Dear Starbucks, make more vegan things to eat, but thank you for all the coffee you have filed me with for the last 25 years. Sincerely, Kat

I mean, I don’t even pretend I am not addicted to coffee. I drink it all day, unless I am feeling fancy and then I might have a dirty chai tea latte. And I drink a lot of Starbucks because it is what is convenient, especially when on the road. I have 4 kids and need a drive thru.

I know where every Starbucks is on I-75 between Florida and Atlanta, or 1-4 between Jax and Orlando and will plan my drives around town based on where there is a Starbucks drive thru. So yeah, I love coffee. But I love to eat just as much as I love coffee and Starbucks comes up short in that department . Props for the efforts to add vegan milk options, even though they want to charge me more for almond milk, seriously, why…I drink my coffee black anyways so it’s not often I am enraged by said upcharge on a personal level…but on behalf of all you who need a milk in your coffee, I shake my fist at the powers that be.

Why am I going on and on about Starbucks you may wonder?!?! Well, when I am often gazing hangerly into the baked goods case wishing they had something I could eat, I mostly wish I could eat those cute little stuffed bagel bites they have. Have you seen them?!?! I mean come on, its genius. Little balls of bagel stuffed with cream cheese. Now mess, not fuss, just a little bite of seeming heaven.

But again, how would a vegan know unless they go home and make their own. This is the story of our lives, right. Wishing popular establishments would come around and offer more vegan, allergy friendly options. But in the mean time, we order the coffee, maybe a banana, and dream about the things we wish were vegan or our allergic selves or kids could eat.

Well, we deiced to just make our own y’all. We already have a solid bagel recipe on the site, so it was just a matter of making them bite size and stuffing them full of vegan cream cheese. Its actually pretty easy. Is it easier than walking into a Starbucks and ordering one with your coffee?!? Nope, but you can make yourself 24 of these cuties and take one with you on your way to work, and maybe even though a Starbucks drive thru. Plus you will feel accomplished in making them yourself (maybe) and you can making them any flavor you want!!!

If you don’t have a favorite vegan cream cheese brand, trying making your own. Our recipes uses cashews and tofu and is hands down better than store bought brands. It makes a lot and you need 1 and 1/2 cups for this recipe. If you don’t want 24 bagel bits you could half the recipe or make a full batch and freeze half after they are baked.

So until more places start making more things for vegans, I will keep trying to make the things I wish I could eat right at home. And although it is not a convenient as grabbing a treat wth your coffee, taking the extra time to make a batch of these on the weekend will keep your belly happy and full throughout the week!

Ingredients:

4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon dry active yeast
1 and 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon white sugar
3 teaspoons salt

Filling:

1 and 1/2 cups cream cheese
optional: green onions, everything bagel seasoning, cinnamon, sugar

Boiling liquid:

Enough water to fill a large pot
2 teaspoons baking soda

Instructions:

In a large bowl add water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. You want the water warm but not too hot. It needs to be around 100 degrees. Much hotter and it will kill the yeast. I just use hot water from the tap. Let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes until it is nice and foamy.
Add the yeast mixture along with the remaining ingredients to a stand mixer. You can either use the paddle attachment to get everything mixed up, or mix it by hand before attaching the dough hook. Allow the dough to knead on medium speed for about 10 minutes. It needs to knead for this long! I promise. If you do not have a stand mixer then you can mix the ingredients by hand and knead for about 15 minutes. Baking and a workout at the same time! Heck yes! Look at you burning those bagel calories before you even eat one!
Pull off a piece of dough and stretch it. You want it to make a “windowpane” that you can see through, but does not rip. That’s when you are done kneading!
Place dough in large bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel. Allow dough to rise for about an hour. It will grow but not quite double in size.
While the dough is rising, prepare the cream cheese filling. If making savory bites you can keep the cheese plain or mix in diced green onions or chives. If you want to make a sweet cinnamon bagel bite, you can mix in a few tablespoons of sugar and a teaspoon or so of cinnamon into the cream cheese. We normally do half sweet and half savory. Either way, once you have added your mix ins to the cream cheese, prepare a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Using a tablespoon sized small scoop, scoop cream cheese balls onto the pan and pop them in the freezer while you wait on the dough. Having the cream cheese firmed up and slightly frozen will make it easier to work with.
Once dough has risen, divide into 24 equal pieces. On a clean floured surface form a ball with each piece. Flatten each ball into a round circle, about 2 inches in size.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Bring a large pot or dutch oven full of water to a boil.
Place a firm/frozen ball of cream cheese in the center or each dough circle. Pinch up each side of the circle into the center making sort of a fortune cookie shape. Next fold the four corners into the middle making sure to pinch them in well and that they are all sealed up so the cream cheese doesn’t ooze out out once they begin to bake! (see photos above)
Add the baking soda to the boiling water and drop a few bagel bites in at a time for about 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, turn the bagel bites to make sure they get wet on all sides. Remove and place on a parchment lined baking sheet, keeping a few inches between each bite.
Sprinkle bagel bites with desired toppings while the bagel are still wet and the toppings will stick. If making cinnamon sugar bagels, just mix a few tablespoons of sugar with a few teaspoons of cinnamon. You can use sesame seeds, sea salt or everything bagel seasoning if making savory bagel bites.
Bake bagels for 25 - 30 minutes. You can brush the bagels with a 1/2 cup whipped aquafaba mixed with 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, or melted vegan butter. This just helps the bagels brown. You do not have to brush them with anything.
Allow bagels to cool on a the baking pan before storing in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge. You can reheat in the microwave, toaster oven or oven or eat at room temp.

You can freeze the vegan bagel bites for up to a few months.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

Give me all the vegan cream cheese!

I love bagels, I love cheese cake, I love cream cheese danish, I love cream cheese frosting.

I can not imagine a world where I can not eat cream cheese!

This being said, vegan cream cheese can be expensive. I have a few brands I love, but I do not love the price!

I have made several variations of vegan cream cheese over the years and have never been too impressed. I mean, plenty of the recipes I tried might have tasted fine, but if they were cashew heavy, I wasn't saving a whole lot of money making my own. If they were tofu based, they tasted too much like tofu to me.

So fast forward to now, and me trying to fall asleep, but being distracted by planning out my next morning’s breakfast. Yes, this is something I do most nights…go to sleep thinking about what I will eat when I wake up. It’s a problem….Anyways, I was thinking about a carrot lox ( carrot lox is sooo easy by the way, follow the link to our simple but delicious recipe) bagel and vegan cream cheese, except it’s Passover at this moment and I can’t have a bagel. So I settled on a carrot lox matzah BUT it is also currently a pandemic, and I have not found vegan cream cheese at a store in weeks. The odds were stacked against me here.

BUT, I had a thought! I could wake up and try a NEW vegan cream cheese recipe idea. I could take the parts I like about different brands and different recipes of cream cheese I have liked, and try to make a perfect homemade cream cheese that won’t cost me an arm and a leg!!!

I decided to MIX cashews and tofu. I could get the cheesy, creamy element from the nuts but use way less, and I could get the texture that I like the tofu without it being all tofu. Surely it would work!!

And it did! This cream cheese is better than any other I have tried to make, in my opinion. I used like a quarter of the nuts I used to use when making just a cashew based cream cheese, and the nuts mixed with the tofu cut the raw tofu flavor, while yielding a perfect texture!

If you allergic to nuts you can sub out the cashews with sunflower seeds! This works well in just about any cashew cheese recipe!

I also add sauerkraut because y’all, I add it to almost all of my vegan cheese. It is a really easy and healthy way to give your vegan cheeses a fermented, tangy kick. Trust me with this. Once you try it, you will ALWAYS add sauerkraut to all of your vegan cheeses. Soft cheese, hard cheese, cheese sauces. Just start looking at sauerkraut as a vegan staple. Even if you would never eat it on its own, its a vegan cheese secret weapon.

So if you have been looking for an easy and delicious vegan cream cheese recipe, I think I have all you need right here!! I do hope you love it as much as I do.

INGREDIENTS:

1 block super firm tofu, 16oz (the the kind that is vacuum sealed in little water)
1/2 cup cashews or sunflower seeds if you have an allergy
2 tablespoons sauerkraut, not the juice
1-2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup refined/filtered coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

INSTRUCTIONS:

Begin by adding the cashews to a microwave safe container. Cover the nuts in water and microwave on high for 3 minutes. If you do not have a microwave you will need to soak the cashews in water for at least a few hours. Drain the liquid from the microwaved/soaked cashews.
You will need a high speed blender, or a food processor for this recipe. Add all of the ingredients to the blender or processor. Blend on high, using your blender’s plunger to move the ingredients around, or use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides serval times during the process to make sure everything is getting nice and blended up. Depending on the machine you are using, the amount of time you need to blend will vary. The goal is a nice creamy and smooth consistency. I use a vitamix and it takes several minutes. I use the plunger pieces to keep pushing the ingredients down into the blender and moving them around. I also pause the blending several times and scrape down the sides.
Taste the mixture. If you want it to have more tang you can add another teaspoon or so of vinegar.
Store the cream cheese in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. You can also freeze this cream cheese.
You can mix in diced green onions or chives, diced berries, cinnamon and a few pinches or sugar, anything you like!