All posts by Melissa

Non-Dairy Speculoos Cheesecake {recipe}

Pies and Tarts

Non-Dairy Speculoos Cheesecake

Just because you might not be able to have dairy, doesn’t mean you have to miss out on all the fun.  I have a great recipe for non-dairy cheesecake that I have been making for so long that I don’t even know where I got it from.  All I know is that it is yummy; and I can use it as a base for many variations of non-dairy desserts including this speculoos cheesecake with a speculoos cookie crust.

Speculoos Cookie Cheesecake

This recipe starts with ground speculoos cookies mixed with margarine pressed into the bottom of a springform pan.  Then some delicious homemade speculoos spread gets mixed into the cheesecake batter.  If you think a cookie filled cheesecake with a cookie crust is cookie overload, you can just choose one; but I think you might be missing out. You can go with a straight graham cracker crust and just swirl your spread inside the batter, or just make the cookie crust with a classic cheesecake filling, but why would you want to when you can have both!

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Non-Dairy Speculoos Cheesecake {recipe}
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 12
 
Ingredients
Crust
  • 24 speculoos cookies, ground
  • 4 Tbs. margarine, melted
Cheesecake
  • 2-8 ounce tubs non-dairy cream cheese (I use Tofutti Brand)
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp. lemon juice
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • ½ cup speculoos cookie spread (homemade or store bought)
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. In a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, grind the cookies until fine. You can also place the cookies in a zip top bag and crush with a rolling pin.
  3. Once the cookies are crushed, mix with the melted margarine and press into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan or on the bottom and up the sides of pie plate.
  4. Chill in the fridge or freezer while you prepare the cheesecake filling.
  5. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese with sugar until smooth.
  6. Add in the eggs and mix until smooth.
  7. Add in lemon juice and vanilla and mix until combined.
  8. Mix in the speculoos cookie spread.
  9. Pour into the prepared crust and bake for 35-40 minutes until set.
  10. Chill until firm and serve chilled.

Speculoos Cookie Spread {recipe}

Cookies, No Bake Desserts

Speculoos Cookie Spread

If you have been following food trends you have definitely heard of hazelnut spread such as Nutella.  You have also come across millions of ways to use it from cookies to cakes, pies, tarts…you name it, and you can find it.  The newest food trend to hit involves speculoos cookies.  These crispy cinnamon spice cookies, or caramelised bisuits are similar to gingersnaps and are usually served around the holiday season.  They originated in Belgium and are the official cookie of Delta Airlines.  Needless to say, they are amazing and every blogger seems to be getting in on this trend including my friend Melinda of Kitchen Tested, and Chanie of Busy in Brooklyn.  Melinda made her own speculoos cookies and then turned that into a cookie spread (she also made vegan speculoos ice cream).  Chanie took the ready made packaged cookies and used them to make Lotus cookie cinnamon buns with speculoos cream cheese frosting.  I am going somewhere in between, using the store bought cookies to create my own non-dairy spread.  I used the Lotus Brand Biscoff Cookies since they are aaaahmazing.  They are sweet, salty, crispy, and perfectly spiced.  I tried to make my own cookies; they tasted good, but didn’t come close to the original.   And since the cookie spreads I have seen are not yet kosher certified, I made my own.  It is probably not quite as smooth as the original secret recipe, but it definitely does the trick!

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Speculoos Cookie Spread
Author: 
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 1 cup
 
Ingredients
  • 24 speculoos cookies (I used Lotus Brand)
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ½ tsp. cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • ¼ cup refined coconut oil, melted and cooled
  • 2 Tbs. vegetable shortening
Instructions
  1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, grind the cookies with the brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt until fine.
  2. With the machine running, stream in the coconut oil and mix until combined. You may need to scrape down the sides and mix again to make sure the whole mixture is combined.
  3. Add in the vegetable shortening and mix until smooth.

 

Toy Drum Birthday Cake

Celebration Cakes

Toy Drum Birthday Cake

To celebrate Maxwell’s first birthday, his parents wanted to present him with an awesome cake at his party.  His favorite toy is actually a musical, light up set of bongos.  So his parents thought it would be cool if I replicated them out of cake!

Fondant Cake Bongos

The bongos were really fun to make!  The toy actually leans like that, so instead of stacking the cakes straight, I stacked each layer slightly off center to get the right look. One drum is slightly larger than the other so I baked one cake 6 inch round and the other in a 5 inch round.

Musical Happy Birthday Message

I had this great idea for the bottom tier to look like sheet music, but I wasn’t sure if it would work.  I used my clay extruder to create the black fondant ropes and attached them playfully around the cake using clear piping gel.  Then I attached black fondant lettering to the ropes using black royal icing.  To add a little sparkle, I dusted the letters in glittery luster dust.

Fondant Musical Notes

Here is the back of the cake, I really like how the musical notes look around the bottom tier!  Happy 1st Birthday Maxwell!