Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place the oven rack in the center position.

Step 2

Line the bottom of a 7 x 10 baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

Step 3

. Place the rolled oats into a food processor, process for 10 seconds to break them up, then place in a large bowl.

Step 4

Place all remaining Crust Ingredients (dry ingredients first including the chopped oats, mix to combine, then add the wet ingredients) into the large bowl, stir until well combined and forms a ball, then break the dough into 6 to 8 pieces and pat into the bottom of a parchment paper lined 7 x 10 baking pan, bake 12 to 14 minutes until lightly golden brown, remove the baking dish from the oven, set aside until completely cooled .  Do not remove from the baking pan.

Step 5

by placing all the Cream Cheese Layer Ingredients into a bowl, mix until smooth, then place the cream cheese mixture onto the cooled crust layer and place in the freezer for 2 hours. This helps strengthen the cream cheese layer, so the strawberry topping layer is easier to spread.

Step 6

While the crust/cream cheese pan is in the freezer, slice the strawberries, 3 cups in total. Take 1 ½ cups of the sliced strawberries and place in the refrigerator for later. Take the other 1 ½ cups of the sliced strawberries and place them into medium-sized stockpot with ½ cup of water and ¼ cup of maple syrup.

Step 7

Bring to a rolling boil, then lower to a simmering boil. Simmer on low for 5 minutes, then take a potato masher and mash the strawberries in the pot.  It’s ok if there are small pieces of strawberries remaining.

Step 8

, by placing all the Cornstarch Slurry Ingredients into a small bowl and whisking until smooth. Increase the heat on the strawberry sauce and then stir in the cornstarch slurry, stirring constantly for several minutes until the strawberry sauce has thickened.  Then the remove the strawberry sauce from the stove to cool. Place the Strawberry Sauce in the refrigerator until the time is up on the cream cheese/crust layers that has been in the freezer for 2 hours.

Step 9

After two hours, remove from the cream cheese/crust pan from the freezer. Test the cream cheese layer, it should be frozen solid. If not frozen solid, return to the freezer until frozen solid. Once frozen solid, then place a very thin layer of refrigerated strawberry sauce over top of the cream cheese layer.  Next place a layer of all the sliced fresh strawberries (1 ½ cups that were reserved), followed by all the rest of the strawberry sauce taking time to coat all the sliced strawberries.

Step 10

Cover tightly, not allowing the cover to touch the dessert. Place in the freezer for several hours or overnight. When ready to serve, remove the dessert from the freezer, cut into squares and allow to sit for 15 minutes prior to serving. This allows the dessert to thaw.  Keep leftovers in the freezer or refrigerator.