Vegan Gingerbread Cheesecake Bars
With an easy pecan-and-date crust and tons of warm spices, these Gingerbread Cheesecake Bars highlight the holiday season’s warm flavors. We make these “cheesecake” bars with soaked cashews to replicate cheesecake’s creamy texture—no dairy or baking necessary. You won’t miss the dairy one bit in these gluten-free, vegan bars.
Who wants a Gingerbread Cheesecake Bar?! 🙋🙋🙋 If your hand is as high as mine is right now, you’re going to want to make these. I love all of my vegan cheesecake recipes, but these take a top spot when it comes to the holiday season (alongside my baked apple cheesecake…swoon!).
I’m a huge fan of the flavors that come along during the holidays. I like to put cinnamon, nutmeg, and all the warm spices in my treats all year round, but this time of the year I can go for it. For drinking all the warm spices, I love sipping on a homemade vegan chai latte or putting this homemade gingerbread syrup into all my drinks. But when it comes to dessert, it does not get better than these vegan gingerbread cheesecake bars.
These Gingerbread Cheesecake Bars are perfect for the holidays!
These Gingerbread Cheesecake Bars are the epitome of an incredible holiday dessert.
For the crust, we blend together dates, pecans, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. It’s a simple combination, but it works so well with the flavors in this dessert.
They’re creamy and sweet, with all of the flavors that I love about this season. They are similar to many of my paleo and vegan cheesecakes, in that the cheesecake is made from raw cashews. After soaking the cashews in water for a few hours, they blend into a texture that replicates that lusciously creamy cheesecake texture.
We use maple syrup to sweeten these Gingerbread Cheesecake Bars, which adds a subtle sweetness and delicious, warm flavor. It also enhances the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves that flavor the cheesecake.
We incorporate unsulphured molasses into the bars, which gives a rich flavor that brings all things holiday season to mind. And it tastes like a gingerbread cookie transformed into a magically creamy dessert!
We recreate the tang of classic cheesecake with a hint of lemon juice and zest, which also enhances the gingerbread flavor and adds some brightness.
How to store vegan cheesecake bars
You can store these vegan cheesecake bars in the refrigerator or the freezer. Slice and place into an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks, or freeze for up to 2 months.
If you’re a fan of gingerbread…you’re going to love these vegan gingerbread cheesecake bars. Enjoy!!
Want more vegan cheesecake recipes?
Chai Cheesecake Bars
These Chai Cheesecake Bars are tangy and full of spicy chai flavor – they have a vegan cashew cheesecake filling and a pecan date crust. These creamy cheesecake bars are gluten-free, paleo, vegan, and there’s no baking required!
No-Bake Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake
This No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake is super creamy with a pecan crust and a spiced pumpkin cheesecake filling that’s made with cashews! This healthier pumpkin cheesecake is gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo + vegan, and perfect for the holidays.
Vegan Apple Cheesecake with Gluten-Free Oatmeal Crust
This Vegan Apple Cheesecake is a creamy and irresistible baked vegan cheesecake that is perfect for the holidays or for any apple pie lovers! Made with an oatmeal almond flour crust, this gluten-free cheesecake is topped with a scrumptious apple pie filling.
Vegan Gingerbread Cheesecake Bars
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 16 bars 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Blender
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
No need to free up oven space for these Gingerbread Cheesecake Bars. These “cheesecake” bars are made with soaked cashews to replicate cheesecake’s creamy texture—no dairy or baking necessary. With an easy pecan-and-date crust and tons of warm spices, these Gingerbread Cheesecake Bars are packed with the holiday season’s warm flavors. You won’t miss the dairy one bit in these gluten-free, vegan bars.
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1 cup (150 grams) pitted Medjool dates
- 1½ cups (170 grams) raw pecans, chopped
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
For the gingerbread cheesecake
- 2 cups (284 grams) unsalted raw cashews, soaked in cold water for 4 to 10 hours
- ½ cup (120 grams) full-fat coconut milk, shaken together in the can to incorporate the cream + coconut water
- ⅓ cup (113 grams) pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup (56 grams) refined coconut oil, melted and cooled
- 3 tablespoons (63 grams) unsulphured molasses
- ½ teaspoon (1.5 grams) lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons (30 grams) fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon (13 grams) vanilla extract
- 1½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- Garnish: ground cinnamon, grated fresh nutmeg, and pecan halves, if desired
Instructions
- Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, and lightly grease with coconut oil.
- In the work bowl of a food processor, place dates. Pulse until finely chopped. Add pecans, ground ginger, cinnamon, and salt; pulse on medium-low speed until a sticky dough begins to forms, with small pecan bits remaining. (Do not overprocess or the dough will become oily.) Press dough into the bottom of prepared pan.
- Drain soaked cashews, and rinse with cold water. In the container of a blender, combine cashews, coconut milk, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, molasses, lemon zest and juice, vanilla, nutmeg, cloves, 1½ teaspoons ginger, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and ¼ teaspoon salt; blend until mixture is silky smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings, if desired.
- Pour filling into prepared crust, smoothing top with an offset spatula. Tap pan on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles. Freeze until completely firm, at least 3 hours.
- When the cheesecake bars are set, run a knife under hot water to warm it up before cutting bars with the still-hot (dried) knife. Cut into 16 squares. Garnish with cinnamon, nutmeg, and pecan halves, if desired.
- Let thaw at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
- Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks, or freeze for up to 2 months.
This recipe was originally printed in the 2017 Holiday Issue of Bake From Scratch Magazine!
Warm flavors are my absolute favorite. I love cooking this time of year and the fact that you used maple syrup to sweeten these is so good. I can’t wait to give these a try!
Thanks so much for the love, Heather!! Maple syrup is the perfect sweetener for these :)
Is this fancy molasses that you’re using or can I use my blackstrap molasses ?
Haha, is there such thing as fancy molasses?! I use regular blackstrap molasses!
Do you have nutrition info on these? I’m wondering how much sugar per serving there is. Thanks!
Hi Becky, I don’t but you can calculate it on myfitnesspal.com!
I’d really appreciate it if you would use a typeface that is bolder and easier to read.
Hi Susan – if you have Google Chrome, you can always zoom in (view –> zoom in, OR press command+) to make the text bigger!
I love cheesecakes… I love gingerbreads… It seems amazing… as usual ! Thank you so much Rachel !
Thank you so much!
These bars are delicious! They set up beautifully… so creamy and delicious. I used coconut cream from TJoes and “fancy” molasses. I will be making them again. Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
So thrilled you’re loving these, Barb! Thanks so much for sharing your feedback.
I made these a couple of days ago, delish! Since this was my first time making a vegan cheesecake I followed the recipe exactly. I was delightfully surprised at just how smooth and creamy the cheesecake turned out. The flavors were wonderfully warm and full of the spices of fall! I was afraid of over-processing the crust; but could have possibly done it a little more since it was just slightly on the chunky/crumbly side – but the flavor was great! I liked it best after letting a slice defrost for a while so it was just barely frozen at the center. This recipe has opened my tastebuds to vegan cheesecake and I’m excited to try more! Thank you for an easy to follow and well tested recipe that comes together in such a satisfying way; whether you’re vegan or not!
So glad you loved it, Ann! Thanks so much for sharing your feedback :D hope you find lots of other flavors you love!
I read that full fat coconut milk is not heart healthy, is there something else that I can substitute. I would love to create these luscious Gingerbread Cheesecake Bars.
Thank you,
Jeanette