Guest Blogger: Glue and Glitter – Mini No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecakes

I know most people love a good cheesecake, Becky, of  Glue and Glitter fame has taken it one step further with mini NO bake cheesecakes. Becky has contributed before with her Easy Peasy Kale Salad Recipe,  Almost Raw Vegan Truffles and Orange Ginger Dream Green Smoothie and Mexican Hot Chocolate Milkshake for Cinco de Mayo.

Here she is in her own words, “My name is Becky Striepe (rhymes with “sleepy”), and I am a crafts and food writer from Atlanta, Georgia with a passion for making our planet a healthier, happier, and more compassionate place to live. My mission is to make vegan food and crafts accessible to everyone! My new cookbook, Bowls, is a collection of easy, mix-and-match vegan comfort food recipes.” Welcome back Becky!

Mini No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecakes

Instead of one large cheesecake, this recipe makes 12 single-serving mini cheesecakes. What can I say? I love a miniature version of things!

These mini cheesecakes are a spin on my all-time favorite dessert recipe: Teaslies.

This is a perfect recipe for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. It comes together quickly, and these suckers transport well in a shallow container with a lid. Just stack them in a single layer and make sure they’re chilled before you head out.

Mini No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup almonds or walnuts
• 1 cup pitted dates, soaked overnight in enough water to cover, then drained
• 3 cups raw cashews, soaked overnight in enough water to cover, then drained
• 1 cup coconut oil, melted (measure, then melt)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• mixed fruits of your choice

Directions

1. Puree the almonds or walnuts until you have a coarse meal and set aside. Puree 1/3 cup of the dates, then mix the dates and almond meal to create a sticky dough. Divide the dough between 12 lined muffin tins, pressing it down into the bottom. The dough will fill the cups about 1/4 of the way.
2. Combine all of the remaining ingredients except for the berries in your blender or food processor. Puree until totally smooth. If the mixture seems grainy, give your blender a break, then puree some more. Keep pureeing and taking breaks until you have a creamy mixture. Divide this between the cups.
3. Top with your berries, and chill for 1 hour or until you’re ready to serve.

Guest Blogger: Fried Tofu – Vegan Bolognese Sauce

New bloggers almost every day! Thank you everyone for coming together, this is exactly what VBU! is all about – yay us!

 

Please meet Susan, blogger of Fried Tofu. Here she is in her own words.

“Hello, my name is Susan. I reside in Chicago, IL with my husband and my dog. I once was a competitive swimmer, turned runner (2 marathons, check!), turned corporate professional, turned wine-o (due to the job), turned Vegan, turned blogger. I am type A, but my husband and best friend (Morgan, my fellow blogger) do a great job of balancing me out. I love to travel. I grew up with two supportive parents and two uniquely awesome sisters. I ride my bike to work (almost) everyday. I have a strange obsession with air planes and still find air travel to be an amazing feat. If I’m not in my kitchen, you can find me at a concert.

Fried Tofu is a blog about two friends with different views on food, coming together on one blog. Susan, the Vegan, Morgan, the not-so-Vegan, working to share recipes, travel experiences, totally awesome products and much more. The main focus is recipe Face Offs, where we put our own spin on one dish. Morgan makes a non-Vegan dish and I Veganize it. We post a Recipe Face Off every 2 weeks.” Please follow Susan and her adventures on her blog, Facebook and Twitter. Welcome Susan!

I made a “real” bolognese sauce about 6 or 7 years ago that my husband went crazy over. I never wrote down the recipe and of course I could never repeat what I had created the first time around. I like to believe that the Vegan Gods were the cause of my forgetfulness. Well Seitan, you won…