To Live and Eat in L.A. – A Vegan Food Photo Blog

Ok so I didn’t really turn into an actual pumpkin, but I did have another late night baking fit involving pumpkin… at the rate I’m going through these orange gourds, I very well might turn into one.

This time around I was set on having pumpkin cheesecake. I went through all my cookbooks looking for the perfect recipe, but everything I found was either too complicated or called for too many ingredients that I didn’t have on hand. I eventually came upon PETA’s Pumpkin Cheesecake. It seemed super easy to make and I had everything listed so I decided to give it a whirl.

Wow… it turned out so good! My first pretend-cheescake and I didn’t mess it up, yay! Really though, the recipe is so simple I would have had to have been trying on purpose to mess it up. Anyone can make this, it’s as easy as putting ingredients into a food processor or blender and then waiting for it to be ready.

Above is what it looked like hot out of the oven. Yowza!

The waiting is the hardest part. After baking you need to let it cool and then refrigerate overnight (at least 6 hours). It’s a bit like torture when your whole house smells of amazing pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves and there’s nothing you can do about it until the next morning but sit and wait. There will be no pie before its time.

Here’s the recipe:

Pumpkin ‘Cheesecake’
12 oz. firm silken tofu, pureed
8 oz. nondairy cream cheese (I used Tofutti)
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
1⁄2 tsp. ground ginger
1⁄2 tsp. nutmeg
1 1⁄2 tsp. cinnamon
1⁄8 tsp. salt
1⁄4 tsp. baking soda
1 prepared graham cracker crust

* Preheat the oven to 350°F.
* Puree all the ingredients except the pie crust in a food processor and pour into the graham cracker crust.
* Bake at 350°F for 50 minutes.
* Allow to cool for 30 minutes, cover with plastic wrap or the top of the pie container, and refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight before serving. Makes 8 servings.

My changes:
- I added in a little less than 1/4tsp. ground cloves
- I only had the soft silken tofu not the firm as the recipe calls for. As the mixture was very liquidy after being processed, I was concerned the pie wouldn’t set properly, so I added in 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. I think this was the right thing to do as the pie did set nicely, though is still very soft and moist. I think that without the cornstarch it would have ended up too runny. Next time I’ll use the proper consistency of tofu.
- Just a warning: after 30 minutes of cooling it wasn’t yet cooled all the way through, so when I tried to put plastic wrap over it as suggested, the plastic stuck to the top of the pie right away and was very hard to remove… that’s why the top is a little ugly in the photos. As soon as I realized the plastic was an issue I quickly removed it as best I could and just covered the pie with a glass lid that didn’t touch the top.

Below is what it looked like after cooling and setting. It got kinda deflated but what it lacks in good looks it makes up for in awesome deliciousness.

The results were better than what I could have humbly hoped for, it’s got the full delicious flavor of an excellent pumpkin pie while also having a very pleasing, creamy texture and the sour notes of a cheesecake. Nothing about this feels like it’s lacking anything, and I’m willing to bet that if I didn’t tell anyone it was vegan, they’d never know it was dairy-free.

Super easy to make and super delicious in your face. Now that’s my kinda pie! Er, cake… um, cheesecake… whatever… go make it, eat it and enjoy!

1. It’s the Great Pumpkin Cake, Charlie Brown!
2. The Pumpkin Couscous Cake That No One Almost Ate.
3. Cilantro & pumpkin seed pesto
4. That’s the way the cookie crumbles…
5. My ‘Apple Pie Couscous Cake’ brings it!

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