If you're missing out cheese on your vegan diet you must try this Vegan Camembert Cheese: deliciously good and pretty easy to make too!
Questa ricetta è disponibile anche in italiano
Hello everyone! Vegan Camembert Cheese
I have already talked before about how sometimes we want something creamy, cosy and pleasing to the palate, a vegetable substitute for cheese.
I think it's normal, especially if we've been used to certain types of food during our development to miss it.
It is a transition that all vegans face, and I think those who are like me and want to limit the suffering of animals, are even more motivated to pursue and find new flavours and ways to replace what they used to love but want to enjoy in the most ethical way possible.
Personally I made the change starting from a vegetarian diet. I began my transition from an omnivorous to a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet a decade ago, for purely health reasons. Despite being always an animal lover, unfortunately at the time the connection between animal suffering and the human diet was not at all immediate obvious to me as it is today. I researched and read a lot and developed this awareness during my years as a vegetarian, until one day I said "Enough, I no longer want to contribute to this injustice!". Since then I have not been able to coexist conscious of how cruel and unjust the life of our poor 4-legged friends is. Their destiny is already written since before they are even conceived that solely based upon their "misfortune" to simply be a pig or a cow we would think less of them, less than what we would of dogs and cats who we call pets and love unconditionally.
So today I am vegan for reason of purely animal rights, and health is now only a secondary reason. It is curious and at the same time ironic to reflect back upon how my adventure into the plant universe began mainly for health and secondarily for animal ethics has now become the opposite.
What Vegan Camembert Tastes Like
I personally find this plant-based cheese to be the perfect combination of taste and comfort that we sometimes are looking for to simply satisfy a craving.
This combination of ingredients, mainly consists on a blend of cashews and almonds (please note you can only use one if you're allergic/don't have both) and is inspired by various recipes on the web, gives rise to the plant alternative of the French Camembert cheese, a round cheese, very similar to Brie both in taste and appearance, which is typically baked until it becomes soft and gooey in the centre and then eaten with breadsticks or spread over crusty white bread.
Camembert is commonly used is UK pubs often as a starter or a side because of its traditional warmness and for how great it is as a sharing food.
Since it is so easy to make a vegan version there is no reason why you need to miss out on such a lovely treat. It melts just like the original version, is gooey and sticky and for the reward is relatively simple and quick to make as a snack, part of a main course, a party or just for a cosy night in.
There is no occasion where this Camembert recipe is not a great option.
So let's see what we need to produce it at home!
Vegan Camembert Cheese Recipe
Ingredients (for a 13-15 cm round mold):
40 g Cashews
40 g Almonds
210 g Water
15 g Tapioca Starch
15 g Corn Starch
2-4 Garlic Cloves
1 tablespoon Nutritional Yeast
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
Fresh Thyme
Salt
Pepper
Method:
1. Soak the nuts for at least 4 hours in some room temperature water (or for 1 hour in hot water)
2. In a blender put nuts, water, 1 clove of garlic, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, pinch of salt, tapioca and corn starch.
Blend until smooth.
3. Cook the mixture in a pan on medium heat until it thickens and becomes gooey (less than 5 minutes).
4. Transfer in a small round tray covered in baking paper, and season with thyme, garlic, pepper and a few drops of olive oil.
5. Bake at 180° C until it starts to bubble and turns slightly golden (15-20 minutes).
6. Serve hot, ideally with some crispy bread.
Note: You can reheat the cheese the day after, although it will lose some of the flavours. Once cooked, keep in the refrigerator for up to one week.
It also makes a good pizza cheese 🙂
For other vegan cheese recipes do not miss:
- Vegan Overnight Fermented Cream Cheese
- Vegan Stracchino
- Soy Ricotta
- Almond Ricotta
- Mozzarella
Louise Meakin
Hi, my partner is allergic to almonds but is fine with cashews. Would this work with all cashew nuts rather than both nuts?
Adriana Z.
Of course Louise!
Let me know what you think if you make it <3
Happy Sunday 🙂
Rita
Hi, can you tell me the brand and where you get the nutritional yeast. I wanted to buy but a small pack to start with.
avegtastefromatoz
Hi Rita! The brand I currently use is Marigold Engevita nutritional yeast flakes. I've tried different brands (I'm kinda addicted to it, LOL) and I've found them equally good!
I hope you'll like it as well 🙂
Have a lovely day!