Dairy Free Caramel Apple Cheesecake Cups

Create these easy caramel apple cheesecake cups in no time! Our gluten free and vegan no bake cheesecake cups are the perfect treat for fall and don’t require cashews, tofu, or a food processor.

Fall is officially in gear now and I’m ready for it! If you have food allergies, we want to make sure you’re not missing out on any of your favorite fall treats, so we made these super easy gluten free and dairy free caramel apple cheesecake cups.

These single serving deconstructed cheesecakes are packed with all the flavors of fall, but they’re also allergy friendly and don’t require cooking or baking.

Get ready to whip up a batch of these delightful and beautiful dessert cups and savor every gluten free bite. Even your friends and family don’t miss the dairy or gluten!

Food allergy notes:

• Gluten free
• Dairy free
• Vegan
• Peanut free
• Soy free (depending on the ingredients you choose)

What we love about this vegan cheesecake recipe

One of my favorite things about this recipe is that it’s super fast to make, you don’t have to wait for this deconstructed cheesecake to bake, or set up in the fridge like our other cheesecakes. That also means you don’t need a special springform pan or water bath, either!

If you want to make these ahead and set them in the fridge for later you totally can, you just don’t have to if you don’t want to. These can be eaten right away (I actually prefer the texture that way).

This recipe also does not use soaked cashews and no tofu, so you also don’t need a food processor or blender to make these easy cheescake cups. Super easy and super simple!

How to make caramel apple cheesecake cups

This recipe is super easy to make, here are the steps (this is just an overview, the full recipe is at the end of the post).

For the vegan cheesecake filling:

1. In a large bowl, beat the dairy free cream cheese until it is softened.
2. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla to the cream cheese and beat again until smooth.
3. Add half the container of CocoWhip (the So Delicious coconut whipped cream) to the cream cheese mixture and beat together until smooth.
4. Fold in the rest of the coconut whipped cream into the mixture until mixed together and smooth.
5. Scoop the cheesecake filling into a large piping bag and set aside.

To assemble the cheesecake cups:

1. Add 2-4 tablespoons of the apple pie filling to the bottom of a glass or small dish.
2. Top with about 1 to 2 tablespoons of crushed gluten free graham crackers or spice cookies (whichever you choose).
3. Pipe on a layer of the cheesecake filling.
4. Repeat these steps until the glass is filled.
5. End with a scoop of pie filling, a sprinkle of cookie or cracker crumbs, and a drizzle of homemade caramel sauce (you can use our easy no-cook “caramel” sauce or our easy dairy free caramel sauce).
6. Serve immediately for a softer texture or cover and store in the fridge for a couple hours for a firmer cheesecake texture.
7. If you chill these for later, don’t add the caramel sauce until you remove them from the fridge.

Gluten free graham cracker or spice cookie options

For this recipe, you can either use a spice cookie for crumbs or a gluten free graham cracker. I used the Simple Mills honey cinnamon thins that I crushed up for the cookie layers, but these have cashews in them so if you’re looking for a different option, there are a few other brands you can check out.

You can also use our homemade graham crackers or use the Kinnikinnick graham crackers if you want a packaged nut free option. I personally don’t love the Kinnikinnick graham crackers, but they will work for this recipe in a pinch.

Here are a few other gluten free options depending on your food allergies: 

• Maxine’s Heavenly cinnamon speculoos crunch cookies (made on the same equipment with products containing peanuts)
• Partake crispy ginger snap cookies
• Nairn’s gluten free ginger oat grahams (may contain traces of milk, tree nuts, and peanuts)

Dairy free cream cheese options for these apple cheesecake cups

Since this no bake cheesecake cup recipe is made without cooking or baking, quite a few different brands of dairy free cream cheese will work here! Not all brands of dairy free cream cheese bake or cook well, so there are lots of good options for dairy free no bake cheesecake recipes.

I’ve included the links to each brand here so you can check the ingredients on each one. Some brands change their recipes or manufacturing processes, so it’s always a good idea to check the ingredients and allergen statements yourself instead of relying on our notes on allergens.

• Violife cream cheese (our personal favorite, only good for cold recipes since this doesn’t hold up to baking or cooking)
• Daiya (tastes pretty good, although some people really dislike this one, we have used it and don’t mind it)
• Oatly
• Philadelphia plant based cream cheese (this is a newer one, I haven’t tried it yet)
• Kite Hill (made with almonds, I haven’t tried this one yet)
• Treeline cream cheese (this one doesn’t have great ratings on Amazon, but their website listing has good ratings, so check ratings on this one, I haven’t tried this one myself)
• Wayfare Foods (contains butter beans and oats)
• Miyoko’s cream cheese (contains cashews)
• Toffuti (soy based, I haven’t eaten this brand for literally at least 15 years so I can’t remember if it’s good or not)
• Go Veggie cream cheese (contains soy)

Be sure to check out our gluten free and vegan cherry cheesecake cups and our pumpkin cheesecake dessert cups!