Sliceable Vegan Beer Cheddar

I love vegan cheese. All kinds of vegan cheese.

I also love beer. All kinds of beer.

In the summer months when I am too hot and lazy to cook, I could live off of vegan cheese and crackers, and maybe some raw veggies and fruit for good measure. Ya know, just so I don’t feel guilty and all that.

In the past I have made a beer cheese dip, and a beer cheese and potato soup so that I could combine my two of my favorite things. But its far too hot right now in Florida for soup.

So that got me thinking, why not just make a sliceable vegan beer cheese so I could eat it as a summer meal or snack, with a nice cold beer. Like, seriously, what took me so long for this one.

So I did just that. I made an easy quick set, agar cheddar, with cashews and my favorite light lager, Yuengling Flight. And don’t judge my love of light beer, at 95 calories, I’ll take it. It’s crisp and delicious, AND it’s still swimsuit season, so gotta watch it. I eat a TON so can’t be drinking all my calories.

This vegan beer cheese is good on cracker, nachos, in beer cheese soup if its not summer and as hot as the surface of the sun where you live, it would make a tasty quesadilla, grilled cheese, and would probably be good on pizza, too.

Agar firms up starting at room temp and will firm up more once cold. It also melts back down once it gets warm as does coconut oil, and that’s why we use it. I am often asked if another oil will work in these cheese recipes, and they will not. You need an oil that solidifies once cold to help the cheese set up nice an firm. Agar on its own has a more gelatinous texture. So it needs a little help from its coconutty friends. If you use filtered or refined coconut oil, there will be NO coconut flavor. So make sure you do that.

Also if you can not eat cashews or want to save a few bucks, sunflower seeds will work in this recipe as well. Same measurements, same instructions!

So if you love cheese and beer, then just go ahead and make yourself a batch of this magic! And just go ahead and drink the leftover beer while you wait for the cheese to set up. No judgments here!!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons dry cashews (or sunflower seeds)

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 2 teaspoons paprika

• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup lager beer

• 3/4 cups unsweetened plant milk

• 2 tablespoons agar powder

• 1/4 cup triple filtered coconut oil

• 2 tablespoons sauerkraut

INSRUCTIONS:

1. In a food processor add the cashews and pulse until broken down. Next add the nutritional yeast, salt, garlic, paprika, sauerkraut, oil, and turmeric. Blend until the ingredients are combined. DO NOT OVER PULSE. You don’t want to end up with cashew butter.

2. In a medium sized sauce pan, combine beer, milk, agar, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. You want the mixture to thicken to a thin pudding like consistency. Because of the beer, the mixture is going to pretty foamy and bubbly. Thats ok. As long as it simmers for about 5 minutes it will be fine. Just keep stirring with rubber spatula.

3. Add the liquid mixture to the nut mixture in the food processor and blend. Mix for a few minutes until all of the ingredients are well incorporated, and smooth.

4. Pour the cheese mixture into 2 - 3 ramekins or small bowls, and let cool uncovered in the refrigerator for serval hours to firm up.

5. Store in an air tight container for up to one week in the refrigerator.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Pimento Cheddar with Coconut Milk

Vegan Beer Cheese Potato Soup

Sliceable Smoky Garlic Cashew Cheese

Vegan Beer Cheese Sauce

Whats better than vegan cheddar cheese sauces you might ask? Vegan BEER cheese sauce, y’all !! I honestly don’t know why I used water all of these years? All of those years that I now can not get back. But that just means I have a lot of lost time to make up for, and I am gonna start dipping, pouring, slathering this magic vegan beer cheese on everything! Who’s with me on this one?

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cashews

• 1 can of beer

• 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast

• 1 teaspoon turmeric

• 1/2- 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

• 2 teaspoons light miso paste

• 4 tablespoon tapioca or corn starch

• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard

• 1 teaspoon minced garlic (optional)

Instructions:

1. Cover cashews in hot water and soak for several hours, or cover in water in a microwave safe container and microwave for 3 minutes Drain the cashews and rinse.

2. Add the cashews and remaining ingredients to high speed blender or food processor, and blend on high until the mixture is completely smooth.

3. Transfer the cheese sauce to a medium sized sauce pan. Heat on the stove top over medium heat, stirring continuously with a whisk until the mixture begins to thicken. Once the mixture has began thickening, remove from heat. If you get the sauce too thick, you can add some water (or more beer) and thin it back out. Even if it looks lumpy and weird, just add the water and whisk well.

4. You can garnish with more paprika. Serve with fresh bread , vegan soft pretzels, or cut up veggies.

5. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week. Reheat on the stove top or microwave.

Vegan Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Challah

If you have not noticed my affection for challah bread by now, then let me reiterate that I LOVE challah, LOVE IT!!!

I used to bake and sell challah each week actually, until I started this site and life got too busy.

I have t-shirts expressing my challah love, socks too. Challah at ya! Challah y’all! Challah day, celebrate! I ain’t no challah back girl. I could go on and on with my challah puns.

I love it start to finish, dough to bread. I love the act of preparing challah on shabbat, and I love finding new ways to stuff it so it becomes a total meal.

Challah takes some time to make, but it is 1,000% worth it!

This vegan challah was the request of our 13 year old daughter. She loves our Buffalo “chicken” dip with jackfruit and stuffing that magic into warm, soft, fluffy challah seemed like a no brainer to me! Covered in melted vegan cheddar and drizzled with hot sauce glaze, its now on my top 5 favorite stuffed challah list!

So bake up a batch of our Vegan Buffalo “chicken” dipand stuff your own vegan challah. Then challah at me and let me know how much you loved it!

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Challah:

Follow the recipe for my basic Challah Y'all, Vegan Challah. You will follow the instructions through the first rise, then follow the below instructions for stuffing and braiding.

• 1 batch of Vegan Buffalo Chicken Dip, baked and cooled

• 1 cup leftover aquafaba

• 2 tablespoons maple syrup

• 3 teaspoons buffalo sauce (I always use Franks)

• 1 cup shredded vegan cheddar (I always use homemade or follow your heart cheddar shreds)

Stuffing the Challah:

1. Once Challah has completed its first rise, remove from oven and separate dough in half. This recipe will yield 2 stuffed challah loaves.

2. Cut each half into thirds. (each loaf will have three pieces of dough. Work with one loaf at a time, leaving the other three pieces of dough covered in a bowl until you are ready to use them)

3. Take one piece of dough in your hand and begin to stretch it both length wise, and width wise and the same, time, letting gravity help with the length. You want a rectangle of dough that is about 5 inches wide and about 6-7 inches long. Once your dough is the correct size, Add a few scoops of dip to the center of the dough. Do not get too close to the edges, if the dip wets the dough it will not seal together.

4. Once stuffed, bring the outside edges together, and pinch to seal. Once dough is sealed, pick it up and start to gently stretch the dough into a fat rope. You will have to kind of squeeze and pull at the same time, just do not squeeze so hard that the filling comes out. You just need the rope long enough to braid, 10-12 inches.

5. Repeat with the other two strands.

6. Once all three strands are stuffed, and formed, carefully braid the three pieces together. If the seams begin to open, pinch them back and continue braiding. Tuck both ends of the loaf under when done braiding. Once again I will refer you to Tori Avey's challah braiding guide if you are unfamiliar with braiding challah! She does a fantastic job showing all the different ways to braid your bread, plus she has some really great recipes on her site.

7. Repeat with the second loaf, and place both stuffed loaves on a baking sheet, and back in the oven to rise again for about 45 mintues. Once they have risen, remove from oven and pre-heat to 350.

8. Mix 1 cup of left over aquafaba, maple syrup and buffalo sauce. Brush each loaf of challah with the mixture and sprinkle with vegan cheddar shreds. You can also add a little extra hot sauce to the aquafaba mix and drizzle it over the challah before you bake it.

9. Bake both loaves for about 35 - 45 minutes. You can tap the tops to see if they sound a little hallow. It is hard to tell when stuffed challahs are done when there are wet ingredients inside, so if they do not seem cooked through after 35 minutes, let them keep cooking for 5 - 10 more minutes.

10. Remove challah from the oven, and allow to cool some before cutting.

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*Follow us on Instagram @86.eats and check out step by step challah making in our highlights. This shows making aquafaba, and the stages of the dough!

Check out our other challah recipes on the site:

Beyond Meatball Stuffed Challah

Spiced Apple and Pecan Stuffed Challah

Soft Vegan Challah Pretzels

Challah Y’all, Vegan Challah

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Vegan Pimento Cheese

When I was a kid my step mom always kept a tub of pimento cheese in our fridge.

It completely grossed me out. Not that I ever once tried it, I just somewhere along the line decide I didi’t like it and that was that.

Flash forward to becoming an adult, and it is now one of my absolute favorite things. And now I want to cry for all those lost years where I could have been and should have been eating one of my most favorite foods.

I make a lot of homemade vegan cheese. Often I make a quick coconut cheddar to whip up a batch of pimento cheese and recently posted a recipe for an easy coconut milk pimento flavored cheddar to make the most perfect batch of pimento cheese spread even. If you are feeling frisky and want to try your hand at cheese making, I have over 30 cheese recipes for you to try! You can also any pre made store bought vegan cheese you like.

The secret ingredients to a perfect pimento cheese are onion and vegan cream cheese! The onion adds a new element of flavor and the cream cheese adds more cheese goodness while lending some more creaminess to the spread.

Vegan Cream Cheese

If you like you pimento cheese a little spicy you can add a few splashes of hot sauce to the mix to add some heat as well.

So go forth and make the most delicious vegan pimento cheese. And if you have some preconceived notion that its gross, trust me and just try it. You don’t want to be like me with all those years wasted not eating the most delicious cheesy spread. You just can’t get those years back, y'all!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 bag of cheddar shreds or one batch of our homemade Pimento Cheddar Cheese

• 1/3 cup vegan cream cheese, homemade or store-bought

• 2 tablespoons of vegan mayo

• 2-3 table spoons diced pimentos, drained

• 1/4 of a small onion diced

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon all purpose greek seasoning (optional)

• 1/2 teaspoon dried mustard

• salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and stir until well mixed. That's it! It's so easy! Serve on crackers or as a sandwich.