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There is no place like home or the cheesecake factory and since we are under the Covid-19 lockdown, we decided to merge the two by whipping up Lemon passion fruit cheesecake at home. On Tuesdays we don’t wrestle with our inner demons, we just hug and eat cheesecake.
You see, life tastes better after a slice of dessert and if it promises a healthful nutrition profile, we are definitely game for it. Since there is nothing that we want more than love to cure Tuesday blues, except maybe cheesecake, here’s a recipe of Lemon passion fruit cheesecake for all those who like us don’t live near a bakery.
Ingredients for the base:
2 packets of dark chocolate biscuits (any vegan biscuit will do too)
1/4 cup of melted vegan margarine melted
Ingredients for the filling:
2 blocks of firm tofu
200g of vegan cream cheese
2 tsp vanilla essence or extract
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp dairy free cream (can use coconut cream)
1/2 a lemon juiced
Ingredients for the topping:
3-4 passion fruits (or 1 tin of passion fruit pulp)
2 tbsp sugar
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C. In a food processor break up the biscuits. Add the melted vegan butter and combine again. Press the mixture into a spring form pan (20cm diameter) with a spoon and bake in the oven for 10 min until the base is golden.
Then remove the base from the oven and allow to cool. While the base bakes clean out the food processor and add all your filling ingredients. Process until smooth and creamy. Pour into the cooled base and place in the fridge overnight (or for at least 5 hours) until the filling is set.
Before serving, heat the passion fruit and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and then allow to cool. Pour the cooled mixture over the cheesecake. Slice and serve.
Benefits:
Made of condensed soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into blocks, in a cheese-making-like process, tofu is a silken soft food item which can be whipped up in various ways to appeal to your taste buds. Containing all the nine essential amino acids and a good source of protein, tofu wins the health department when compared to meat and cheese.
It is low in calories, high in carbohydrates and a valuable plant source of iron and calcium and the minerals manganese and phosphorous, apart from containing magnesium, copper, zinc and vitamin B1. As a good source of vitamin C, lemon promotes hydration, supports weight loss, improves skin quality, aids digestion, freshens breath and helps prevent kidney stones.
Maple syrup extract may dramatically increase the potency of antibiotics according to researchers at McGill University in Canada. Another study claims that consuming pure maple syrup extract may help protect against Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disorder affecting motor neurons and maintain neuronal integrity during aging.
Passion fruit not only has vitamin C which is an important antioxidant but also contains high levels of vitamin A which is important for skin, vision and the immune system. It gives your body several nutrients like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and folate and has a lot of fiber as well.
