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These vegan no-bake Strawberry Cheesecake Bars are perfectly sweet, silky smooth with a crunchy base. This Strawberry Cheesecake Bars recipe is perfect to make for mothers day, valentines, or any day you want a simple summery dessert!
What you’ll need to make No-Bake Strawberry Cheescake Bars:
- vegan cream cheese
- caster sugar
- non-dairy milk (I used oat)
- agar agar (powder)
- lemon juice
- lemon zest
- strawberries
- digestives or any gram cracker biscuits
- vegan butter
How to make vegan No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Bars:
- Crush your biscuits.
- Mix in your melted butter.
- Press into a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Then place in the fridge.
- In a bowl, combine vegan cream cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice and sugar. Put this bowl into the microwave or warm over a bain-marie. You want the mixture to be warm enough so that when you add the agar agar it doesn’t clump up.
- Once warm, mix in your strawberries.
- In a saucepan, heat your milk with agar agar. Cook for around 2 minutes on low, stirring consistently.
- Pour you oat milk + agar agar mixture over your cream cheese mixture.
- Instantly mix, then pour over your biscuit base.
- Carefully transfer your dish into your refrigerator.
- Keep refrigerated for 4 hours – overnight (I recommend overnight!)
- Top with some fresh berries and enjoy!
What’s agar agar?
Agar agar is vegan gelatin derived from seaweed! Its what allows the texture of these bars to stay silky and smooth while keeping them stabilized.
You can find agar agar online or even at most Asian food stores. I bought mine from my grandad’s food store but here’s another great alternative from a brand I often buy from.
Why do I need to heat the Vegan Cream Cheese mixture?
The reason you need to heat the vegan cream cheese mixture is that once the agar agar hits anything cold, it’ll become lumpy and well… nothing like cheesecake. So be sure to heat your vegan cream cheese until it’s warm!
How to store:
Keep refrigerated in an air-tight container for up to 2-3 days. If you add fresh strawberries ontop, be sure to consume within 2 days max – I doubt this will be hard to do, these no-bake cheesecake bars are that good!
More vegan desserts you’ll love:
- self saucing mocha hazelnut pudding
- no bake chocolate peanut butter cookies
- no bake peanut butter cookie dough bars
- triple almond cinnamon rolls
- marbled chocolate banana bread
Watch the how-to video:
Ingredients
Base
- 220 g digestives or any vegan gram crackers ()
- 100 g vegan butter
Cheesecake Layer
- 440 g vegan cream cheese
- 120 g sugar
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp zest
- 190 g oat milk
- 4 g agar agar
- 68 g strawberries chopped
Instructions
Base
- Line the bottom and sides of your 9×9 inch baking tin with parchment/baking paper, leaving an overhang on the sides to lift the finished bars out (this just makes removing the bars from the tin easier!). Set aside.
- Crush your biscuits into crumbs. Pour in your melted vegan butter and mix,
- Transfer into your pre-lined baking dish. Using a spoon or a measuring cup pack in tightly. It needs to be packed tightly to prevent it from falling apart when cutting into bars.
Cheesecake Layer
- In a bowl, combine your vegan cream cheese, caster sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest.
- Warm-up your vegan cream cheese mixture in the microwave or over a bain-marie, stirring occasionally. You need the mixture to be very warm but not boiling.
- Once warm, remove from the bain-marie and mix in your chopped strawberries. Set aside.
- In a saucepan, heat your oat milk with agar agar powder. Whisk over medium heat for 2 minutes.
- Pour your oat milk + agar agar mixture over your cream cheese mixture. Give it a quick stir, then pour over your biscuit base.
- If you see any bubbles on the top of your cheesecake, pop them using a toothpick. Do this as quickly as your cheesecake will start setting pretty quickly. (If you don't mind bubbles, you can skip this step)
- Carefully transfer your cheesecake bars into the fridge. Refrigerate overnight (or atleast 3 hours) .
- Lift the cheesecake out of the baking tin using the parchment/baking paper overhang on the sides. Cut into bars using a shape knife – for super clean cuts, wipe your knife between every cut. Garnish with strawberries and enjoy!
Nutrition
- Calories: 250
