The Kind Life


Last year before Thanksgiving, my friend Mark had me over for a super yummy Thanksgiving meal. He made the best cheesecake ever – the recipe came from the Vegetarian Times, and it's a great option for your Thanksgiving menu this year! Check it out, and if you have any great recipes for Thanksgiving, please post them in the comments below or in the Recipe Gallery!

 

This cheesecake is adapted from a recipe in the Nov/Dec 2009 issue of Vegetarian Times, and was originally submitted by Kathryn Hostettler who won honorable mention in the recipes contest in that issue.

To make it a bit easier, Michael uses a pre-made graham-cracker crust, and also uses Whole Foods Market Organic Pumpkin Pie Filling as part of the cheesecake filling. 

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Candied Cranberries


 Candied Cranberries

 Ingredients

  • 2 Cups fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained
  • 2 Cups sugar substitute (either maple syrup or agave nectar, whichever you prefer)

Steps

  • Prick each cranberry several times with straight pin.
  • Bring sugar substitute and water to boil over medium heat.
  • Cook until sugar reaches 230 F on candy thermometer.
  • Add cranberries, and cook ten minutes or until syrup gels a bit.
  • Remove berries with slotted spoon and lay out on plate.
  • Save in refrigerator for adding to top of cheesecake later.

Crust

Ingredients

  • Pre-made organic vegan graham-cracker crust (for ease)

Or, if you prefer to make your own:

  • 10 sheets vegan graham crackers
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 oz Earth Balance butter

Steps (if you aren't using premade)

  1. Process crackers and salt into fine crumbs in food processor.
  2. Add Earth Balance and pulse to combine.
  3. Press mixture into bottom and half way up sides of 9 inch spring form pan.



Cheesecake Filling

Ingredients

  • 12 oz. silken tofu
  • 8 oz. vegan cream cheese
  • 3/4 can Whole Foods Organic Pumpkin Pie Filling
  • 1/4 cup agave nectar
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Steps

  1. Puree all ingredients in food processor until very smooth, about 3-5 minutes.
  2. Pour into crust and bake at 350 F for 50 minutes.
  3. Chill completely in refrigerator at least 3 hours, up to overnight.
  4. Garnish with candied cranberries, slice and serve.

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  • Categories: food , thanksgiving , holidays

i'm so excited. i have leftover cranberry infused maple syrup! gonna save that for pancakes! yum!!

@ Rhonda.. in my experience with baking/using agave, the color really only matters if you need the color to be lighter or darker. i was thinking for this recipe it didn't really matter because of the pumpkin. someone else might have more advice on that. i bought the light one to use.  i think either would be fine. :)

(for example about the color, if you were making a vanilla frosting sweetened with agave, i would think using the light color would be best).

This YouTube channel has many vegan recipes. Anyone knows of more channels like this, please tell me.

http://www.youtube.com/user/everydaydish

I served this last night to a table full of carnivores and only two vegetarians. Everyone loved it. I didn't tell them it was vegan until they tried it and  they were all very surprised. This recipe is so awesome and very easy to make. Thank you, Alicia for sharing this. I'll be making it again and again!

@Holly... can you tell me what maybe I did wrong with mine? It was very thin, and didn't set up very well. I followed the recipe, although I may have put too much pumpkin in and maybe it needed baked longer than 50 minutes. Should I have let it cool completely before putting in the fridge?

The candied cranberries, however, are amazing!

Another great recipe!! Thanks for sharing, I do subscribe to Vegetarian Times a great magazine!

question.... it says 3/4 a can of pumpkin pie filling but pumpkin pie filling comes in more than one size can. so what size can do i need to buy? thanks

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