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.
   

World's Best Cocoa Fudge

(from my Mom)

Figuring out that this recipe could easily be made dairy-free was possibly the most exciting discovery of my whole life! This recipe reminds me of Christmas, home, my mom, all things good and wonderful... This is seriously my absolute favorite fudge anywhere.

not much prep | patience required... 4 hours? (lots of cooling time)

Ingredients

• 4 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/3 cups soy milk
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup butter substitute
• 4 teaspoons vanilla
  

Directions

1. In medium to large pot, stir sugar, cocoa, salt, soy milk, and corn syrup over low heat until sugar is dissolved.
   
2. Increase heat and bring to boil.
   
3. Cook stirring occasionally until mixture reaches soft-ball stage (234 degrees F)
   
4. Remove from heat. Cool to touch. Do not jar pan.
   
5. Add butter substitute and vanilla.
6. Beat with wooden spoon until mixture loses it's gloss (15-20 minutes)
7. Pour into buttered pan. Let sit until firm enough to cut.
   

Notes

1. Patience is key in this recipe. I'm not very good at telling if it reaches soft-ball stage so I suggest a candy thermometer. If you overcook it or don't let it cool long enough, your fudge will crystallize in a bad way.
2. When you beat in the butter and vanilla, keep beating until you see a change in the fudge. It will change color and texture from dark and shiny to a lighter, duller, thicker mixture. It should still be smooth though, so don't over-beat.
   
3. The top of your fudge should be smooth when you put it in the buttered pan. If you over-beat it and it turns out a little rough just put a piece of saran wrap directly on the top of the fudge.
   

Easy Apple Crisp

(adapted from mommysavers.com, link)

This was soooo easy to make and the crust was perfect. Mmmm.

20 min|45 min

Ingredients

• 5 cups peeled sliced apples (a little more or less is fine too!)
• 1 stick butter substitute melted (save wrapper to grease pan)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup oatmeal
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 13X9 or 13X10 pan with butter wrapper.
   
2. Arrange peeled apple slices in dish.
   
3. Mix the rest of the ingredients together ( I use a fork, it seems to work better) Dump or spoon over apples.
   
4. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Notes

1. I didn't have anything to core the apples with so I just peeled and chopped them as evenly as I could. It worked great.
2. I also only had 4 cups of apples. I didn't use less crust though, because crust is the best part. I just used a smaller pan.
   

BEST Oatmeal Cookies

(from my sister)

This makes the most delicious cookie dough ever... oh and the cookies are great too.

10-12 min bake | 20 min prep | yield 3 dozen

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter substitute
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup white flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• a few dashes of nutmeg
• 3 cups quick oats
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or coconut (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups raisins (optional)
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
   
2. Place raisins in a colander. Put colander in a large mixing bowl and fill with hot tap water until raisins are completely covered. (This makes the raisins so soft after baking.)
3. In mixer cream butter, shortening, and sugars.
4. Mix in eggs and vanilla.
5. In separate bowl, mix dry ingredients except oats. Add to mixer and stir until combined.
6. Add raisins or other nuts/coconut/seeds etc. and stir.
7. Mix in oats.
8. Spoon onto greased cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes.

Notes

1. Soaking the raisins is optional but worth it.
   
2. You can use all white flour instead of wheat and all shortening or all butter instead of half and half. I just like it this way.
   

Old-Fashioned Banana Cream Pie

(adapted from food.com, link

image from www.thehungrywife.com)

This recipe is so yummy! Even my extended family loves this one and can't tell it's dairy-free.

45 min total | 15 min prep

Ingredients

• 1 9-inch dairy-free graham cracker crust
• 3 cups Silk Pure Almond Vanilla Almond Milk (or soy milk)
  
• 2 tablespoons Bestlife Buttery Baking Sticks (or other dairy-free butter substitute)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
  
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
  
• 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons Bestlife Buttery Baking Sticks (or other dairy-free butter substitute)
• 2-3 bananas

Directions

1. Have pie crust ready.
2. In a large saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter substitute into 3 cups almond or soy milk.
3. In another saucepan, combine the sugar, flour and salt; gradually stir in the heated almond milk and butter substitute mixture.
4. Over medium heat, stirring constantly, cook until thickened. (15-20 min.)
5. Cover and, stirring occasionally, cook for two minutes longer.
6. In a small bowl, have the 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten, ready: stir a small amount of the hot mixture into beaten yolks; when thoroughly combined, stir yolks into hot mixture.
7. Cook for one minute longer, stirring constantly.
8. Remove from heat and blend in additional 2 tablespoons butter substitute. If using plain almond or soy milk, stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla at this point.
9. Let sit until lukewarm.
10. When ready to pour, slice bananas and scatter in pie shell; pour warm mixture over bananas.
11. If desired, make a meringue (you'll have 3 leftover egg whites) to top the pie, or just refrigerate pie until firm and serve.

Notes:

1. I have used both almond and soy milk in this recipe. Both work but I like the flavor of the almond milk better.
2. You should be able to slice into this pie and have it hold it's shape. A way to tell if the mixture is thickened enough is if in step 8 it is already starting to hold it's shape a bit. (a.k.a You could push the mixture over to one side of the saucepan and it would very slowly move back and not really return to level.)