Mini Blueberry Swirl Cheesecakes

Well, Hello June! I think it’s time to get light, fresh and summery!

Everyone in this house loves cheesecakes and they’re probably my most asked for pudding. I tend to either use Tofutti ‘Better than cream cheese’ or occasionally tofu when making a chocolate cheesecake. However it’s all about soaked cashews in vegan cheesecakes these days and since little S can have cashews these days, I thought I’d try one out. All I can say is no no no, cashews do not make a nice ‘cheesecake’ – maybe it’s because I don’t have a high speed blender or maybe I didn’t soak the cashews for long enough, but the resulting mixture was a sweet, grainy, nutty paste which tasted just that. I knew there was no way that was going to be popular in this household! If anyone has tips, please let me know, everyone is so positive about cashew cheesecake that i must have been making some fatal mistakes…

So back to my popular tofutti based cheesecake and my, am I pleased I did. I changed up my usual recipe to make mini blueberry swirl cheesecakes on a plain biscuit base.

Don’t they look cute, popped out of muffin trays to look like proper mini versions of a family sized dessert? Well it’s as easy as anything, simply lie two strips of baking parchment in a cross at the base of each cake dip and assemble the cheesecake on top. After a quick half hour in the freezer they’re ready to pop out and devour!

Mini Blueberry Cheesecakes

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan) NB Contains soya

 makes 8 mini cheesecakes

small handful blueberries

1 tbsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp cornflour

100g plain biscuits, crushed

1 tbsp dairy-free spread, melted

1 pack soya cream cheese

2-3 tbsps soya yogurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2-3 tbsps icing sugar

1. In a small saucepan, combine the blueberries, caster sugar and cornflour. Simmer until the blueberries pop and the mixture becomes ‘jammy’. Sieve or leave as a more chunky texture. Set aside to cool.
2. Mix the crushed biscuits with the melted spread. Press into the bottom of the cupcake pan. Place in the fridge to set.
3. Whisk together the other ingredients until they are smooth. Taste and add more vanilla or icing sugar according to own taste.
4. Spoon onto the biscuit base, and level off the top.
5. Swirl a dollop of blueberry puree onto the top of each cheesecake.
6. Place in the freezer to set for at least a half an hour. Then transfer to the fridge.
7. Remove the cheesecakes for the tin prior to serving and garnish with any left over puree on the plate.