One of the great things about working at a health food store is that I’m always finding out about fabulous new products as they become available. Lately it’s all been about new Bob’s Red Mill products available in Australia, with an assortment of new gluten-free products being stocked at Sunnybrook and now Tofutti’s new Better Than Ricotta as well. While I’m not one for “fake” or “alternative” products, we have a lot of people with allergies and intolerances at work. Vegan ricotta plus a work birthday you say? I guess I had better make a cheesecake!
It’s a sweet and tangy dessert, a delightfully golden dessert dotted with lilac and purple berries. I need is some better photos; these are quite trashy and taken last minute before serving. They really don’t do it justice. I could have easily added even more blueberries and a little more sweetener (I’ve adjusted the recipe below); I’m told by some that making Tofutti products taste good is a feat in itself but I had no complaints. All plates were left clean.
While this recipe is vegan due to the ingredients I used, hopefully the vegans out there don’t yell at me for tagging a ricotta recipe as ‘vegan’, I’m aware it wouldn’t normally be.
- 2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
- ⅓ cup coconut (or grapeseed) oil
- 3 tbsp rapadura sugar (or 4 tbsp agave syrup
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 180C. Combine all ingredients in bowl.
- Press into base of fluted or round pan with release base.
- Bake for 15 minutes until browned and dry, remove from oven and let cool completely (approx 45 minutes - 1 hour)
- 1 tub Tofutti Better Than Ricotta (or 250g ricotta)
- 6 tbsp almond meal
- 4 flax eggs (see notes) OR 4 eggs
- ¼ cup rapadura sugar or agave syrup
- 375g + 125g fresh blueberries
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp lemon juice + rind
- In a blender or food processor puree ricotta and all other ingredients, reserving the 125g of blueberries.
- Preheat oven to 180C. Scatter remaining blueberries over baked cookie base and then pour blended mixture on top. Use a spatula to gently even out the top.
- Bake cheesecake for 40 minutes (or until firm with a slight wobble in the centre). After this time turn off the oven and leave the oven door ajar for 30min. Cool cheesecake completely and then refrigerate for a few hours before serving..
Comments 6
That is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! 🙂
Thankyou honey, it was gobbled down by my workmates so I guess I could call my first try at cheesecake a success 😀
um wow!
This looks amazing!
I want some!
Thankyou 😀 I happened to get a second tub of Tofutti Ricotta this week to trial again, I’m thinking vegan chocolate bundt cakes this time 😀
Wow.. I haven’t seen this here, yet.
Have heard nothing but bad things about it – which is surprising – Tofutti are really usually on the mark with their products – their sour cream is really good, and their cream cheese is almost perfect. Their cheese slices are unpleasant raw, but melt and taste quite good when melted. Their pizzas – yum, and ice cream – very “american-tasting”, but still quite good.
Thanks for the review – look forward to trying it.
Thanks for the comment 🙂 I have to tell you, don’t eat it on it’s own. As I found out here – http://forum.theppk.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=17239 – I’m not the only one who found it to have a really weird taste and texture when unnadorned. That being said, I’ve now made three different baking projects with it (this, a chocolate bundt cake and some protein brownies) and think it’s definitely better as an ingredient IN a recipe, and not as a final product straight from the tub.
I agree with you about their other products too, having enjoyed both their sour cream and their cream cheese on many occasions. I guess you can’t get it perfect everytime? Who knows, with lots of feedback they can only improve things I guess! Would love to know what you think if you ever try it 🙂