Healthy Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites

Little pumpkin colored cheesecakes with a dark brown gingersnap crust with a white pumpkin and pecans.

Healthy pumpkin cheesecake bites are made with an outrageously delicious gingersnap crust! A healthy recipe using canned pumpkin puree! This is a no-bake cheesecake using cashews instead of cream cheese for a creamy filling!

Prep Time35

Soaking Cashews2

Total Time2 35

Servings: mini cheesecakes

Author: Danika Vanderpyl

Ingredients

Gingersnap Crust:

1 cup rolled oats or almond flour
¼ cup almond butter
¼ cup coconut oil or butter
1 tablespoon molasses
2 teaspoons powdered ginger or ½ teaspoon fresh grated ginger

Cheesecake Filling:

1 ¾ cups cashews soaked 2-8 hours
½ cup pumpkin purée
⅓ cup maple syrup
⅓ cup melted coconut oil or butter
1 teaspoon molasses
1 tablepsoon vanilla
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice notes below to make your own
¼ teaspoon sea salt

Garnish:

pecans
almond Butter

Instructions

Prepare: You will need to soak your cashews for 2-8 hours before making these cheesecakes.
To easily remove these cheesecakes from the muffin tin, place a strip of parchment paper in the tin first, make sure it's long enough to pull out of the muffin cups once they are ready! Or line the muffin tin with cupcake liners.
To make the crust: Start by grinding your oats in a food processor by blending until it form a flour-like texture, about 1-2 minutes. Then, pour ground oats into a bowl and add almond butter, coconut oil, 1 tablespoon of molasses and the powdered ginger. Stir until well combined; it will form a smooth dough. Using a muffin tray, press 1 tablespoon of the gingersnap dough into the bottom of each muffin cup. Set aside.
To make the cheesecake filling: In a high power blender or food processor place the soft cashews, pumpkin purée, maple syrup, ⅓ cup coconut oil, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, sea salt, and 1 teaspoon molasses. Blend for 5 minutes or until very smooth and creamy. If it is too thick, add 1 teaspoon of milk at a time until blending well (don't add too much or they won't become firm in the fridge).
Assemble: Add about 1 heaping tablespoon of pumpkin batter to each gingerbread crust. Add pecans on top and drizzle with almond butter. Put into the fridge to set for 2-4 hours.
Storage: They will stay good in the fridge for up to one week. These no-bake cheesecakes will last in the freezer up to three months.

Notes

For a smooth cashew filling:

- Soak the cashews. I have made the mistake of not soaking the cashews first and the texture becomes grainy! Make sure to soak the cashews for at least 2 hours or boil them for 20 minutes to make them soft.

- Use a high-powered blender or food processor. The cashew filling will not become completely smooth without a high-power machine, it will stay slightly grainy. My blender takes about 3-4 minutes to make it smooth and when I used a food processor I blended it for 7-8 minutes.

Pumpkin Pie Spice: To make your own pumpkin pie spice mix together: 4 teaspoon ginger, 4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, ½ teaspoon cloves, ½ teaspoon allspice. Store in an airtight container, use as needed.

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