Dairy free Lotus Biscoff biscuit cheesecake

As you probably already know, I’m pretty terrible at cooking, baking and generally making…anything. But, I have a secret weapon that I bring out for dinner parties so that people don’t think I’m a complete no-hoper in the kitchen…and that’s my dairy free Lotus biscuit no-bake cheesecake.

I was originally inspired by a pretty picture I saw on Pinterest of a cheesecake adorned with Lotus biscuits, and I really wanted to give it a try – except this particular recipe had more dairy than a farm of cows. So, I set about sourcing some ingredients myself to substitute the originals with.

I first cut out dairy about two years ago, and it’s been a learning curve – there are so many things that contain dairy that you wouldn’t imagine (roast chicken crisps I’m looking at you), but other things you’d expect to be full of milky products that aren’t (bourbon biscuits are a good example – a chocolate biscuit filled with chocolate cream, but NO dairy!)

Anyway, I digress. Here are the ingredients I used to make the cheesecake:

• 340g Tesco free from soft cheese
• 75g essential Waitrose digestive biscuits or any other dairy free digestives
• 75g Lotus Biscoff biscuits
• 75g icing sugar
• 200g Lotus Biscoff spread
• 175ml dairy free double cream
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• A splash of dairy free milk substitute (I use oat milk but almond, soya or another variety will be fine!
• 75g dairy free butter/spread

Because I was only making a small cheesecake, I used a 6″ tin, but to serve more I’d suggest an 8″ tin and adjust the ingredients accordingly.

Method

1. Melt the butter so it’s in liquid form, then blitz the biscuits in a food processor until they’re a fine crumb, and mix together. Press down into the base of the tin and set aside (I usually chill mine in the fridge for a few minutes).

2. While the base is chilling, take 50g of the Biscoff spread, add a splash of dairy free milk and pop in the microwave for around 20 seconds. Stir the two together to create a smooth, caramel-like sauce. Pour over the biscuit base and even out, then put back in the fridge to continue chilling.

3. With an electric mixer, mix the cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla extract and Biscoff spread until smooth. At this stage you can also add anything else you’d like to include. I sometimes add a tablespoon of peanut butter because this cheesecake is very sweet, and this just gives it a slightly saltier taste.

4. Add in your double cream and whip until the mixture holds.

5. Spread the mixture evenly over the biscuits, and put in the fridge to chill for several hours. (If you’re in a rush you can speed the process up by putting it in the freezer first!)

6. Once the cheesecake has set, it’s up to you how you decorate it. Because I don’t like it too sweet, I just crush up a couple of extra Lotus biscuits and sprinkle on top, but you could melt some Biscoff spread and drizzle it, or use whole biscuits to embellish – it’s up to you.

5. EAT! (And try to remember to share…)

** EDIT **

I’ve made this cheesecake so many times since posting the recipe, and have tweaked it slightly because Tesco changed the quantity of their dairy free cream cheese tubs. I also added a very tasty Biscoff ‘caramel’ layer which is optional, but very tasty if you do decide to add it in!

You may also have left over cream cheese topping – if you have biscuits that “need” using up then pop some of your topping between two biscuits to create a dairy free Biscoff snack! If you put them in the freezer they’re like ice cream sandwiches! x