Swap your holiday pie for a dairy free and gluten free Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake! Our chocolate mint cheesecake is allergy friendly, peanut free, and vegan as well, so just about everyone can enjoy this cool chocolatey dessert.
Hey friends, we’re adding another delicious recipe to our dairy free cheesecake collection! This amazing Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake looks and tastes amazing and makes a perfect dessert for Christmas gatherings.
Since I started making allergy friendly cheesecake recipes, I’ve been on a mission to make just about every flavor I can think of so we have a virtual cheesecake buffet, and this Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake will become a favorite I think!
It’s smooth, sweet, rich, and perfectly minty (not too strong or too weak!). Continue reading for tips on making this amazing allergy friendly holiday cheesecake.
How to make an allergy friendly chocolate peppermint cheesecake
Making the crust for this cheesecake is pretty easy: just process the gluten free sandwich cookies in a large food processor (we used Kinnitoos chocolate sandwich cookies), stir some melted coconut oil in the cookie crumbs, then press them into your pie plate.
Once your cheesecake has set up completely and you’re ready to cut it, allow it to rest at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes to make it easier to cut the crust. Chilled coconut oil tends to get hard, so the crust will be easier to cut once it has warmed up just a little bit.
For the peppermint candies, we like using the Bob’s Sweet Stripes peppermint sticks because they are softer than regular peppermint candies, and they soften up a little in the fridge, so they won’t be too crunchy when you eat them with your cheesecake.
Since this chocolate peppermint cheesecake is quite rich, you can cut it into 8 pieces like I did in the photos, but you can cut them even smaller into 10 pieces. The nutrition info in the recipe card is estimated for 1/10 sized slices.
Dairy free cream cheese notes
I normally use Daiya cream cheese in my dairy free cheesecake recipes, but I used a different brand in this particular cheesecake to try it out and it didn’t set up as well as I’d have liked.
We’ve found that the Daiya non-dairy cream cheese seems to set up the best with my cheesecake recipes, so I recommend that cream cheese first when making any of our cheesecake recipes.
So make sure you use a really solid dairy free cream cheese for this cheesecake and allow the cheesecake to set completely in the fridge before cutting and serving.
Dairy free whipped cream notes
We loved topping this off with a little dairy free whipped cream, but that is completely optional! It makes it look pretty, like a hot chocolate pie 🙂 We used the ReddiWhip coconut whipped cream to make this look nice.
If you use the ReddiWhip coconut whipped cream to add a little flair to this cheesecake before serving, make sure that you put it on right before you serve it since it tends to deflate and lose height pretty quickly. So Delicious CocoWhip holds its shape better, but coconut ReddiWhip is easier for us to get since it’s at our local Walmart.
Tip for using the coconut ReddiWhip: make sure to read the can instructions before using, it helps extend the life of your whipped cream can. For best results, rinse the can under moderately warm water for a little bit (about 20 seconds), then shake it really well (at least 10 times), then dispense your whipped cream with the can straight up and down.
This helps a ton! When we would use ReddiWhip in the past, we didn’t read the label and wasted a bunch of whipped cream. The cans of ReddiWhip still don’t have as much in them as a container of So Delicious CocoWhip, but it works in a pinch.
Here are the tools we use for making our cheesecakes:
Check out our other great dairy free and vegan cheesecake recipes (many of these are gluten free, too)!
- Gluten Free and Vegan Vanilla Cheesecake
- Gluten Free Dairy Free Key Lime Cheesecake
- Easy Vegan Oreo Cheesecake
- Dairy Free Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes with Granola Crust
- Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake
- Triple Chocolate Vegan Cheesecake
- No Bake Dairy Free Lemon Cheesecake
- Chocolate SunButter Cheesecake
- Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake
Dairy Free Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake (Gluten Free)
Ingredients
Gluten Free Cookie Crust
- 18 Kinnikinnick gluten free chocolate sandwich cookies (or regular Oreos if you can have gluten)
- ¼ cup coconut oil
Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake Filling
- 8 ounces Daiya non-dairy cream cheese (or other brand of non-dairy cream cheese)
- ¼ cup + 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
- ¼ cup + 1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 9 ounces So Delicious CocoWhip* (or other non-dairy whipped cream)
- ¼ cup allergy friendly white chocolate chips (we used Nestle Simply Delicious)
- 2-3 Bob's peppermint sticks
Instructions
Cookie Crust
- Add the gluten free sandwich cookies to a large food processor and process the cookies until fine crumbs.
- Melt the coconut oil and stir the melted oil into the cookie crumbs until well combined. Press the cookie crumb mixture into a pie pan and chill in the fridge while you mix the filling.
Cheesecake Filling
- In a medium bowl, beat the non-dairy cream cheese with a hand mixer until softened.
- Beat in the cocoa powder, powdered sugar, vanilla, peppermint extract, and half of the non-dairy whipped cream until well blended, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple times to make sure it all gets mixed in.
- Fold in by hand the other half of the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until mixed well.
- Scoop the cheesecake mixture into the prepared cookie crust, and spread it out evenly. Chill for a few minutes while you prepare the white chocolate.
- Melt the white chocolate chips in a double boiler until melted completely. Drizzle the white chocolate on top of the cheesecake, then sprinkle crushed peppermint sticks on top of everything.
- Chill for 4+ hours until well set.
- Set out for about 15 minutes to soften the crust a little, then cut, and serve topped with coconut Reddi Whip or more So Delicious CocoWhip.
Notes
Nutrition
Sarah Jane Parker is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind The Fit Cookie. She’s a food allergy mom and healthy living blogger based in Wyoming. Sarah is also an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, ACE Certified Health Coach, Revolution Running certified running coach, and an ACE Certified Fitness Nutrition Specialist
Love this but was wondering is there a way to make it without refined sugar (powdered sugar?
Hi Charity! You might be able to make this using a powdered Swerve (erythritol) if you’re open to using that, or you can try using a powdered baking stevia. I’m not sure of the amounts that you’d use compared to regular powdered sugar. Other options might be grinding some coconut sugar in a blender to powder it, but I’m not sure how that will do since the powdered sugar usually has some cornstarch in it that can help thicken/set up the cheesecake filling. I haven’t tried this using any other sweeteners, I do know that a liquid sweetener like maple syrup would probably result in the cheesecake not setting up as firmly.
I’m really glad I came across your wonderful blog through the Internet. Now I’m in the process of changing my lifestyle including my way of eating. I try to bring down the consumption of meat, dairy, and refined products. It’s not easy, frankly speaking. That’s why I’m constantly looking for various recipes that exclude these products.
Thank you for this amazing recipe, Sarah! I’m looking forward to making it as soon as possible.
I appreciate your work!
Happy to be of help, Anna! 🙂