Banana Cheesecake

Ingredients:

one 8 oz package chocolate cookie wafers (I used Jo-Sef’s gluten, dairy, nut free ones)

1/4 cup vegan butter, melted

three 6 inch bananas

three 8 oz packages Tofu cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup agave

3/4 cup liquid egg whites, at room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup tofu sour cream

2 tbsp coconut sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Baking Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a food processor process the chocolate cookie wafers into crumbs. Empty the crumbs into a bowl and mix them with the melted butter.

3. Put the chocolate cookie mixture into a 10 inch springform pan, and evenly press the mixture into a bottom crust for the cheesecake.

4. Bake the crust in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove and allow it to cool.

5. Increase the oven heat to 400 degrees.

6. Line the three bananas on a cookie sheet, and bake them for 20 minutes. They will be black and soft with some moisture oozing out of them when they’re done. Allow the bananas to cool.

7. Decrease the oven to 325 degrees.

8. In a mixer, gently blend the cream cheese until it’s smooth.

9. With the mixer on low, slowly pour in the agave until it’s all incorporated into the cream cheese. Be sure to use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides and bottom occasionally.

10. With the mixer on low, slowly add the egg whites until they’re fully incorporated into the cream cheese batter.

11. Add the vanilla.

12. Remove the roasted bananas from their peels, and mash them. Then add them to the cream cheese batter until they’re fully mixed in. Be sure to scraped down the sides and bottom with a rubber spatula once or twice.

13. Completely cover the bottom of the springform pan with aluminum foil and put the pan into a larger pan which will hold it.

14. Gently pour in the cream cheese batter into the prepared pan, and level off the filling so it’s even.

15. Pour boiling water into the larger pan until the water is halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

16. Bake in the oven for one hour.

17. Mix the sour cream with the coconut sugar and cinnamon. When the cheesecake is done at the hour mark, carefully spread the sour cream mixture evenly over the top of the cheesecake, and bake for 10 minutes.

18. Remove the cheesecake from the larger pan when it’s done, and allow it to cool for about half an hour to an hour on a cooling rack.

19. Remove the outside of the springform pan, and put the cheesecake into the fridge to completely cool. Usually it needs at least three to four hours.

20. Slice, serve, and enjoy!