Chef Tal Ronnen has created a fabulous vegan Thanksgiving menu. The menu is designed to accompany a savory stuffed turk’y, a new vegan item from gardein. Take a look at the mouth-watering menu:

• Beet and orange autumn salad
• Green beans with fresh cranberries
• Sweet potato biscuits
• Creamy mashed potatoes with chives
• Oven-roasted banana rum cheesecake

The folks at gardein have kindly shared the recipes online and have given me permission to reprint some here. So let’s start at the end with dessert. Yum! Rum!

Banana Rum Cheesecake Recipe

Above: oven roasted banana rum cheesecake top with spiced pecan crust and maple rum sauce.

Ingredients

For sauce

• 1 cup grade B organic maple syrup
• 4 tbsp Earth Balance
• Sea salt
• 1 tbsp dark rum

For oven-roasted bananas

• 4 large, very ripe bananas

For crust

• 1/2 cup spelt flour (white or whole)
• 1 tbsp firmly packed light brown sugar
• 4 tbsp Earth Balance, partially melted
• 4 tbsp ground cardamom
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp Pinch of sea salt
• 1 cup pecan nut flour*

*to make nut flour
To make your own nut flour, first freeze raw nuts overnight. Place about 1 cup of the frozen nuts in a food processor at a time and pulse until finely ground. Freezing the nuts prevents them from turning to nut butter in the food processor as the blade heats up – but be warned, it will be loud!

For filling

• 16 ounces non-dairy cream cheese
• 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup dark rum
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp salt

To serve

• Toasted pecan halves

Directions

Make the oven-roasted bananas
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Place the unpeeled bananas on a roasting pan and roast in the center of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until the bananas are soft, the skins are dark brown, and some juice is seeping out. Let the bananas cool to room temperature in the pan in their skins. Set aside. Increase the oven temperature to 400°F.

Make the maple rum sauce
In a small saucepan, combine the maple syrup, Earth Balance, and salt to taste and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring frequently, until the sauce has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and add the rum, stirring well; be careful, as the sauce will bubble up a bit. Let cool for a few minutes, then taste and add more salt if necessary. Cool to room temperature, then transfer to a squeeze bottle. The sauce can be rewarmed by putting the bottle in a pan of hot water off the heat.

Make the spiced pecan crust
Combine all the crust ingredients in a bowl and stir until well incorporated. Press the crust into a 9-inch springform pan and put in the freezer for 5 minutes. Bake in the center of the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until the crust looks a little dry and the edges are light golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the filling
Peel the roasted bananas and remove any obvious strings. In a food processor, puree the bananas until very smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl periodically; do not overprocess, or the cream cheese will separate and curdle.

Pour the filling into the crust and bake on the center rack of the oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and bake for another 35 to 45 minutes, until the top is the color of light brown sugar and the center of the cheesecake is set but still jiggles slightly; a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.

Let the cheesecake cool to room temperature on a rack for at least 1 hour, then cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.

To serve
Rewarm the sauce in a pan of hot water. Use an offset spatula or a thin knife to loosen the edges of the cheesecake, remove the sides of the pan, and cut the cake into slices. Serve with the warm sauce and toasted pecans.

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Sections: Vegan Food
Topics: baking, banana, cheesecake, cooking, dessert, Food, gardein, peacans, recipe, rum, sweets, tal ronnen, thanksgiving, turk'y, turkey, Vegan, vegetarian