Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake

Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake

OK, this is so yummy - and perfect for this pumpkin-fall-holiday time of year! 
Make the pie with your own roasted-and mashed squash or pumpkin - OR with the canned, plain pumpkin - either is fine.
Make the crust with any graham cracker crust recipe you have, or use a pre-made one.

There are so many good vegan cheesecake recipes out there, you may have already found one that is your favorite! I like the simplicity of this and how quick it goes together, plus it doesn't use 3 or 4 cartons of vegan cream cheese like some of the larger recipes do!
This makes a 9-inch or pie-pan size or small cheesecake.
(if you want it more traditional cheesecake size, done in a large springform pan, please don't try doubling this, it doesn't firm up so well when done in a larger size.)

Ingredients:

• 1 box aseptically packaged (Mori-Nu) package firm silken tofu
• 1 8-oz. package Tofutti Better-than Cream Cheese
• 1/3 cup pumpkin-flavored or vanilla-flavored plant milk (I LOVE using So Delicious Pumpkin Spice Coconut Milk here, definitely try it if you have a chance!! But any non-dairy milk will work fine.)
• 3/4  - 1 cup cooked pumpkin puree
• 1/4 c. maple syrup
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (more if you like it sweeter)
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 Tb. fresh squeezed lemon juice
• pinch salt
• 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spices (or your own blend, however you like to flavor pumpkin pie)
• 2 Tb. cornstarch
• 1 (9 inch) prepared "graham cracker" crust of your choice.

 (I use a standard recipe and sub vanilla wafers, which are vegan, instead of graham crackers. Sometimes I use graham crackers, which have honey, making them not vegan, but that's a discussion for another time. Arrowhead Mills makes a vegan graham cracker crust. And there are tons of great recipes in many vegan cookbooks, take your pick!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a blender, combine the ingredients and blend until smooth.

Pour into pie crust of your choice. (If you have filling left over it can be baked in custard cups!)

3. Bake for 45 - 55 minutes until center is set - it will still be a bit jiggly but will set up upon refrigerating.

Remove from oven and allow to cool; refrigerate until chilled.