Friday, June 12, 2009

Even more Cheesecake!

It has been a hectic week. It appears that the closing for my house is next Friday at 11:00am. It has been a long road but it looks like this part is coming to a close. Throughout the process, the Real Estate piece has been extremely interesting to me and more fun then I thought it would be. I may look into getting more involved. We will see.

Food this week has been modest at best. More quick meals and even some going out to eat. However, I have made a few nice desserts. I made another cheesecake. This time I used a number of berries that we had at the house and it turned out amazing!

Berry Cheesecake

1 graham cracker crust (store bought or homemade)
2 1/2 tubs of Tofutti Cream Cheese
1 cup of water
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of sugar
1/3 of a cup of blueberries
1/3 of a cup of raspberries
1/3 of a cup of blackberries
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
2 teaspoons of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Pre-heat the oven to 350. In a sauce pan, pour water, brown sugar, vanilla, and maple syrup. Bring to a simmer and allow the sugar to dissolve. In a food processor, add the tofutti cream cheese, berries, and sugar. Puree until smooth and well mixed. Add in 1/2 cup of the water and brown sugar mixture. Puree until well mixed. Add in the lemon juice and puree until smooth and well mixed. Taste. The mixture should have a strong berry flavor and be richly sweet. Add more water / brown sugar mixture to make sweeter and more berries for more berry flavor until satisfied. Pour the mixture into the crust and bake in the oven for 30 mins. The edges should begin to pull away from the crust a bit when done. Chill for 3 hours and top if you wish.


Berry Cheesecake Topping

1 cup of water
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/3 cup of maple syrup
1/3 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of blueberries
1/3 cup of raspberries
1/3 cup of blackberries
1 teaspoon of vegan margarine
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of cloves
1/2 teaspoon of guar gum or arrowroot or cornstarch

On low heat, bring all ingredients to a slight simmer. Stir regularly and let simmer for about 20 mins. The berries may need to be mashed. After simmer for 20 mins the sauce should begin to thicken. Once it tastes to your satisfaction and is your desired consistency, remove from the heat. Let cool for 15 mins. Do not pour on a cheesecake that has not cooled. Once the topping has been poured on the cheesecake, place in the fridge uncovered for several hours, until cool.


I also has some left over cheesecake batter from last week. It was still good to a drizzled it over some of the berries we had for a fruid salad dessert. That night we also had some baked eggplant.



I am sad to see the Orlando Magic struggle but what can you do? Hopefully my week upcoming will have more productive cooking.

Huge thanks to Jenn for sending me a signed copy of Vegan Brunch. It is great and I can not wait to try some of the amazing recipes! Go check out her blog as well. She is an inspirationion!



1 comment:

miss v said...

i'm not a huge fan of cheesecake myself, but i'm usually asked to bring it to family holidays... so this recipe will be perfect!

i've heard vegan brunch is great... can't wait to see some of the recipes you make!