Vegan Marble Pumpkin Cheesecake
The best part of the holidays besides hanging out with family and friends has to be dessert! We were always pumpkin pie people in my household, which is definitely not the norm for many of my friends who preferred sweet potato pie. This has led to many pumpkin pie versus sweet potato debates over the years. I still remember the first time I introduced a friend to pumpkin pie. We’d made a pact to swap pies following Thanksgiving break, and they finally got to experience the amazing flavor that I’d been trying to explain for so long! Now that I’ve gotten a little more experienced at creating vegan recipes, I wanted to try my hand at making my own desserts this Thanksgiving. This recipe is a combination of two of my favorite holiday desserts—pumpkin pie and cheesecake
Vegan Marble Pumpkin Cheesecake
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Yield: 10” diameter cheesecake—12 servings
Crust Ingredients
35 ginger snap cookies
4 tbsp vegan butter or coconut oil
Cheesecake Batter Ingredients
11 oz raw cashews
1/2 cup canned chickpeas
1/2 can full fat coconut milk (13.5 oz)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/8 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Pumpkin Batter Ingredients
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (15 oz)
1 can sweetened condensed coconut milk (11.6 oz)
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp pumpkin spice
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup flour
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 325 F.
Line the sides and bottom of a 10” springform pan with parchment paper. You can lightly oil the pan to help the parchment paper stick.
Crush ginger snap cookies into crumbs using a food processor.
Mix cookie crumbs with 4 tbsp melted butter. Press mixture firmly into the bottom of the pan to form crust. Refrigerate the crust until the batters are complete.
Rinse cashews and soak in boiling water for 15 minutes. Drain water. Blend cashews in food processor until smooth.
Add the remaining ingredients for the cheesecake batter into the food processor and combine until smooth. Place batter into a bowl.
Combine all ingredients for the pumpkin batter except the flour with the food processor and then place pumpkin batter into a separate bowl.
Whisk in the flour 1/2 cup at a time until smooth. Batter should be about the same consistency as the cheesecake batter. Add more flour if necessary.
Alternate between scooping the cheesecake and pumpkin batter into the springform pan. (I added about 1/4 cup batter at a time to the center of the pan to make a ringed pattern before swirling.) Use a toothpick to create the desired marble effect.
Bake cheesecake in the oven for about 50 minutes to an 1 hour or until visibly firm.
Allow cheesecake to cool and then place in the fridge for at least 4 hours to chill. Serve and enjoy! :)
Notes
Feel free to play with the ratio of the batter if you want to have more cheesecake or more pumpkin pie!
Serve with cocowhip topping or vanilla ice-cream for extra fun!
