Fig and Pistachio Vegan Cheesecake

Today I bring the recipe for a beautiful Fig and Pistachio Vegan Cheesecake, topped with the most awesome and delicious vegan caramel sauce I have ever tasted in my life.

Fig and Pistachio Vegan Cheesecake

I am not exaggerating.

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Check this sauce out.

Fig and Pistachio Vegan Cheesecake

Folks, this caramel sauce is the easiest thing in the world to make. And it will be the best vegan caramel sauce you’ve ever tasted, I guarantee. I want to make a whole post dedicated to it, it’s that good! Check out the recipe below.

Anyway, let’s talk more about the cheesecake since I will be doing a post about the vegan caramel sauce later on.

This is a Fig and Pistachio Cheesecake. From all the vegan cheesecakes I’ve ever made, this was for sure the most delicious one (yes, because of the caramel, but ALSO because of the delicious cheesecake itself).

We start with a fig and pistachio crust. Very easy to make. I used dried figs in the crust, as well as pistachios.

Fig and Pistachio Vegan Cheesecake

I used Orchard Choice California Figs on this vegan cheesecake.

For the crust, I used the California Mission Figs.

For the Fig and Pistachio Cheesecake, there are going to be two separate parts. First part is the pistachio cheesecake batter, made with cashews, pistachios, etc. This will be the smooth creamy vegan cheesecake batter. Then, we have the Fig Jam part, which gets swirled into the cheesecake.

Fig and Pistachio Vegan Cheesecake

For the Fig Jam, I used the Orchard Choice Mission Figlets. I chopped them small and brought to a boil in a pan with water, maple syrup, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Fig and Pistachio Vegan Cheesecake

You can use whatever kind of dried figs you would like. I just wanted to experiment with the different kinds of figs from Orchard Choice.

After making the jam, swirl it with the cheesecake batter.

As with most no bake vegan cheesecakes, you should keep it in the freezer, and always let it sit for about 20-30 minutes at room temperature before serving, so it takes some of the chill off.

Fig and Pistachio Vegan Cheesecake

After the cheesecake has set in the freezer for a few hours, you can proceed to serve it with the caramel sauce.

I am probably overusing the figs+berries (or grapes) decoration on top of my baked goods, as you can see with this Pecan Fig Cake, and with my recent Grape Cupcakes.

But I don’t care. I have such nostalgia when it comes to figs, reminds me of growing up and going to my grandparents’ house. They always had figs, and grapes! I loved eating figs as a kid. So yes, I love baked goods with figs in them.

Fig and Pistachio Vegan Cheesecake

And I brought some of this cheesecake to work, even my co-workers that claimed to not like figs seemed to enjoy my Fig and Pistachio Vegan Cheesecake. And I think most of them are kind of new to the whole vegan cheesecake thing, as many people are, but it was very well received. I know my mom back in Brazil is dying to try some vegan cheesecake from looking at my pictures (hang in there mom, soon I’ll be able to make you some vegan cheesecake!).

I am a huge Vegan Cheesecake lover. However, I do have a problem with the name “cheesecake”. It doesn’t taste like cheesecake at all. I think we should change the name to Cashewcake, who’s with me? But SEO dictates nobody will find me in search engines if I start calling my recipe that, so I’m going to stick to calling it vegan cheesecake for now.

Fig and Pistachio Vegan Cheesecake

If you would like to check out some more of my Vegan Recipes, click here.

My very favorites are: Vegan Peanut Butter Tarts, Vegan Cookie Dough Bars, and Vegan Cookie Sandwiches (hint, they all involve chocolate).

Fig and Pistachio Vegan Cheesecake

Have a fantastic day! Thanks for reading my blog!

Fig and Pistachio Vegan Cheesecake

Fig and Pistachio Vegan Cheesecake

This is a Fig and Pistachio Vegan Cheesecake, topped with a vegan caramel sauce.
5 from 4 votes
Prep Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine vegan
Servings 15 servings
Calories 380 kcal

Ingredients
  

Pistachio Crust
  • 1 cup shelled pistachios can be roasted or raw, but you will have to roast them (100 grams, 3.5 oz)
  • 1/4 cup almond flour
  • 1/4 cup desiccated shredded coconut
  • 2 tablespoons flax seeds
  • 1/2 cup chopped dried figs
  • 3 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon coconut butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
Fig Jam
  • 1 cup black mission figs chopped
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
Vegan Pistachio Cheesecake
  • 2 1/2 cups raw cashews
  • 3/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil melted
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup coconut cream cold
  • 3 tablespoons cashew butter
  • 2/3 cup crushed pistachios
Vegan Caramel Sauce
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup coconut butter
  • 4 tablespoons cashew butter or any nut butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
 

Pistachio Crust
  • If necessary, roast your pistachios, if using raw. To do this, simply lay the pistachios on a baking sheet and roast in the pre-heated 350F oven for about 10 minutes, tossing the pan around in between, to roast evenly.
  • Let pistachios cool down.
  • Place pistachios in a small blender.
  • Puree until they almost become a paste. The pistachio will release oils, making this lumpy paste. You should end up with about 1/2 cup of crushed pistachios.
  • In a food processor, add the pistachio “paste”, the almond flour, the shredded coconut, the flax seeds, the dried figs, the maple syrup, the coconut butter, and finally, the cinnamon powder.
  • Process mixture until well combined.
  • Pour it onto a 8” springform pan.
  • Press it down to evenly coat the bottom of the pan. Make sure you really pack the crust.
  • Place it in the freezer to firm up.
Fig Jam
  • Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan.
  • Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium, and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring constantly. If the liquid starts to dry out, you may need to add a couple more tablespoons of water at a time. You want to really cook those figs until they are very soft.
  • Once figs are soft, you can turn the heat off. Let figs rest for about 5 minutes to cool down slightly.
  • Transfer to a small blender and blend it up until combined.
  • Now let it cool down slightly, for about 15 minutes or so, while you make the cheesecake.
Vegan Pistachio Cheesecake
  • Pour hot boiling water over cashews until they are completely submerged. Let them soak for at least for 4 hours. If you want, you can pour room temperature water over cashews and let them soak overnight, instead.
  • Once cashews have soaked, drain them and place in the bowl of a food processor.
  • Add maple syrup, coconut oil, lemon juice, vanilla extract, coconut cream, cashew butter, and crushed pistachios to the food processor.
  • Process for a few minutes, scraping in between. You want to process it for a long time so the cheesecake will be super creamy.
Caramel Sauce
  • Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil while whisking constantly. Keep whisking mixture until smooth. Take it off the heat and let it cool down for just a few seconds. Then pour mixture. It will start to set pretty quickly, so you have to pour right after you turn the heat off. Otherwise, it will have more of a spreadable consistency.
To assemble
  • Pour vegan cheesecake batter over chilled crust.
  • Spoon Fig Jam over the top of the batter kinda spreading the spoonfuls around. Next, grab a knife and swirl it around, to mix the fig jam in, but not incorporate it fully.
  • Smooth out the top with a small offset spatula.
  • Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Place it in the freezer to set for at least 4 hours.
  • As soon as cheesecake has chilled through, you can pour caramel sauce over it. Serve immediately, or keep it in the freezer until ready to serve.
  • *Remember to let cheesecake sit at room temperature for about 20-30 minutes before eating, since it’s frozen, and you want it to soften up a bit.
  • Store in the freezer for up to 1 month, well covered.
Keyword cheesecake, figs, pistachio, vegan

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11 Comments

    1. @Beth. Appreciate the note. It all depends on where the figs are from. The figs from the U.S. (e.g. California) are actually vegan because of the way it’s pollenated. If you really think about the true and natural circle of life, everything – all matter is recycling eachother (all life creating decay – decay feeding all life) . So you can question every fruit and vegetable you eat from all natural sources. Great to be mindful but don’t want to overthink every fruit/vegetable we eat. I’m more concerned about GMOs and it’s long term effects…LOL

      @Camila. Apologies for my soapbox moment! This is an awesome looking recipe. Definitely look forward to making it. As a newbie vegan, I look forward to occassional sweet treats like this. I eat with my eyes first and this is beautiful. Thank you for all you do.

  1. I was just wondering if you could use store bought fig jam instead? There are no fresh figs available to buy where I live so I can’t make the jam component of this recipe 🙁

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