Grilled Pineapple Tofu Cheesecake — a vegan dessert for everyone!

Seasonal Recipe of the Week
I have been working on some great new recipes I want to share. There are some great natural substitutes on the market which enable me to do yummy baking for the vegans in our lives. In particular, egg substitutes, which make baking possible. I also love to use cashews soaked in water overnight to make an amazing cream, add a little sriracha and you have a killer pasta sauce — BAM! But I digress, back to baking. This recipe combines silken tofu, cashew cream, banana, coconut oil, and pineapple to make a super delicious pie, even your carnivore eaters will love. Gotta soak those cashews overnight, so plan ahead! Makes one 8-inch cake.

Ingredients for crust
1 1/4 cup finely ground graham cracker (or any vegan cookies)
3 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons melted coconut oil
2 tablespoons almond milk

Ingredients for filling
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked in water overnight
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
14 ounces silken tofu, drained
2 tablespoons coconut oil, room temperature
2/3 cups sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 tablespoons fresh pineapple juice
Grated zest of 1 lime

Grilled pineapple slices for garnish
2 tablespoons toasted coconut for garnish

Procedure
Preheat oven to 350° and lightly spray an 8-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray.

To make the cookie crust, place the cookies in your food processor and pulse until you get fine crumbs. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the cookie crumbs and sugar. Drizzle in the melted coconut oil and mix well to ensure the crumbs are moist. Pour in the almond milk and stir again to combine all ingredients. You might need to use your hands to blend the mixture to get a crumbly dough. Pour the crust mixture into the springform pan and press very firmly into the sides of the pan first and pat into the bottom. Bake for 10 minutes until firm. Remove from oven and place and let the crust cool completely before filling.

To make the filling, drain the soaked cashews and tofu. Add the cashews, mashed banana, tofu, coconut oil, sugar, cornstarch, sea salt, pineapple juice and lime zest to a blender and whizz until completely smooth and there aren't any small bit of cashew. Pour the batter over the crust and tap it lightly on the counter to get rid of any large air bubbles. Bake the cheesecake about 50 minutes, until the edges are golden and the top is lightly puffed and still looks a bit wet. Cool cake completely before adding the topping.

To decorate, cut thin rounds of fresh pineapple, remove center rind with small ring cutter. Grill in a very hot dry pan to get blackened marks. Let cool, then place rings on top of cake. Sprinkle with toasted coconut. Refrigerate cake overnight for best results.