It’s that time of year again where everything goes from pink and red and hearts all over
To all things GREEN!
Lucky for me green is my favorite color
Not to mention I cannot eat anything mint unless it is green!
So this grasshopper cheesecake checks all the boxes!
Start off the month of March the right way with a slightly minted cheesecake
Made with mint cookies and Creme De Menthe liquor!
For those of you who do not do alcohol, no worries!
Just leave it out altogether and add a drop of mint oil or extract instead!
Be careful not to over-do it with the mint though or this luscious, creamy cheesecake can go from so delicious to terrible toothpaste in seconds!
The good thing about vegan desserts is we can taste as we go!
No worries about getting sick from raw ingredients with vegan recipes!
However I will urge you to taste the batter before baking since all mint extracts are not created equally
The mint from the cookies in combination with the liquor was actually enough all by itself
If you cannot find a decent Mint Cookie recipe to use for the base as well as for folding into the batter
You can always make my Copy Cat Girl Scout Thin Mints Recipe!
Just leave off the chocolate dipping part since that wouldn’t be necessary if you are using it solely for this cheesecake.
But the mint shortbread cookie part is so good!
As you will see in the video and the written recipe below I made a ganache with Creme De Menthe liquor
But of course you can make a traditional Vegan Ganache with plant milk instead!
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STEP BY STEP YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE THIS CHEESECAKE!
Notes for Success:
At times I add an addition of firm tofu in place of some of the cream cheese for a lightened up version and to cut some of the fat calories.
I do not find an extremely noticeable difference in the outcome of straight vegan cream cheese versus the tofu addition, so for me I like the tofu version.
Additionally I only use Tofutti Cream Cheese for my BAKED recipes *not sponsored
I have not had success with any other brand in BAKED recipes.
For some reason the other more expensive brands I’ve tried have broken down into an oily mess when baked.
When measuring cornstarch I cannot stress enough that a kitchen scale is the best way to go.
Cornstarch is a very difficult ingredient to measure consistently with a volume spoons measure
So while I list both measures below I cannot stress enough how the grams measure with a scale is going to give you the best results.
Many times people have complained that their cheesecake is like rubber and they don’t know why!
This is from a heavy measure of cornstarch when using volume measuring spoon vs the 100% accurate scale measure in grams.
For more green recipes click the links below!
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- Alphabet Letter Cake
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- Whiskey Donuts
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- Matcha Cake
Matcha Cake Recipe ~Vegan Green Tea Cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F
- For the Crust:
- I package (13ounces) Vegan Mint Sandwich Cookies *I used Newman's O's *You won't need the whole package
- OR
- 1 recipe Copy Cat Thin Mints Recipe * omit the chocolate dipping step
- Vegan Butter 3 Tablespoons (42g)
- For the Cheesecake Batter:
- Vegan Cream Cheese *see notes 12ounce (339g)
- Firm Tofu 4ounces (113g) * see notes
- Vegan Butter melted 2 tablespoons (28g)
- Granulated Sugar 1 cup (200g)
- Cornstarch 4 Tablespoons (32g) *see notes
- All Purpose Flour 3 Tablespoons (24g)
- Plant Milk *I use soy milk 4fl oz (118ml)
- Vegan Lactic Acid or apple cider vinegar 1 teaspoon
- Salt ¼ teaspoon
- Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons (10ml)
- Creme De Menthe Liquor ¼ cup (60ml) *or leave it out and add more plant milk
- Green food color *optional
- Additional cookies crushed to fold into the batter approximately 1 cup
- ½ Recipe Vegan ganache
- OR make the creme de menthe ganache by adding 2 Tbs creme de menthe in place of 2 Tbs of the plant milk for the ganache recipe
- Prepare the crust by crushing approx 14 of the sandwich cookies in a food processor and then add the melted vegan butter
- *If you are making my Thin Mint Recipe you will need closer to 28 cookies for the crust and more for folding into the batter
- Press it into the prepared 7" cake pan and freeze while you prepare the cheesecake batter
- Place all cheesecake ingredients (except the remaining cookies) into a food processor and process until smooth.
- Add green color if you wish (I did)
- Fold in other cup of crushed cookies to the cheesecake batter
- Pour batter into prepared pan with the crust and bake in a water bath in a preheated 350°F oven for 1 hour, then turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake inside for another hour.
- Remove from the oven and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight
- For a closer look at how to un-mold a cheesecake in a regular cake pan, click here
- (Skip to 1:19 in the video for a visual tutorial)
- garnish with vegan ganache and Optional Coconut Whipped Cream and crushed cookies
Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week
Would you consider this a good “base” recipe to work from with the plant based egg? Flavorings taken out of course.
Yes it is! Instead of the creme de menthe you can add more plant milk
I’m making this for my birthday thanks Gretchen!
Gretchen, I just wanted to comment on your going vegan. I had been following you since crumb boss. I’ve always loved learning now just your recipes but your decorating techniques. I have learned so much from you and I just wanted to think you. I have recommended you to several of my vegan friends who were looking for vegan recipes. Thank you for being strong and sticking to your beliefs. May your business be blessed.
Thank you Rita!!