Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Cheesecakes {Vegan, GF}

It’s finally Spring! I couldn’t be happier. The days are getting longer and warmer and soon there will be so many green veggies around that I’ve been missing/craving. It’s also almost Easter which basically means one thing – me eating all the chocolate.

I’ve already had my fair share of hot cross buns but I’ve been holding off on the Easter chocolate until now. I made these little dairy-free peanut butter cheesecakes spring-themed with some help from chocolate-covered cornflakes and little, naturally coloured, home-made easter eggs! I mean I was pretty bad at rolling the balls of ground almond dough into egg shapes but at least I attempted it. My brother told me they looked like giant pine nuts – whatever :/

The filling here is a simple one, getting its bulk from coconut milk yogurt and Whole Earth peanut butter, only lightly sweetened with maple syrup. I found it much quicker to make the filling this way rather than using the more popular base of soaked, blended cashews. The bonus is that you also get the probiotics from the yogurt as it’s a fermented food. I thought it would be a helpful alternative for those of you who don’t have a high-speed blender (which you normally need for those vegan cashew cheesecakes seen all over instagram!).

I developed this recipe in collaboration with Whole Earth who make my ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE peanut butter! I’m often guilty of swirling a fair amount of their pb into pinhead oatmeal along with some chopped dates as a post-uni pick-me-up.

Whole Earth is running a competition where you can win a whole YEAR’S SUPPLY of peanut butter (ummm dream come true) – all you need to do is create your own Easter themed peanut butter  recipe (or make my peanut butter cheesecakes!) and post a pic on instagram tagging @WholeEarth to enter. Happy baking!! <3

 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Cheesecakes {Vegan, GF}

 

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Serves: 8 muffin-sized cheesecakes

Ingredients

• 1 x recipe for mini eggs (see recipe below)

Base + Topping Mixture:

• 150g (5.3oz) dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
• 2 tbsp (15g) coconut oil
• 70g (2 cups) Whole Earth cornflakes

Cheesecake Layer:

• 2 tbsp (15g) coconut oil
• 170g (3/4 cup) dairy-free coconut yogurt
• 75g (1/4 cup + 1 tbsp) Whole Earth smooth peanut butter
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Make the base + topping mixture:

1. Place the chocolate and coconut oil into a small pot and set over a low heat. Stir constantly until just melted then take off the heat. Stir in the cornflakes.
2. Line 8 cups of a muffin tin with paper muffin liners. Take half of the cornflake mixture and divide it among the 8 liners (around 1 tbsp mixture per liner). Place into the freezer to set for 5 minutes.

Make the cheesecake filling:

1. Melt the coconut oil in a small pot over a low heat. Take off the heat and stir in the coconut yogurt, peanut butter, maple syrup and vanilla extract until smooth.
2. Take the muffin tin out of the freezer. Divide the cheesecake filling among the 8 liners. Place back into the freezer for 10 minutes.
3. Remove from the freezer and top with the remaining cornflake mixture.
4. Decorate with the mini eggs and place back into the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
5. To serve: remove from the freezer, unpeel the paper wrappers and leave to soften (10-30 minutes). Store any leftovers in the fridge for 5 days or the freezer in a lidded container for a month.

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Mini Eggs

 

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Serves: 30-40 eggs

Ingredients

• 40g (1/2 cup) ground almonds
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• ~1/2 tbsp Whole Earth smooth peanut butter
• colours: natural liquid food colourings, beetroot juice/ crushed freeze-dried raspberries, spirulina powder/matcha powder, turmeric

Instructions

1. Mix together the ground almonds, maple syrup and peanut butter until the mixture clumps into a ball (if it seems like it isn't sticking together enough just add a bit more peanut butter). Divide the mixture between 4 bowls.
2. To each bowl add a different colour - you can use liquid food colourings (it's quite easy to find natural food colourings in the supermarkets now) or the suggested colours from the ingredients list.
3. I left ¼ plain, coloured ¼ with a pinch of turmeric, ¼ with a pinch of crushed freeze dried berries, and ¼ with a pinch of spirulina.
4. Take a small ball of mixture and roll it into a ball then shape into an egg. Repeat until all the mixture has been used up.

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Thanks to Whole Earth for sponsoring this post and making the best peanut butter in the world! All opinions are my own.

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