Cheesecake!!

(adapted from allrecipes.com, link)

That's right folks... Cheesecake!!! You may be wondering how on earth it's possible make dairy-free CHEESEcake. But thanks to modern food technology there are replacements for nearly every dairy product... even cream cheese. Now, I am a soy-after-taste-aphobic so my number 1 goal in adapting this recipe was to make sure that there was NO nasty aftertaste. Believe me, this is GOOD!

30 min prep | 1 hour cook | ready in 7 1/2 hours

Ingredients

• 15 graham crackers, crushed
• 4 tablespoons butter substitute, melted

• 4 (8 ounce) packages Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar (plus a few tablespoons to taste)
  
• 3/4 cup vanilla almond milk (or other milk substitute)
  
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream
  
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• up to 1 tablespoon lemon juice (to taste)
  
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9 inch springform pan.
2. In a medium bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs with melted butter substitute. Press onto bottom of springform pan.
3. In a large bowl, mix Tofutti cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Blend in almond milk, and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in Tofutti sour cream, vanilla, lemon juice and flour until smooth. Pour filling into prepared crust.
4. Place a casserole dish filled with one inch of water on the bottom rack of oven. Put the cheese cake on top rack and bake for 1 hour. Turn the oven off, and let cake cool in oven with the door closed for 5 to 6 hours; this prevents cracking. (See notes below) Chill in refrigerator until serving.

Notes

1. You can tell if the cheesecake is done if the edges are puffed up and the center is slightly moist and jiggly.
   
2. After baking for one hour you can open the oven door to check on the cheesecake, then turn the oven off and close the door. It won't make your cheesecake crack if you open the door a few times.
3. Over-mixing will also cause it to crack so the last few steps you can start mixing with a spoon or spatula and then use your mixer to just get the lumps out.
4. This is less sour than a normal cheesecake so it goes well with a tart sauce. (Such as this raspberry sauce)
5. It has taken me three years to get up the courage to try Tofutti products... or any other dairy replacement cream cheese or sour cream. I just didn't believe anything could be as good as the real thing and the thought of these replacements made me sick! While I can't testify to eating the product straight out of the container... I can tell you that they really do a good job in this recipe. If you are as paranoid as I am, I would suggest not tasting your batter AT ALL until just before you poor it into the pan. Yes you get raw egg but then you aren't searching for the individual tastes. You'll be surprised how normal (and delicious) it is.