At the Post Punk Kitchen they are having an online
Chopped contest. The mystery ingredients are fresh mango, red bunch beets, dried unsweetened coconut and crisp rice cereal. I was able to get together an entry this time. I think I was motivated by the fact they included beets which is evident from last post. I decided to make a cashew tofu cheesecake using the beets and mango. The crust and streusel topping have the dried unsweetened coconut and crisp rice cereal. I used one fresh organic mango, one fresh organic beet, organic unsweetened dried coconut and organic brown rice crisp cereal. I came up with the crust recipe and used a version of the Pumpkin cheesecake in
Vegan Pie in the Sky by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.
Mango beet cheesecake with coconut crispy rice streusel
Three mini cheesecakes or one large
Crust and streusel topping
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup unsweetened dried coconut
8 pitted dates chopped
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 Tbl maple syrup
1 cup crispy rice cereal
Place the walnuts, chopped dates, dried coconut, chopped dates, coconut oil and maple syrup in a food processor. Process until the mixture starts to stick together and the walnuts are ground. Add the crispy rice cereal and process for a few seconds to incorporate the cereal. Take half of the mixture and press it into a spring form pan or I have cute little heart cheesecake pans. Bake at 325 for 15 minutes and remove to cool while you make the filling.
Mango and beet cheesecake filling
I used the recipe from the Vegan Pie in the Sky book as I stated above and I added the mango and beets. I included the raw cashews, silken tofu, coconut oil, cornstarch, lemon juice, salt and vanilla extract from the Pumpkin cheesecake recipe. I also added 1/2 teaspoon of guar gum. I left out the rest of the ingredients. I also omitted the regular and brown sugar. I added 1/4 cup of maple syrup instead. You may want to add more sweetener. Both the mango and beet are really sweet so I figured that would make up the difference. It made a vanilla cheesecake base. I split the batter in two. I added one chopped fresh mango to one batter and processed in the food processor until smooth. I poured this into the heart pans and filled them about half way. I then added a bit of the streusel topping and pressed down gently. To the rest of the batter I added one large chopped steamed beet and processed in the food processor until smooth. I poured the beet batter on top of the mango batter and filled to the top. I added the remaining streusel topping. I baked the cheesecakes and then put them in the fridge to cool for a few hours.
We just had one for dessert this evening and it turned out yummy. I think the other two will be even better tomorrow morning. I may put one in the freezer since that sounds like fun and I think the filling would be really great frozen. I might also make beet ice cream tomorrow and have it with the frozen version.
