Vegan Gingerbread Cheesecake Bars

Creamy rich cheesecake bars with flavors of gingerbread! Made with Native Forest Organic Classic Coconut Milk.

With a no-bake gingerbread crust, creamy cheesecake filling, and crumbled gingerbread topping, these are sure to be a hit during the holiday season!

We’ve teamed up with Joolies Date’s to help bring this recipe to life with their delicious organic medjool dates and cinnamon date syrup!

Joolie’s Cinnamon Date Syrup takes the place of traditional molasses for a healthier recipe! Stack ’em up and ’tis the season!

With a creamy topping and a dense cookie crust, these are a cross between an ice cream sandwich and a cheesecake, best of both worlds? We think so!

Ingredients:

Gingerbread Crust

• 2 cups (150 grams) Joolies Pitted Medjool Dates
• 2 cups almonds
• 1/4 cup Let’s Do Organic Coconut Flour (add 1 tbsp at a time if mixture is too wet)
• 1/4 cup Joolies Cinnamon Date Syrup
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp almond milk (add 1 tbsp at a time if mixture is too dry)

Gingerbread Filling

• 2 cups raw cashews (soaked overnight or in hot water for 2 hours)
• 1 cup Native Forest Organic Classic Coconut Milk 
• 1/2 cup Joolies Cinnamon Date Syrup
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (or omit and add more date syrup)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 3 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• toppings: crumbled gingerbread cookies,  pecans halves.

Instructions

1. Soak cashews overnight or for 2 hours in hot water.
2. Next,  line an 8 in. square baking pan with parchment paper.
3. In a food processor, combine medjool dates and almonds and pulse until finely chopped, next add the date syrup, ginger and cinnamon. Pulse again. Add in almond milk if needed or additional date syrup until a thick ball forms Press the crust into the bottom of the pan on top of parchment paper.
4. Drain cashews and rinse with col water. Place the cashews in a high speed blender with coconut milk and all the additional ingredients. Blend on high until no clumps remain. If your blender isn’t strong enough, strain the mixture to get the clumps out so you have an extra creamy filling.
5. Pour the gingerbread cheesecake filling on top of the crust, spoon the top with a spatula until smooth. Freeze overnight, or at least 5 hours.
6. In a food processor, pulse gingerbread cookies until you have cookie crumbles. Once the bars have set, cut into squares and garnish with cookie crumbs and pecan halves
7. Let the bars thaw at room temperature for 10+ mins before serving or enjoy right out the freeze for a ice cream texture. Enjoy! Store in the freezer and thaw for the best texture and taste!

Recipe inspired by Bakerita!