Gemma: Hi Bold Bakers.
As you can see, I’m here with Olivia Crouppen,
my alternative baking expert.
And she is going to show you how you can make
an incredible vegan cheese.
Take it away Liv.
Liv: Thanks, Gems.
If you’re vegan or you’re cutting down
on dairy, you no longer have to say goodby
to pizza, tacos, or even grilled cheese sandwiches.
My homemade dairy free cheese is perfect for
spreading on crackers and snacking or dolloping
and melting on all of your favorite savory
dishes.
Made in the blender in just minutes, you too
can make this cheese easily at home.
Okay, so to start off our vegan cheese, we’re
going to be using soaked cashews.
These are raw cashews that I’ve soaked overnight
in hot water.
You don’t have to soak them that long, you
can do it for just an hour if you want.
But it’s super important not to skip this
step.
Soaking the cashews is what’s going to help
them to break down and make our cheese really,
really creamy.
If you happen to be allergic to cashews or
you don’t like them so much, totally fine.
You can go ahead and use almonds.
I personally like to use cashews here because
they are a little more neutral so then we
can flavor the cheese as we like.
So we’re just going to get this into our
food processor.
Okay, so the next ingredient we’re going
to get into our food processor is tapioca
starch.
I love to work with tapioca starch, you might
have seen me use this my three ingredient
flatbread.
In that case, it added almost like a gluten
effect to the flatbread.
In here what it’s going to do is create
that stretchy, stringy cheese.
Next up is coconut oil.
I love coconut oil as you guys know.
This is a really good source of healthy fat
and it’s going to make our cheese nice and
rich.
So I’m just going to get that in there with
my spatula.
So this is the secret ingredient in my vegan
cheese.
This is agar agar.
Agar agar is a vegan gelatin and this is a
super important ingredient here.
What it’s going to do is help the cheese
hold together and it’s also going to be
what makes the cheese work when it’s melty
and also set up when it’s cold.
So we’re going to get that in here.
If you don’t want to use agar agar here
because you are more familiar with Carageen
and Moss, which is another vegan gelatin,
you can absolutely use that instead.
The reason that I’ve chosen to use agar
agar is because it makes the cheese a little
more creamy where as Carageen and Moss makes
it a little more hard.
Now that we have all the ingredients that
make the texture of the cheese, we’re going
to go ahead and flavor our cheese.
This is nutritional yeast.
Actually just deactivated yeast.
You’ll often times see this in salad bars
for sprinkling over your salad.
The reason is because it tastes and acts kind
of like parmesan.
So we’re going to get this right in here.
So the final ingredients in our vegan cheese
are salt and lemon juice.
We’re going to go ahead and use a hefty
amount of salt because personally I like a
saltier cheese.
If you like it more on the neutral side, you
can just cut down here.
And then we’re going to use some lemon juice
and this acid is just going to bring everything
together.
So now that everything is in our food processor,
we’re just going to go ahead and give this
a good blitz.
I you don’t have a food processor, you can
also use your blender.
So we’re just going to get the top on here
and go to town.
I’m going to go ahead and turn on my machine.
I’m just going to let it run for a good
one to two minutes.
You really want to take your time with this
and let the cashews and the coconut oil come
together.
This is going to break down and look like
a super smooth and creamy nut butter and that’s
exactly what you’re looking for.
After a few minutes of blending, you just
want to go in with your spatula and scrape
down the sides.
You just want make sure that everything is
nice and combined.
So I’m just going to pop the lid on and
take it a little bit farther.
Again, what you’re looking for is just a
super rich and creamy texture.
The last and final ingredient in our cheese
is actually just water.
This is some water that I just boiled.
This is about a cup and a half of water.
If you want your cheese to be a little softer
and more creamy, add the full amount.
But I want it to be a little harder, you can
hold some back.
So what we’re going to do is turn on our
food processor and slowly stream this in.
SO the water is going to go ahead and start
activating the agar agar and this is what
is going to start to thicken the cheese . You
want to stream the water in kind of slowly
and give it time to just combine with all
the other ingredients, and again, wake up
that agar agar.
So this looks great.
Our cheese mixture has come together, and
now we’re moving on to our next step.
We’re just going to pour our cheese mixture
into a medium saucepan over medium heat.
And what you want to do is whisk consistently
for just one to two minutes.
What you’ll see is pretty magically after
two minutes, it’ll start to thicken up.
Okay, so now that our cheese is cooked, you
can totally enjoy it like this.
It’s super rich and cheesy and gooey but
I’m going to show you how to turn this into
a hard cheese.
So what we’re going to do is get it into
a small bowl.
This is a nice small bowl that I’ve greased
with a little bit of coconut oil, just to
make sure that cheese will release.
And also, another really nice trick, I like
to take a strip of parchment paper and line
that along the bottom of the bowl so we can
just lift our our cheese.
So all we’re going to do is get our hot
cheese mixture into here.
So now that our cheese is in our bowl, we’re
just going to use the back of our spatula
to gently press it down and smooth everything
out.
You’re really just looking to get rid of
any air bubbles so that when you turn your
cheese out, it looks nice and smooth.
So this is already starting to set up.
This is exactly what you want.
So from here, all we’re going to do is get
this into the fridge.
You want to let this chill for at least one
night and then the next day you can unveil
your vegan cheese.
Check this out.
This is the cheese that I made yesterday.
As you can see, it’s set up and nice and
firm.
So all that we’re going to do is turn it
out onto our plate.
So you’ll see this is super easy.
We’re just going to ue the parchment paper
to lift the cheese.
Look at that.
And then get it onto our little plate situation
with cheese and crackers.
Tada!
Check out the finished cheese.
I love it when it’s hot.
I love it when it’s cold.
So all that’s left to do is give this a
try.
I cannot wait slice into this.
I’ve got some crackers here.
I think I know someone who might like to give
this a try.
This is for you.
Gemma: Thank you.
You know, I’ve never had a vegan cheese
before.
Liv: Well tell me, if you didn’t know that
it was vegan, would you ever be able to tell?
Gemma: No.
Honestly, no.
These are really good.
Liv: I haven’t tried this either.
Gemma: That’s really good.
It’s salty and it has the texture of a spreadable
cheese.
Almost like a rindless brie.
Liv: A rindless brie.
Gemma: A rindless brie.
Liv: A rindless brie.
Honestly, it really does have the flavor and
texture of a brie.
You guys are going to love this.
I can’t wait for you guys to give this vegan
cheese a try.
The recipe is on BiggerBolderBaking.com.
