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

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.
Mix the crushed biscuits with the melted spread. Press into the bottom of the cupcake pan. Place in the fridge to set.
Whisk together the other ingredients until they are smooth. Taste and add more vanilla or icing sugar according to own taste.
Spoon onto the biscuit base, and level off the top.
Swirl a dollop of blueberry puree onto the top of each cheesecake.
Place in the freezer to set for at least a half an hour. Then transfer to the fridge.
Remove the cheesecakes for the tin prior to serving and garnish with any left over puree on the plate.

Mini Blueberry Scones

Dried fruits are a fabulous addition to any baked goods, giving an intense flavour hit, with none of risk of excess moisture that fresh fruit can produce. However, dried fruits can be tricky to find if you have concerns over nut traces. They always seem to process fruits and nuts in the same facilities, meaning we usually give them a wide berth. Which is a shame really as they’re such wonderful little flavour bombs, and can even appeal to those who don’t like the sogginess of fresh fruit (like my children).

I don’t have the luxury of a dehydrator but if your oven goes low enough and you have the time and patience, home dried fruits that are totally safe are at your disposal. These berries were literally placed on a lined baking sheet and put into a low oven (100 degrees Centigrade) for 3-4 hours until they were wrinkled and shrivelled but not dried up.

The berries work wonderfully in these elegant little canapé sized scones; think a similar effect to sultanas but with bags more flavour. I couldn’t stop eating these light, crumbly and tasty little morsels – pity I made quite so many!

Mini Blueberry Scones (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan)

Makes about 40

450g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
75g dairy-free spread
75g caster sugar
300 ml dairy-free milk, I used Oatly
1 tsp berry essence, if you have it
1/2 cup dried blueberries, roughly chopped
To top: 2 tbsp oat milk 2 tbsp granulated sugar (I used blue sugar crystals)

– Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade/gas mark 6

– Grease and flour 2 baking sheets

– Rub the spread into the flour, sugar and baking powder until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the dried fruit.

– Pour in the essence and dairy-free milk and very gently bring together to a soft dough. It’s very important not to work scone dough.

– Gently pat out the dough until its about 1 inch thick. Using a 1inch cookie cutter, cut out rounds and place on the baking sheets Continue, gently bringing the dough back into a ball and cutting out, until all the dough has been used up.

– Brush the top of each with dairy-free milk and sprinkle with sugar Bake for about 20 minutes until starting to turn golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Blueberry and Lemon Mousse

Gosh, I’m on a pudding roll at the moment!……. (and there are lots more to come ;-))

Blueberries work so well with lemon. I find the hint of zing adds another dimension to the blueberry flavour. Besides, blueberries produce such a stunning colour when cooked that they just had to be a wonderful ingredient for my dairy / egg-free mousse recipe. I can’t say it’s exactly like a fluffy egg-white and cream mousse, but it does give a richness and unctuousness that you don’t usually get from a dairy-free dessert. The recipe really involves making a simple jam which is thickened with cornflour and then dairy-free yogurt is whisked in to give an extra creaminess. This is definitely a recipe worth having in your allergy friendly/vegan repertoire.

Blueberry and Lemon Mousse (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan)

makes 4 mousses

200g blueberries
dash of water
juice of 1 and 1/2 lemons
3 tbsps cornflour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 cup dairy-free yogurt (I used Alpro Soya)

– Put the blueberries in a saucepan with the dash of water. Cook over a medium heat until the berries are soft and soupy. Strain into a bowl (or not if you like the fruit pieces)

– Using the same saucepan (no need to wash out) add the sugar, lemon juice and cornflour. Whisk over a low heat until smooth and lump free.

– Pour the blueberry ‘soup’ back into the saucepan. Whisk over a medium heat until thick and jammy.

– Pour back into the bowl and place in a fridge to cool and set.

– Once cold, puree with a hand held blender until smooth.

– Whisk in the soya yogurt. Pour into four ramekins and chill. Decorate as desired.

Blueberry and Banana Cake

I had an hour before the girls got home from school and the snack options were looking pretty non-existent – I seem to have stopped buying a lot of snacks with all the baking I’ve been doing! However, there was one very over-ripe banana and a handful of rather forlorn blueberries sitting in the fruit bowl – hence the inspiration for this recipe.

I didn’t think that the flavours would shine with so few ingredients, but it produced one very banana-y and blueberry tasting cake that filled empty, just home from school tummies, but would also work perfectly with a cup of tea or coffee.

Blueberry and banana cake (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan)

makes one cake/small loaf

1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 ripe banana
1 handful blueberries (doesn’t matter if they’re old and wrinkly!)
1/4 cup sunflower oil
1/2 cup water
2 tbsps sugar for sprinkling

– Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade/Gas mark 4

– Grease and line the cake/loaf tin

– Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Stir in the blueberries so they get coated in flour.

– In a separate bowl, mash the banana. Add the oil, vanilla and water. Stir well.

– Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix gently.

– Pour into the cake tin.

– Sprinkle with more sugar and bake for 40-50 minutes, until a knife comes out clean.

– Cool, then remove from the tin and leave to finish cooling on a wire rack.

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