A year later Jackie has come to Dubuque for a visit, and I immediately realize that this is my chance to have someone who knows how to bake food help me in the creation of the mysterious raw vegan strawberry cheesecake.
Raw Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake, based on a recipe found in Raw Food for Real People |
I've seen other libraries post reviews of recipes from their favorite cookbooks, and I knew that our collection includes vegan cookbooks, so all that was left was to identify a recipe and bake a cheesecake.
- Strawberry Cheesecake from page 47 of Sweet Vegan: a collection of all vegan, some gluten-free, and a few raw desserts by Emily Mainquist (641.86 MAI)
- Rasberry Vanilla Cheezecake from page 149 of Raw Food for Real People: living veganf ood made simple by the chef and founder of Leaf Organics by Rod Rotondi (613.26 ROT)
Things we learned from our experience:
- Vegan baking is expensive, but it's possible to substitute vegan egg substitute with soy yogurt.
- The reason Sweet Vegan calls for you to make your own vegan graham crackers that you can then crush to use for the crust is likely that there are very few pre-made vegan cookies available in the store. We went with a vegan, nut free, gluten free, cinnamon cookie.
- Simulating regular food with a raw food recipe is far, far too much effort. It would've been so much easier to just fill a bowl with sliced strawberries, mixed nuts, and healthy squeeze of agave nectar.
- All the extra effort does make the reward of taste testing at the end that much sweeter. Plus! Vegan cheesecake has to be healthier than regular cheesecake!
The last piece of vegan cheesecake. |
And in case anyone was wondering, Jackie and I followed our vegan baking adventures up with burgers at Paul's tavern - to maintain a balanced diet.
~Sarah, Adult Services
*The blog with the original raw vegan strawberry cheesecake is no longer in existence. :(
It was a very fun, and mostly delicious, adventure. But next time, we bake from a non-vegan cookbook, please.
ReplyDeleteNon-vegan it is! I bet I can find a paleo cheesecake recipe. I'd also love to learn how to do a savory cheesecake.
ReplyDelete