Vegan hazelnut cheesecakes
If you ever made a healthier version of cheesecake you are probably familiar with the ingredients that are usually used for such recipes. Every now and then I try to tweak the classic vegan cheesecake recipe and this is easily one of my favorite such cheesecake versions. Vegan hazelnut cheesecakes with nougat willl probably make you feel the same way.
There is this recipe for vegan nougat that I used to make for my Mozart bonbons. People sometimes call it vegan Nutella, but I was never compelled to spread it on a piece of bread or on pancakes. It is very delicious but I just think you would be better off to use it for a cake. And this cheesecake is one of those recipes where I used this home made nougat.
You might be scared at the beginning, but don’t worry, this recipe is very easy to make. In fact, it was one of the first desserts I made myself when I just started making vegan food. These vegan hazelnut cheesecakes are creamy, sweet, they have a wonderful cocolate and hazelnut flavor and they are kind of good for you.
My favorite thing about them is that they are refined sugar free. I try to avoid adding sugar to food any chance I get, mainly by using dates and maple syrup, like in this recipe. But this is not the only reason why this cake is good for you, there are a few more benefits you can get by eating desserts like this one.
Some health benefits
In case you are not allergic to nuts, and decide to make these lovely cakes, I will mention some cool facts about cashews (which are the main part of every vegan cheesecake) that might interest you. I have noticed the trend of making vegan cheesecakes with no cashews, mainly because they can be a bit pricey, but there are a few good reasons you might want to treat yourself with cashew cakes or sauces every once in a while.
Many studies show that nut intake has a cholesterol-lowering effect, and there is emerging evidence of beneficial effects on oxidative stress, inflammation, and vascular reactivity. Cashews help lower LDL and increase the carrying capacity for HDL. They are protein rich and can help you lose weight.
Eating cashews can boost your immune system and lower the risk of gallstones. They are also rich in essential minerals, including copper, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc. This also means that they are super beneficial for your skin and hair.
Cashews contain nutrients that most people tend to forget about when they first start a vegan diet, but you really need those for your body to stay healthy, so make sure you incorporate them (and other nuts) in your meal plan (cake or no).
A piece of advice
As I already mentioned, this is a very easy recipe. It looks a lot like the one for a classic cheesecake, aside from the nougat that you need to make for this, which is pretty easy. You will get a bit more of it than you need with these measurments. You can try to use this for pancakes or you can eat it with the spoon like I did. If you don’t want to do that just adjust the measurments.
Don’t forget to soak the cashews for at least 6 hours before making the cake. This will make them soft and give the cake a nice and creamy texture. You don’t have to decorate the cheesecakes like this, but in case you want to, this is how I did it.
You melt about 60 g of dark chocolate. Put it in a plastic syringe and squeeze out a few curvy lines on the top of your frozen cheesecakes. This chocolate should become solid pretty fast since the cakes are still frozen. Than take a few hazelnuts, crush them and sprinkle them on top of the cakes. And that is it!
Before you serve them make sure you get them out of the freezer and leave in the fridge for some time so they can soften up.
Vegan hazelnut cheesecakes
Course: SweetIngredients
- For the crust:
65 g of almonds
65 g of hazelnuts
130 g of dates
1 tbsp od cocoa powder
1 tbsp of water
- For the cream:
130 g of cashews (soaked for 6 hours)
80 ml of coconut cream
6 tbsp of cocoa powder
1 tsp of vanilla extract
65 g of maple syrup
43 g of melted coconut oil
43 g of nougat* (recipe below)
50 g of dark chocolate and some hazelnuts for decoration
Directions
- *For the vegan nougat you will need 65 g of hazelnuts, 17 g of maple syrup, 20 g of coconut oil and 20 g of cocoa powder. Roast the hazelnuts in the oven for about 10 minutes on 200 degrees Celsius. Put the hazelnuts in a blender with the rest of these ingredients and blend until you get a soft hazelnut butter. Set it aside.
- Put the almonds and hazelnuts in a blender and blend until you get a flour. Add the chopped dates, cocoa powder and water and blend some more. Prepare the silicone molds (I used the ones for panna cottas). Put a heaping tablespoon of this crust mixture in each mold and press it down with your fingers to shape the crust. Set aside.
- Remove the water from cashews. Put all of the cream ingredients in a blender and blend until you get a creamy brown texture. Pour the cream into each mold (to the top) and put the molds in a freezer. Leave them there to set for a few hours (or overnight).
- You can decorate them if you want (tutorial in the text above). Before serving leave the vegan hazelnut cheesecakes in the fridge for a bit to soften.
If you liked this recipe, make sure you check out my other recipes like:
– vegan red velvet cheesecakes
Feel free to tell me what you think about this in the comments below, or send me the pictures of your own vegan hazelnut cheesecakes. If you did something differently, I would also like to hear that, I’d love to see the things you come up with.
P.S. for more recipes like this and bunch of other stuff, follow me on instagram, @margo_drobi.
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