These mini vegan pumpkin cheesecakes are as delicious as they are cute! Made with a creamy cashew-pumpkin base and gingersnap cookie crust, this two-bite dessert is perfect for everything from holiday desserts to everyday snacking.
When I was growing up, my mom would make mini cheesecakes with vanilla wafer crusts. You'd plunk a cookie into the bottom of your muffin tin and have an instant crust!
I got it in my head that I wanted to use that idea to make mini vegan pumpkin cheesecakes, but using gingersnap cookies instead of vanilla wafers, since the flavor of gingersnaps goes much better with pumpkin cheesecake. It worked perfect!
I love these little cheesecakes because they basically combine two of my favorite desserts — vegan pumpkin pie and vegan cheesecake — in cute little two bite form!
No-Bake Cheesecake
When it comes to vegan cheesecake, I generally prefer no-bake. It's obviously easier to make, and without the oven to dry out the batter, your cheesecake ends up extra creamy.
The secret to getting a no-bake vegan cheesecake to set it coconut oil. (Which also works for spreadable vegan cheeses and this vegan cheese ball, in case you were wondering!).
Coconut oil is solid at room temperature, but has a pretty low melting point. This means you can add it to your batter in liquid form, then chill the batter for a bit, during which time the coconut oil will solidify and firm up your cheesecake.
How to Make Mini Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecakes
Making the Batter
It all starts with some soaked raw cashews. Raw is important here! Raw cashews will have a neutral flavor when compared to roasted ones, so your cheesecake will taste like cheesecake and not like nuts.
Blend the cashews up in a food processor with a bit of water. Once the mixture becomes a smooth paste you can add the rest of your ingredients: canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling), coconut oil, some maple syrup, lemon juice for a bit of tartness, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.
Blend everything again until it's smooth and creamy. You can give the batter a taste-test at this point to see if you'd like any flavor adjustments — like more maple syrup, spice or salt.
Assembling the Cheesecakes
Next, line a muffin tin with papers and plunk a cookie into the bottom of each paper. Divide the batter among the muffin cups, then give the tin a gentle shake from side to side to help distribute the batter.
Chill your cheesecakes until they are set.
You can eat your mini vegan cheesecakes plain or top them with some whipped coconut cream (from this recipe) and a sprinkle of cinnamon as I've done here.
Mini Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake Tips & FAQ
- Did you forget to soak the cashews ahead of time? It happens! Try boiling them for 15 minutes instead. They might not blend up quite as creamy, but they will blend.
- Can I use a blender instead of a food processor? Possibly, but I'd do so with caution. Some blenders might not circulate the cashew mixture enough to fully blend it.
- Can these mini cheesecakes be made gluten-free? Yup! If you can find a gluten-free vegan gingersnap cookie, use that for the crust (or make your own). Just about any appropriately-sized vegan and gluten-free cookie will work as a crust though.
- Do these taste like coconut? I couldn't taste the coconut at all, but if you're concerned, use refined coconut oil.
- These cheesecakes will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for about 3 days, or in the freezer for about 3 months.
- Where can I find vegan gingersnap cookies? Most brands are free of eggs and dairy, but the sugar may not be vegan, as most sugar in the U.S. is processed using animal bones. Look for cookies that use organic sugar, which is processed differently. If you can't find them in stores, try online or make your own.
More Sweet Vegan Pumpkin Recipes
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Mini Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecakes
These mini vegan pumpkin cheesecakes are as delicious as they are cute! Made with a creamy cashew-pumpkin base and gingersnap cookie crust, this two-bite dessert is perfect for everything from holiday desserts to everyday snacking.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups raw cashews, soaked in water 4-8 hours, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons water
- ¾ cup canned pumpkin puree
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 12 vegan gingersnap cookies
- Whipped coconut cream (optional)
- Cinnamon (optional)
Instructions
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Place the cashews and water into the bowl of a food processor and blend them to a smooth paste, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
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Add the pumpkin, coconut oil, maple syrup, lemon juice, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and salt. Blend everything again until smooth.
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Line a 12 cup muffin tin with papers, then place a gingersnap cookie into the bottom of each cup.
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Divide the cashew batter among the cups, then give the tin a gentle shake from side to side to distribute the batter.
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Chill the cheesecakes until fully set, for about 4 hours in the fridge, or 1 hour in the freezer.
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Optionally top each cheesecake with a dollop of coconut whipped cream and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice.
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Serve.
These looks so great! I almost always make a ginger cookie crust for my pumpkin pie because I'm too lazy to make an actual pie crust, so I'm totally with you on this gingersnap bottom situation. I've got two thanksgiving dinners to attend this weekend and I'm down for bringing pie, maybe I'll have to mix things up with these cute little cheesecakes!
Glad to hear I'm not the only one whose too lazy to make pie crust! Enjoy your dinners, and enjoy these little cheesecakes if you get to make them!
This is the first time I have ever commented on a recipe, but I just had to - these were amazing! The cookie crust was genius. Everything was in perfect proportion. I could have eaten several of them in a single sitting. One tip: if you aren't going to serve them all the same day you bake them, freeze them (without the whipped cream) until you are ready to eat. Otherwise, the crust turns to mush and then just goo as it absorbs the liquid from the filling. Just remove from the freezer 30 minutes before serving and leave on the counter to thaw. The taste and texture was just as good after being frozen. Thanks for the recipe. I expect to be making these regularly, as long as we don't eat the whole box of cookies in the meantime....
Yay! I'm so glad you liked them! Thank you for sharing and for the tip on freezing them - I was hoping to try that out myself but my batch went faster than anticipated. :)
Tried to make coconut whipped cream according to the above directions. I put the coconut milk in the refrigerator the day before and it didn't separate, so I whipped the entire can and it worked well. I will make these again.
A few times I've gotten cans of coconut milk that were almost all cream, so I'm thinking that's what happened to you too. Either way, glad it worked out and glad to hear you'll be making them again!
Well these look creamy and rich and delightful! Yeah ginger snap biscuits are one of those "vegan by default" biscuits - phew! Along with HobNobs/similar oaty tea biscuits. Double phew.
Thank you! I was pretty excited to find out gingersnaps were vegan. Didn't know about tea biscuits, so maybe I'll have to do something with them next. :)
Made these this weekend. Yummy!!! Thank you so much!!!
Dang! Missed the rating. I rate it 5 stars!!!
Glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for commenting, and thanks for the five star rating!!! :)
I can't eat nuts right now. Do you think this recipe would work with coconut cream or silken tofu in place of the soaked/blended cashews?
I actually heard from a reader who tried substituting tofu and she said they were still tasty but very moist, so if you don't mind that I'd say give it a try. I'd go with firm tofu though, and just make sure you blend it up very well. I can't see coconut cream working unless you made them as a no-bake treat.
These look wonderful! I can't eat banana, is there a substitute that you would reccomend?
Thanks Jan! You could try it with a little bit of extra cashews, maybe 1/2 cup, and a few dashes more of sweetener.
Just took these out of oven and they're cooling right now. Texture and appearance looks good, however, from the little taste I had they are reallyy overpoweringly strong in the banana flavour? I couldn't taste the pumpkin; it was mostly banana, lime and ginger I could taste :( Hopefully they won't be so banana-ey when cool!
I just made these. They are wonderful. They are a bit softer than I expected more like pie and not cheesecake but it doesn't make them any less delicious!
Glad you enjoyed them! Thanks so much for popping by to say so. :)
I made these for Thanksgiving and they were great. They tasted exactly like banana bread, which isn't a bad thing - my husband loves banana bread so he was a big fan. Banana was definitely the main flavor we got though, not pumpkin.
Glad you enjoyed them!
Can I sub maple syrup for the agave?
Yup!
What pie to make with someone with a nut allergy? Absolutely no peanuts and cashews and coconut have similar scary producing antigens. Anything?
Sure! You could make this apple pie: https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/vegan-apple-pie/ My crust has coconut oil in it, but you could substitute a different crust recipe or use a store-bought one - lots of brands are vegan. You could also make my sweet potato or pumpkin pie, substituting a different type of milk, such as soy, for the coconut: https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/vegan-pumpkin-pie/ https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/vegan-chai-spiced-sweet-potato-pie/
i made these last weekend anticipating that I might do them for Thanksgiving. I don't know if I did something wrong or they were just meant to be very soft but they just didn't hold together after they were chilled. The next day they were even mushier. Maybe you have a suggestion? Thanks. I also made the lentil pie, and we loved it although the potatoes were very hard the next day. Does that have to do with the fact that there was no butter or such in them?
Sorry to hear that! Is it possible you measured something incorrectly? Or substituted any ingredients? The coconut oil in particular is important, and if you make a substitution or use too little they won't set. That's the only thing I can think of that would make them mushy, and it's especially odd that they got softer over time, assuming you stored them in the fridge. With the shepherd's pie, the potato topping will dry out if it's not well sealed.
Made these for Thanksgiving 2019 with mostly non-vegans everyone loved these. I rarely make anything twice but I see myself making these again--super easy!
Yay! I'm so glad they were a hit! Thanks Janet!