Dairy-Free Pumpkin Swirl Cheese Cake

Back in our other life, (before Don's heart issues) I made pumpkin swirl cheese cake every Thanksgiving.  We all looked forward to it and it was a sad day when cream cheese became off limits!  Then I discovered that you can do amazing things with cashews!  They can substitute milk, sour cream, AND cream cheese!  I tried using other cream cheese substitutes, but like Don Adams, they missed it by that much!  I found that cashews add a degree of richness missed in some of the other cream cheese substitutes.  This recipe definitely takes more time but if you crave cheese cake and need to watch cholesterol, this is a delicious dessert for Thanksgiving!

Ingredients:
4 cups cashew-based cream cheese- recipe follows
2 cups crushed gingersnaps
1 cup pecans
2 tbsps healthy margarine (Smart Balance, Earth Balance, Benecol, etc)
15 oz. can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup non-dairy milk substitute
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup granulated cane sugar
1 tbsp. nutritional yeast flakes
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp oil

For Cashew Cream Cheese:
Soak 4 cups raw cashews for at least 6 hours.  Drain and add cashews and 1 cup of water to food processor.  Puree and add more water until mixture reaches the consistency of soft cream cheese.  Add lemon, salt to taste, and 1 tbsp oil.  

For crust:
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Place pecans, gingersnaps, and margarine in food processor and puree until the gingersnaps are crumbly.  Press crumb mixture into bottom of spring-form pan.  Bake approximately 15 minutes until crumb mixture is slightly browned.  Remove from oven and turn oven heat to 325 degrees.

For filling:
Stir together milk substitute, sugar, yeast flakes, vanilla, and salt in large mixing bowl. With electric mixer, add in cashew cream cheese and blend for 1 minute.  Separate out 1 cup cream cheese mixture.  To this add pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and stir to mix. Spoon batter over crust, alternating with plain batter, then pumpkin batter.  Use a knife to cut through layers to create a swirl pattern.  Bake approximately 1 hour.

Options for nut allergies: 
Eliminate pecans from crust-  Increase ginger snaps to 3 cups.
Instead of cashew cream, use 3 small (8 oz) containers of Tofutti or vegan substitute for cream cheese.