Candy canes plus creme sandwich cookies, made into mini cheesecakes with chocolate drizzle. Um… yes, please! These new treats are perfect for all your holiday festivities!
Merry Christmas Eve Eve! I know it’s been forever since I’ve posted, have you missed me? I’ve sure missed sharing with you, and my apologies for my absence, but I’ve been busy at SCHOOL! That’s right, if you missed my announcement on Instagram, this girl has started culinary school! I’ve been in the kitchen learning new skills to better my recipes to come.
I’ve had a few recipes I’ve wanted to share with you for Christmas, but the weeks keep flying by. I’m staying up in Pasadena during the school week, a couple of hours away from home, and I’m still kind of adjusting. I had one or two things to share, which I just needed pictures for, and one or two things I wanted to make one more time. Now, here it is, less than a week before Christmas, and I’m only able to share one new recipe with you.
I know I do a lot of cheesecakes, they’re kind of my signature dessert. I just have so much fun coming up with new varieties, and both vegans and omnivores always enjoy them. When there’s a holiday or event, I’m expected to bring the cheesecake.
The first time I made these delicious, Christmasy treats was for my classmates, just last week. I loved not only how good they tasted, but they were so pretty as well. In the past, I’ve made plenty of vegan cheesecakes with regular Oreos (or Glutino Chocolate Vanilla Crème Cookies for gluten-free), but never with the fun and festive candy cane variety! I saw them first in Trader Joes a few weeks ago (Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s). I immediately wanted to use them for cheesecakes.
When I saw the Joe-Joe’s, I refrained from buying them, but my husband surprised me with some only about a week later. Unfortunately, the gluten-free ones are not vegan (Boo!), so I went on a search to find some which were!
Initially, I thought I’d have to use Glutino’s cookies and simply decorate with some crumbled candy cane, but I went on a mission and guess what I found? I wandered through Whole Foods for at least 30 minutes, trying to find ANYTHING that was gluten-free. I thought I was out of luck because, in their cookie section, I couldn’t find any that would work, but I stumbled upon an end cap which, to my delight, had Gluten-Free Candy Cane Creme Cookies that were, in fact, vegan. Yay!
As I’m sure you’ve guessed, these are made pretty similar to my other cheesecakes. After making the filling, I crumble the cookies and stir them in. I included chocolate and crumbled candy canes in the crust (I found organic ones right next to the cookies!), chocolate drizzle on top, more candy cane, and one whole cookie!
I’m making more of these for Christmas. The family was a little jealous when they saw the pictures, so I promised they’d get some. Hopefully, it’s not too late for you to make them too! Get that coconut milk in the fridge (or if you’re like me, you always keep a few cans chilled), soak those cashews, and you’ve just enough time.
If you make and enjoy these, let me know! Leave a comment below, or take a pic and tag me on Instagram, @veggiesattiffanis. Happy Holidays!
Candy Cane Creme Sandwich Cheesecakes
Equipment
- High-speed blender (or see notes for using a standard blender)
- 12-cup muffin tin (standard sized)
- 12 paper (or foil) cupcake-liners
- Double boiler (or see notes for alternate options)
- Food processor (or use pulse/chop option on blender)
Ingredients
For the crust…
- 3/4 cup raw almonds or more as needed
- 1/2 cup + 1/8 cup dates or more as needed
- 2 Tbsp dairy-free chocolate chips or more to taste
- 1 organic candy cane
- pinch sea salt
For the filling…
- 2 cups raw cashews soaked overnight *or at least four hours
- 15 candy cane creme sandwich cookies (gluten-free if necessary) chopped *Ensure vegan
- 1 can full fat coconut milk refrigerated for at least 24 hours
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (start with less if using juice from fresh lemons) or more to taste
- 1/4 cup 100% pure maple syrup or more to taste
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch sea salt
For topping…
- 1/2 cup dairy-free chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 Tbsp almond milk or non-dairy milk of choice
- 1 Tbsp 100% pure maple syrup
- 12 candy cane creme sandwich cookies, gluten-free if necessary ensure vegan
- 1 organic candy cane
Instructions
- Add both candy canes to your food processor fitted with the s-blade. Mix on high until broken into fine to small pieces (some will be powder). Transfer to a separate bowl or container.
- Now add the remaining crust ingredients to your food processor. Pulse until mixture can be formed into a "dough" when pressed between two fingers. If the mixture is too dry, add more dates and if the mixture is too moist, add more almonds. Add one to two tablespoons of the blended candy cane to the crust mixture and pulse a few times. Taste mixture, if desired, and more chocolate chips or blended candy cane to taste.
- Line muffin tin with cupcake liners. Press the crust mixture into the bottom of each muffin cup to form a firm bottom (you may have a little leftover). Transfer muffin tin with formed crusts into the fridge or freezer.
- Set the chopped cookies aside. Open the can of refrigerated coconut milk and scoop out 3/4 cup of the cream (the solid part is the cream, save the rest for smoothies), add it to your blender along with all remaining filling ingredients. Blend on high until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Taste mixture. If more tartness is desired, add more lemon, if more sweetness is desired, add more maple syrup.
- Remove the muffin tin from the fridge/freezer. Using a spoon, mix cookies into cheesecake filling. Pour filling into muffin cups. Place cheesecakes in the freezer overnight.
- After cheesecakes have frozen, remove from the freezer and let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Carefully peel off cupcake liners.
- Heat water in the bottom pan of a double boiler. Once boiling, turn heat to low and in the top pan add chocolate chips, milk, and maple syrup. Whisk until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from heat.
- Glue a cookie to the top of each mini-cheesecake with a small spoonful of chocolate drizzle. Next, using a spoon, pastry bag, or squeeze bottle, drizzle more chocolate over the top of each cheesecake, then sprinkle with remaining candy cane.
- Place cheesecakes in the fridge to let the chocolate set and the cheesecakes defrost completely (about one to two hours, or about 15 to 30 minutes at room temperature for defrosting).