Mini Vegan Cheesecakes (Fully Gluten Free, option for Refined Sugar Free, & Multiple Topping options)

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Step 2

Start with the “graham cracker” crust.  I recommend using pre-packaged oat flour for this part, NOT grinding your own rolled oats, but if you are going to use rolled oats then make sure to read the notes below since it will alter the amounts of the ingredients! Mix your oat flour, coconut sugar, salt, and melted butter in a bowl.  Combine into a wet sand consistency, then scoop one PACKED tbsp of the mixture into each cupcake liner.  Press down firmly.  You will have some leftover mixture which you can either add in here to make heavier crusts, or simply discard (or eat) the leftover.

Step 3

Next up is the cheesecake filling.  The biggest thing to consider in this part is the coconut cream.  You really want to just use the solid, “heavy cream” like part that rises to the top of the can, not the liquid on the bottom.  This means do NOT shake the can before opening.  As long as it’s been upright and undisturbed, it should have separated.  When you remove this part it will come to around 7-8oz or 14 tbsp worth of cream.In a large bowl, mix together this measurement of coconut cream with the rest of the ingredients listed in this section – vegan cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, cornstarch, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt.  Mix together with a hand mixer or stand mixer until completely combined, or if you do not have a mixer just mix incredibly thoroughly by hand.

Step 4

Evenly spoon the cheesecake filling mixture on top of the packed individual crusts, they will fill nearly to the top.  Bake for exactly 20 minutes, then remove from the oven and stick the pan straight onto a cooling rack so air can circulate around the bottom of the pan not just the top.  When the pan first comes out of the oven, the filling will have puffed up high and the center will seem a little jiggly.  Let them set at room temperature for 2 hours, they will settle and set, and then I recommend moving into the fridge for another hour before serving.  I let them set overnight.

Step 5

The mini cheesecakes are DONE and perfect as is, but if you want to make any of the toppings shown in the photos, then I will go through the instructions below.  Additionally, in the How To Make Them section, I link to three other toppings I think could be great here – chocolate ganache, salted caramel, and strawberry sauce.

Step 6

Blueberry Compote – combine the warm water and cornstarch in a small pot or saucepan.  Then add in the rest of the ingredients and heat over medium for 3-5 minutes until all the blueberries have burst and there are no large chunks left.  Remove from heat and let cool entirely before using as a topping.

Step 7

Raspberry Sauce – you can make this exactly like the blueberry sauce, same amounts and just swap in raspberries, but because raspberries have seeds the compote will have seeds in it as well.  If you want the sauce to be seedless, you will need to strain out the liquid portion, which is why the amounts here are so much larger.  Same as with the blueberry sauce, start by combining the warm water and cornstarch in a small pot or saucepan, then add the rest of the ingredients, and heat on medium until there are no large chunks.  Then strain out the liquid portion and discard the seeded part, and then let the liquid cool entirely before using as a topping.

Step 8

Coconut Whipped Cream – make sure you have chilled your cans of coconut cream in the fridge overnight!  This works well if you are letting the cheesecakes set overnight, just pop the cans in with them and make the whipped cream fresh in the morning.  Remove your cans of chilled coconut cream from the fridge, being very careful not to shake them up.  Open gently and scoop out just the hardened cream part from the top, leaving behind the liquid at the bottom.  If your can did not separate it is a dud can!  Spoon the hardened cream from the cans into a large bowl, and mix on high speed for a few minutes until it is creamy, and stiff peaks are forming off the mixer.  Add in your desired amount of powdered sugar, you can use more or less than the recommended based on your own taste, and mix until combined.  Pipe or spoon onto each cheesecake.

Step 9

Eat and enjoy!