Vegan Tahini Cheese
A few years ago, if you’d tried to get me to eat vegan tahini cheese (or any vegan cheese for that matter), you’d have been hard-pressed. I would have wanted the “real” deal. Back in those old days, I was always the person who brought the cheese plate to the party.
When in Paris, I ate allllll the smelly cheeses. The creamier and more off-tasting (ew), the better. I even had a cheese wheel “cake” at my wedding. Yep, no joke.
I swore I could never give up cheese. I LOVED it, I really did. If you feel the same about cheese right now then you’re probably as addicted as I was. All those casomorphins intended for the baby cow to help him bond and feel all mooshy around his Mumma. Except all it does for us is make us feel that way about the actual cheese itself. Come on, that’s just straight up weird!
Much to my surprise, when I quit cheese, it only took a matter of days to get over my addiction. After the body shakes, sweats and night terrors subsided (jokes – none of that happened!), I didn’t NEED cheese like I used to. (PS: Check this post out if you’re wanting to quit cheese for yourself.)
But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t occasionally wish I could sit down with a good glass of red and enjoy a nice creamy cheese with some crackers and quince paste.
This vegan tahini cheese recipe, my friends, means that you can still enjoy that cheese plate.
It’s slightly salty, super soft, melt-in-your-mouth creamy and has a gorgeous sesame flavour to make it a little bit different. So yummy.
Don’t be afraid of adding the miso paste – it might seem strange, but trust me when I say it will not make your cheese taste like miso soup. Buy a quality organic miso paste from the health food store and have it on hand for your home-made cheeses. It can be a little pricey but it lasts a long time in the fridge and you’ll only use small amounts at a time.
As with any homemade plant based cheese, you can experiment with adding other flavours such as fresh herbs, liquid smoke, maybe a dash of truffle oil.
ALSO… check out my other vegan cheese recipes here:
Have fun and enjoy! x
- 1/2 cup tahini (unhulled is better for this recipe)
- 1/2 cup cashews (soaked for at least 3 hours prior)
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 50 grams cocoa butter *see note
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 teaspoons miso paste (gluten free)
- 3 tablespoons soy milk (or your fave plant milk)
- 1/3 cup warm water
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Place cocoa butter into a heatproof bowl over a small pot of boiling water and stir until melted
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Place all other ingredients into a single-serve blender or small food processor
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Add the melted cocoa butter and blend away, till it's silky smooth
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Pour into moulds lined with greaseproof paper or foil (I used little square-shaped ramekins)
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Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before releasing from moulds and serving.
*If you can't find cocoa butter at a regular supermarket, you'll nearly always find it at a health food store. I used cocoa butter melts which saves time in the melting process as opposed to buying it in a brick. A word of warning though - don't be fooled by it's delicious white chocolatey appearance - raw cocoa butter tastes nasty on its own! However it makes for a gorgeously smooth final texture in this recipe.
This vegan tahini cheese will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge.
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Just found this recipe and would love to try it. Do you think the cocoa butter could be replaced with filtered coconut oil? Many thanks!
Hi Linda 🙂 I think you could definitely replace it with coconut oil, however it would just soften a bit faster out of the fridge 🙂 Hope you enjoy it! Let me know how it goes and give it a rating! x