Today I really wanted to make a cheesecake, but the normal kind has dairy in it, and I wanted a parve one. So, I decided to try making a parve cheesecake. I’ve never done this before, so it was kind of an experiment.
First, I gathered all the stuff I needed. For the crust, I used some graham crackers, a bit of sugar, and some margarine instead of butter to keep it parve. For the filling, I needed cream cheese, but the non-dairy kind, eggs, sugar, a little lemon juice, and some vanilla extract. I made sure to check all the labels to make sure everything was really parve.
I started with the crust. I crushed the graham crackers into crumbs. You can use a food processor, but I just put them in a big ziplock bag and smashed them with a rolling pin. It’s kind of fun and a good way to get out some energy. Then, I mixed the crumbs with the sugar and melted margarine. I pressed this mixture into the bottom of a springform pan. I baked it for about 10 minutes, just to get it a bit crispy.
While the crust was baking, I moved on to the filling. I beat the non-dairy cream cheese until it was smooth. Then I added the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one. I poured in the sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla, and mixed everything together until it was nice and smooth. It looked pretty much like regular cheesecake filling, which was cool.
Once the crust was ready, I took it out of the oven and poured the filling over it. I smoothed out the top and then baked the whole thing for about an hour. The recipe said to watch for the edges to be set but the center to still be a little jiggly. That part made me a bit nervous, but I followed the instructions.
After it was baked, I turned off the oven and let the cheesecake cool inside with the door cracked open. This is supposed to help prevent cracks, which is always a good thing. Then, I put it in the fridge for a few hours to chill completely.
Finally, it was time to try it. I was a little nervous, but it actually turned out pretty good. The crust was nice and crunchy, and the filling was creamy and sweet, with just a hint of lemon. It definitely tasted like cheesecake, even though it didn’t have any dairy in it.
- For the crust:
- Graham crackers
- Sugar
- Margarine (parve)
- For the filling:
- Non-dairy cream cheese
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Lemon juice
- Vanilla extract
Ingredients:
Overall, I’m pretty happy with how my parve cheesecake experiment went. It was a fun little project, and it’s always cool when you can make something that tastes great even with some limitations. I’ll definitely be making this again. Maybe next time I’ll try adding some fruit on top or something. Who knows! We’ll see what happens.
