Who doesn’t love cheesecake? I make it all year round. People think you must make it dairy but, in reality, you can swap out the dairy cheeses for pareve thanks to the invention of Tofutti products. The recipes below can be tweaked to allow for you to make a delicious pareve cheesecake dessert. Enjoy!!

Pareve Chocolate Cheesecake

1 package (9 oz.) chocolate wafer cookies

(feel free to use leftover chocolate cake for your crust as well)

6 tablespoons margarine, melted

4 bars (8 oz. each) cream cheese, room temperature

(use four containers of Tofutti Cream Cheese)

1½ cups sugar

½ teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

1 cup sour cream (use Pareve Tofutti)

8 oz. semisweet chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 325°. Assemble a 9-inch spring-form pan; I like to line it with parchment paper. I simply turn the pan upside down on parchment paper, trace the outline and then cut the parchment paper for a perfect fit. In a food processor, pulse cookies until finely ground. Add margarine, and pulse to moisten. Transfer to prepared pan, and press crumbs firmly and evenly into the bottom. Place pan on a rimmed baking sheet; bake 10 minutes, and set aside.

Wipe out bowl and blade of food processor. Add cream cheese, sugar, and salt; blend until smooth. With motor running, add eggs, then sour cream, and finally chocolate; blend filling until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

Pour filling onto crust, and bake just until set, 1 hour. Turn oven off, and let cheesecake sit 1 hour in oven, without opening (this helps prevent cracking). Run a thin knife around the edge of the pan (this helps prevent cracking, too); leave in pan, and cool completely on wire rack. Cover loosely and refrigerate, at least 6 hours or up to overnight.

You can top with your favorite chocolate ganache, powdered sugar, cherry pie filling, or just leave plain.

Note: As you can see you are only using a food processor for this recipe; you do not need a mixer.

Oreo Cheese Cake

1 cup crushed Oreo cookies (use kosher equivalent….or again, you can use leftover cake from your freezer)

1 tab margarine melted

4 packages Tofutti Cream Cheese

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

4 eggs

20 Oreo Cookies (pareve equivalent) quartered

Mix crust ingredients with margarine. Press onto bottom of 9-inch spring-form pan that has been lined with parchment paper as stated above. Bake at 325° for 10 minutes.

Mix cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, mixing on low speed until blended. Gently stir in cookies. Pour over crust.

Bake at 325° for 1 hour or until center is almost set. Run a knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake

20 peanut butter cookies (or you can use chocolate anything)

½ cup peanuts

½ cup margarine melted

parchment paper

cheesecake filling

4 8-oz. packages Tofutti cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

3 tbl. cornstarch

8 oz. Tofutti sour cream

5 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

¾ cup peanut butter

1 cup chocolate chips melted

Topping:

6 oz. white chocolate

3 tbl. Creamy peanut butter

¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tbl. margarine

Spray a spring-form pan with spray and line with parchment paper.

Place cookies and peanuts in a food processor and process until the texture is like fine meal. Add the melted margarine and process until mixed. Press this mixture into the bottom of prepared pan.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cream together the cream cheese, sugar, cornstarch, and sour cream. Scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl well to make sure all is combined very well. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla and the peanut butter. Again, scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to make sure everything is well incorporated. Add the melted chocolate and mix until smooth. Pour on top of crust and spread evenly. Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 200° and bake for 2 hours. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen it from the pan. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in for 2 more hours. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Topping

In a double boiler melt the peanut butter and white chocolate together until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside. In another double boiler melt the semi-sweet chocolate and margarine until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside (note: you can also melt the chocolate in your oven at around 200° degrees in an aluminum tin).

Take the cheesecake out of the refrigerator and remove the ring of the spring-form pan. If you can, take the cheesecake out of the pan and put it atop the plate you are serving it on (this is ideal). Spread an even layer of the peanut butter mixture over the top of the cake allowing it to drizzle down the sides. Drizzle the melted chocolate back and forth over the peanut butter mixture. Using a toothpick, draw circles or swirls to bring the peanut butter and chocolate mixture together in a pattern. Chill several hours.

Seems like a lot of work, but it’s worth it!

Gail Hochman has been a resident of Bergen County for over 30 years and has been blessed with many grandchildren.

By Gail Hochman