Peeps! This recipe comes directly from my cookbook, and I’m gleefully sharing it with you here because pretty soon I’ll be showing you show to make it LIVE on Facebook.

Watch the demo here: Cooking with Mistress Ginger LIVE: The Golden Girls Edition was tons of fun, with songs and scenes from the classic TV show, The Golden Girls, and featuring the demo of how to whip up this decadent vegan cheesecake.

And just maybe you’d like to make the recipe in advance, or some other time. Well, here ya go. Have at it!

Coconutty Ginger Cheesecake

Yields 12 servings

Every third Thursday of the month, my girlfriends come on over, and we stay up half the night talking about our issues and eating vegan cheesecake. Truth be told, I do most of the talking, and they do most of the eating. Around four in the morning when I stop talking, I discover that they’ve eaten all but one slice of the cheesecake, and that they left about three hours ago. Woe is me! Only one slice left!

Crust
1½ cups finely ground gingersnap cookies (store-bought)
¼ cup raw cashews, finely ground
¼ cup coconut oil, liquefied
¼ teaspoon salt

Filling
2 tablespoons Ener-G Egg Replacer
½ cup water
3 cups firm Coconutty Cream Cheese (see below)
¾ cup sugar
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping (optional)
1 cup Ruby-Red Syrup (recipe in my cookbook)

Hey, girl, hey, let’s start by making a gingery crust. Lightly coat a 9-inch springform pan with vegetable shortening. Sprinkle with flour and then shake and tap out the excess.

Put the gingersnaps, cashews, coconut oil, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir until well combined. Press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Chill for at least 1 hour so the crust can set.

Once the crust has set, you have my permission to put this cheesecake together. Listen to your Mistress—don’t rush the process.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the egg replacer and water in a food processor and process until frothy, about 3 minutes. Add the Coconutty Cream Cheese, sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Process until creamy and well combined, about 3 minutes, stopping as needed to scrape down the work bowl with a rubber spatula.

Pour into the crust and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake for 50 minutes, or until the top is somewhat firm and just beginning to brown.

Let cool in the springform pan for 10 minutes before removing the exterior ring. Let cool for at least 1 additional hour before slicing. Serve each slice with a generous drizzling of Ruby-Red Syrup, if desired.

Store loosely covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator and use within 1 week.

Per serving: 330 calories, 8 g protein, 13 g fat (7 g sat), 46 g carbohydrates, 292 mg sodium, 62 mg calcium, 1 g fiber

Tricks of the Trade

• For finely ground cashews, put the cashews in a dry high-speed blender and process until finely ground. You may need to stop the processing once or twice to scrape down the container and dislodge any cashews that have become stuck around the blade.

• For finely ground gingersnap cookies, put the gingersnaps in a dry food processor and process until finely ground. As an alternative, put the gingersnaps in a sealed ziplock bag and roll over the bag with a rolling pin until the cookies are finely ground. The latter option will give you an outlet for those aggressions that have been bottled up since that lunchroom fiasco in the third grade. I can still hear them: “We’re not laughing at you, Ginger. We’re laughing with you.” Dammit, I wasn’t laughing!

• Hey, girlie girl, plan ahead. The Coconutty Cream Cheese used in this recipe must be prepared in advance and chilled for at least 3 hours so that it’s firm enough to use when making this cheesecake.

Coconutty Chocolate Cheesecake: You may do without the ginger in your cheesecake, but the only way I could forgive you for that slap in the face is if you replace the ginger with chocolate (the only worthy substitute that can even begin to compare). Instead of using gingersnap cookies to make the crust, use crispy chocolate cookies that don’t have cream fillings, unless you want an oily mess in your oven. Save the oily mess for your bedroom.

In a flaming hurry?
You don’t have to make your own Coconutty Cream Cheese for this recipe. Instead, use three 8-ounce containers of store-bought nondairy cream cheese. Let soften at room temperature before using to make your cheesecake filling. And, if you’re in a real razzle-dazzle rush, you can also use a prepared vegan graham cracker crust rather than making your own. Of course, you couldn’t call this a Coconutty Ginger Cheesecake then, since you’d be leaving out the ginger, and you’d just have to find another way to pay homage to me. A statue in your town square will suffice.

Coconutty Cream Cheese

Yields 1 cup *You’ll need to triple the recipe for Coconutty-Ginger Cheesecake.

Get ready. You are about to have your mind blown! (I said your mind!) With one stroke of genius, your Mistress has redefined what it means to be real. Don’t think of this cream cheese alternative as “fake” cream cheese, and don’t expect some shoddy knockoff that you’ll have to pretend to enjoy. No compromises here! Prepare to love it for what it is: pure perfection. The coconut oil imparts a subtle coconut flavor, and the ground cashews give a creamy density. Simply smear this cleverly conceived concoction on a bagel, or go all out and use it for Fancy Cucumber Sandwiches, Classy Crêpes, or even Coconutty Ginger Cheesecake (see above). Dream big. This vegan cream cheese is for reals!

1½ tablespoons coconut oil
¼ cup raw cashews
¾ cup crumbled firm silken tofu
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt, plus more if desired (see Tricks of the Trade)

Aiming for pure perfection? Coconut oil is a very good place to start. If the coconut oil is solidified, warm it in a small saucepan over very low heat until liquefied.

Now for the cashews. They have a kind of perfection all their own. Process the cashews in a blender on high speed until very finely ground.

Put the coconut oil, ground cashews, tofu, lemon juice, and salt in a food processor. Process until smooth, about 3 minutes, stopping as needed to scrape down the work bowl with a rubber spatula. Girl, you better whirl it and twirl it. Taste and add more salt if desired.

Transfer to a storage container and chill for at least 3 hours, until firm. (This is when the magic happens.)

Store leftover Coconutty Cream Cheese in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator and use within 1 week.

Per 2 tablespoons: 57 calories, 3 g protein, 4 g fat (3 g sat), 2 g carbohydrates, 98 mg sodium, 10 mg calcium, 0 g fiber

Tricks of the Trade

If you’re making Coconutty Cream Cheese to spread on a bagel, adding some extra salt will make your schmear simply divoon. Skip the extra salt if you’re preparing the cream cheese to use in other recipes, such as Classy Crêpes or Coconutty Ginger Cheesecake.