V-Day Vegan Recipe: Turtle Cheesecake with Pecans, Fudge, and Caramel Drizzle
My father's favorite chocolate was always Turtles. Every Christmas, every birthday, even Easter Sunday, and every Valentine's Day, we all knew exactly which candy we were going to surprise him with. As my sister became more and more invested in her vegan diet, however, she eventually upgraded her Turtle gift into this truly decadent vegan Turtle cheesecake, topped with pecans, caramel sauce, and hot fudge.
Check the ingredients labels, and you should be able to find some vegan hot fudge at the grocery store. Caramel sauce might be a little trickier. However, don't worry. I've made sure to include a homemade recipe for both, so you can make them both from scratch, if needed!
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Vegan Turtle Cheesecake
2 (8-ounce) packages vegan cream cheese (I recommend Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese's original flavor.)
2 cups vegan sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
1 vegan chocolate cookie pie crust (Keebler's Chocolate Ready Crust is surprisingly vegan!)
1/4 cup toasted pecans
2 eggs worth of Ener-G Egg Replacer (or any other binding vegan egg replacer of choice)
1 batch of hot fudge topping (see below)
1 batch of caramel topping (see below)
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. In your largest mixing bowl, blend the vegan cream cheese, vegan sour cream, and sugar using an electric handheld mixer until smooth.
2. Add the vanilla, flour, and flaxseeds and mix for about a minute. It’s important to make sure there aren’t any lumps. Pour your creamy filling into the chocolate crust.
3. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Check the center with a toothpick to make sure it’s solid. Pull the cheesecake out of the oven when it is solid to the touch and passes the toothpick test or when the top starts to crack a little and begins pulling from the sides.
4. Cool on a wire rack for around an hour and then top with pecans and sauce (see recipe for sauces below). Refrigerate overnight and then enjoy this wonderful treat!
For the Hot Fudge Topping:
1 cup Silk vanilla coffee creamer (or any other non-dairy vanilla coffee creamer)
1/2 a bag of vegan chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli, but there are lots of others.)
1/2 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon Earth Balance vegetable spread
1 teaspoon vanilla
1. In a sauce pan, heat the creamer, chocolate, and sugar at medium heat until it starts to boil. Remove from heat and whisk in Earth Balance and vanilla until the mix is smooth and creamy.
2. Let the sauce cool for 30 minutes. (If you have time, put it in the fridge. It will get firm just like fudge!)
For the Caramel Topping:
1 cup of light corn syrup
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Earth Balance
1 cup Silk vanilla coffee creamer
1. In a saucepan, heat the corn syrup, brown sugar, and Earth Balance to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 5 minutes and continue to stir. Combine in creamer, then remove from heat and let cool.
