If my blog could have a pièce de résistance, this veganization is it! Seven extensive product reviews covering more than forty vegan alternatives – plus several additional tests – made “Make-It-Mine Vegan Cheesecake (Bars)” possible:
- Vegan Cream Cheese
- Vegan Sour Cream
- Unsweetened Plain Vegan Yogurt
- Sweetened Vanilla Vegan Yogurt
- Salted Vegan Butter Sticks
- Egg Replacer
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
What is a “Make-It-Mine” recipe?
“Make-It-Mine” recipes are infinitely customizable formulae. I first encountered – and fell in love with – them when my spouse Chuck gifted me the Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book: 15th Edition in 2011. Among countless other recipes, this spiral-bound tome features “Make-It-Mine” guidelines for creating your own Rice Pilaf, Muffins, Potpie, Oatmeal Cookies, Burgers, and more.
I still adore these frameworks for culinary creativity! Especially as I learned to cook, they reduced my fear of failure and empowered me to take risks. I imagined every owner of this book agreed, and longed for the day Better Homes & Gardens would release a volume containing nothing but.
Alas, they never did. The 2022 New Cook Book: 100th Anniversary Edition, in fact, doesn’t list a single one.
Invaluable Resource – and Challenge
I maintain that “Make-It-Mine” recipes are brilliant. “Make-It-Mine Cheesecake” particularly struck me as the ultimate test for my product review winners.
When I test vegan alternatives, I analyze them in recipes with few other ingredients to expose their effectiveness. Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer, for example, is the best egg replacer to me because it works perfectly in cookies with only peanut butter, powdered sugar, and an “egg”.
Such recipes make for good science, but not necessarily the best practicality. After all, a given conventional recipe likely includes eggs and butter (or some other dairy product). I wanted to know how well my vegan recommendations interact!
A Caveat and a Bonus
Caveat
The possibilities with “Make-It-Mine” recipes are endless! Consequently, I can’t test them all. While I can reasonably predict success, I admit I can’t guarantee it. (Maybe this is why “Make-It-Mine” recipes disappeared?)
Bonus
Almost all vegan substitutions herein are 1:1. Therefore, if you prefer to make a conventional cheesecake, go ahead! Use 8 instead of 6 Tbsp (113 mL/g instead of 84 mL/g) butter, and 3 eggs instead of Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer and water.
To bake, per Better Homes & Gardens, preheat your oven to 350°F/180°C and bake for 40-50 minutes. All other ingredients and instructions below apply.
Plays Well With Others
enough disclaimers! Here’s some inspiration:
Cherry Amaretto Vegan Cheesecake
- “DAIRY”: Vegan Cream Cheese for Baking
- CRUMBS: Lotus Biscoff cookies, plus almonds
- SPICE: none
- SUGAR: granulated sugar
- POWDER: all-purpose flour
- EXTRACT: almond
- LIQUID: amaretto
- STIR-IN, SWIRL-IN, and/or TOPPING: cherry pie filling
Lemon Blueberry Vegan Sour Cream Cheesecake Bars
- “DAIRY”: Vegan Cream Cheese for Baking, plus Violife Just Like Sour Cream
- CRUMBS: belVita Breakfast Biscuits, Golden Oat
- SPICE: none
- SUGAR: granulated sugar
- POWDER: all-purpose flour
- EXTRACT: lemon
- LIQUID: omitted
- STIR-IN, SWIRL-IN, and/or TOPPING: lemon zest and blueberry pie filling
Chocolate Peanut Butter Vegan Cheesecake Bars
- “DAIRY”: Vegan Cream Cheese for Baking, plus Silk Unsweet Vanilla Almondmilk Yogurt (strained)
- CRUMBS: belVita Breakfast Biscuits, Chocolate
- SPICE: none
- SUGAR: granulated sugar
- POWDER: PB2
- EXTRACT: vanilla
- LIQUID: omitted
- STIR-IN, SWIRL-IN, and/or TOPPING: Guittard & Co. Semisweet Chocolate Chips (melted)
Pumpkin Spice Vegan Cheesecake
- “DAIRY”: Vegan Cream Cheese for Baking, plus canned pumpkin
- CRUMBS: Lotus Biscoff cookies
- SPICE: pumpkin pie spice
- SUGAR: granulated and light brown sugar
- POWDER: all-purpose flour
- EXTRACT: vanilla
- LIQUID: omitted
- STIR-IN, SWIRL-IN, and/or TOPPING: none
Veganization: Make-It-Mine Vegan Cheesecake (Bars)
Description
Use the checkbox and "Mark as complete" features to help you specify the ingredients and instructions you need for your creation.
Ingredients
"DAIRY" (Pick one.)
CRUMBS (Pick one.)
SUGAR (Pick one.)
STIR-IN, SWIRL-IN, and/or TOPPING
Instructions
Prepare
-
Make desired amount of Vegan Cream Cheese for Baking.
→ If necessary, strain yogurt.
-
Bring any cold ingredients to room temperature.
→ For bars, line an 8x8-in/20x20-cm baking dish with parchment overhanging all sides. (Center an 8x16-in/20x40-cm piece of parchment on your dish. Fold into place, and then repeat with an identical piece of parchment in the opposite direction.)
-
Preheat oven to 325°F/165°C.
Crust
-
Melt "butter".
-
Process cookies (plus nuts and/or spice if using) into fine crumbs. Add melted "butter", then mix until thoroughly combined.
-
→ For a round cheesecake, press into bottom and 1 1/2 in (4 cm) up sides of a 9-in (23-in) nonstick springform pan;
→ bars, bottom only.
Set aside.
Filling
-
Thoroughly whisk egg replacer and water, then set aside.
-
Use an electric mixer to beat "DAIRY", SUGAR, POWDER, and EXTRACT until uniformly mixed. Add LIQUID (if needed) followed by egg replacer mixture, beating well after each addition.
→ If using a STIR-IN, switch to a spoon to incorporate.
-
Pour filling into crust.
→ If using a SWIRL-IN such as chocolate chips, melt and dot surface of filling. Marble with a thin spatula or butter knife.
Baking & Cooling
-
Bake 40 minutes, or until a 2 1/2-in (5-cm) circle from edge appears set.
-
Turn off oven and set door ajar. Allow cheesecake (bars) 4+ hours to come to room temperature. Meanwhile, make refrigerator space for your pan.
-
Transfer cheesecake (bars) to refrigerator and chill overnight before removing from pan.
→ Add TOPPING if desired, then slice and enjoy!
Note
Explore the product reviews that made "Make-It-Mine Vegan Cheesecake (Bars)" possible:
