Graham Cracker Chocolate Cheesecake

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about half a box of crackers)
1 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbl coconut or canola oil
2 packs mori-nu firm tofu
2 egg whites
1 tbl arrowroot
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup cream cheese (tofu or dairy)
1/3 cup organic sugar 
2/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grind graham crackers until you have 1 1/2 cups of crumbs (you can buy some whole grain, organic graham crackers as I did for this recipe).  Add cinnamon and oil and press into pie dish.  Bake for 10 minutes and set aside.

Put tofu, egg whites, arrowroot, baking powder, salt, cream cheese and sugar into a blender or food processor and blend until creamy.  Divide chocolate chips into 1/3 cup and 1/3 cup.  Take 1/3 cup and melt in microwave or double boiler.  Note-if you melt chips in microwave do not overheat-just heat until some are melted and some still hold their shape and stir.  Then add melted chocolate to tofu mixture and blend.  Add cocoa and vanilla and blend again.  Then add the remaining 1/3 cup of chocolate chips and blend just until they break up a little.  Pour into pie dish.

Bake for about 45 minutes-the cheesecake should be firm around the edges and just set in the middle.  Cool for 30 minutes and then refrigerate until set, at least 3-4 hours.

Please note that this is not a very sweet cheesecake, which I prefer.  If you like really sweet desserts use 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup sugar instead of 1/3 cup.

Serves 6

I promised a cheesecake recipe this weekend, so here it is!!!  The recipe is for a chocolate mouse cheesecake but you can play with the ingredients to make any kind of cheesecake that you want!  You can remove the chocolate and add fruit, swap out the crust, do a little dance, it’s your cheesecake, do what you wanna do!

Here we goooo!!!

Chocolate Mouse Cheesecake 

12 Newman-O’s (wheat free and dairy free) cookies

1 tbsp soy butter (melted)

1 block of firm tofu 

1/2 container of plain Tofutti Cream Cheese

1/4 c maple syrup

1 tbsp vanilla

2/3 c vegan chocolate chips

1 container of Soyatoo! Whipped cream

1 round pie pan

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  First make the crust by using a food processor to grind up the cookies, and combine with the melted butter.  (If you don’t have a food processor put cookies into a plastic bag, cover it with a towel, and gently crush with a hammer!)

Place the crust mixture into the pan and spread out until it covers the pan evenly.  In a blender, add the tofu, cream cheese, syrup, vanilla and chocolate, and blend until smooth.   Put the tofu mixture into the piecrust and bake the cheesecake for about 20 minutes, or just until the top firms up. Then place the cheesecake in the fridge to cool. Serve with Soyatoo whipped cream!

Sooooo yummy!

Serves 6