreo cookies into the formed wells to hide the flaw.

For this attempt, I used another vegan cheesecake recipe as a base. I still went with the Oreo theme, calling upon this recipe for the details.

Vegan Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

Makes 12 miniature Oreo cheesecakes.

You’ll need to start at least seven hours before serving.

• 1 Cup Cashews
• 19 Oreos
• 1/4 Block (4 oz) Firm Tofu
• 4 oz (115g) Vegan Cream Cheese (half a package)
• 4 oz (115g) Vegan Sour Cream
• ⅔ Cup Maple Syrup
• 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

1. Soak the cashews for two hours.
2. Set the oven to 350 F.
3. Place the 12 paper liners in the muffin tin. Put an Oreo cookie at the bottom of each.
4. Drain the cashews and place in a large bowl. Add the tofu, cream cheese, sour cream, maple syrup, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Blend.
5. In a small bowl, crunch up 5 Oreo cookies. Fold them into the cheesecake mixture.
6. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cups.
7. Bake for 20 minutes.
8. Pull out from the oven and let cool.
9. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
10. When ready to serve, discard the paper liners and serve cookie side up.

Thoughts

A definite improvement over the previous attempt. Whereas I wouldn’t suggest others repeat the other mini Oreo cheesecake recipe I put together, I would be comfortable recommending this one.

That said, it has a flavour and texture onto its own which is distinct from a real cheesecake. It’s a bit more cake-like. Moving forward I think I’ll keep experimenting and see if there are other recipes for a cheesecake filling that are better. Perhaps this one is worth a shot. Or this one. I also won’t fold in crumbled cookies on the next attempt, to make the insides a uniform white look.

This is a good little treat, and perhaps calling them “Miniature Oreo Cakes” without referencing cheese would be better.

On the trip home from the US with Jon, the two of us talked about Philly Cheesesteaks. If Ottawa had a sandwich named after it, what would it be like? We started coming up with ideas. Shredded beef. Cheese curds in the tradition of poutine. Caramelized onions. Maple syrup.

I made the sandwich this weekend.

Curdwich Filling (Original)

• 2 lb, Beef Sirloin
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1/4 Tsp Pepper
• 1 Tbsp Oil
• 2 Cup Tomato Sauce
• 1 Medium Onion, Chopped
• 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
• 3 Tbsp Maple Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 2 Tbsp Wine Vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Mustard Sauce
• 2 Tsp Chili Powder

1. Mix all of the ingredients except for the beef in a slow cooker.
2. Place the beef. Set on high for 5 hours. When ready, the beef will just pull apart on prodding.

Preparation

You need to set aside about six hours for this. I first got the slow-cooker up and running, then I made the bread. An hour before serving, I started on the sides of roasted garlic potatoes and the caramelized onions.

When it got to serving time, we placed the curds first in the bread. Then we laid on the filling, and covered it with the caramelized onions.

Thoughts

I made my go-to bread loaf these days (3 cups flour, 2.5 tsp yeast, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1/3 cup oil, 1 cup water, Italian seasoning), and cut it up to make two long buns. The bread proved too soft to handle the juicy filling. So the first change would be to find stronger bread – perhaps a loaf of French bread.

The maple flavour didn’t come up at all, so Jon suggested basting the beef in a maple BBQ sauce.  He also suggested less sauce. Otherwise, it was delicious. This recipe is open to tweaking, thus why it’s called “take one.”