Method (base)

1. Add the dairy-free butter / margarine into a small saucepan, place on the hob and heat over low until fully melted. Remove from the heat and add into a medium sized, heat proof mixing bowl.
2. Add the biscuits into a blender / food processor and blend until fine. Pour the biscuit crumbs into the melted butter and stir together using a wooden spoon or spatula. It should resemble wet sand, and when you press it between your fingers, should hold its shape. Press approximately 50g of mixture into each cookie cup tin, making sure to compact it in using clean hands. The more compact it is, the less likely it will crumble.
3. Place into the freezer whilst you make the filling.

Method (cheesecake filling)

1. In a medium sized bowl, add in the dairy-free whipping cream and cream cheese. Whip on low speed first to prevent it splashing out the bowl, then turn to high speed. Whip until thick. This will take around 5 minutes. I use a stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment, but a hand whisk will work great too! The mixture should be thick and creamy.
2. Grate the white chocolate, and add it into the cheesecake mixer. Fold to combine. You can also melt the white chocolate and fold it in for a creamier cheesecake.
3. Transfer the cheesecake filling into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip nozzle (or snip off the tip of a piping bag).
4. Pipe the cheesecake filling evenly into each cookie cup. Level off the top with an off set spatula (watch me make these cheesecakes here).
5. Place into the freezer for 4 hours or until firm to the touch. If you have push up tins, push up the bases of the cookie cup tin to release the cheesecakes. If the cheesecakes haven’t set firm, they won’t come out the tin neatly.

Tip: I leave my cheesecakes in the freezer overnight then place them in the fridge an hour / 2 before serving for them to defrost. 

Method (snowman truffles)

1. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Set aside.
2. Place the cookies in a food processor or blender and whizz up until crumb-like. You could crush them using a rolling pin if you don’t have an electric mixer.
3. Pour the cookie crumbs into a large mixing bowl & add in the dairy-free cream cheese. Mix the cream cheese & cookies together until fully incorporated.
4. With clean hands, roll the mixture between your palms until you have small ‘truffle’ like balls and place them onto a lined tray. You’ll want 2 balls PER truffle (a medium sized ball for the body and a smaller truffle ball for the head).
5. Press both truffles together until they stick and place onto the lined tray.
6. Pop the tray into the freezer and allow to set for around 20 minutes.
7. About 5 minutes before the truffles are ready to come out of the freezer, pop the white chocolate into a bowl on top of a saucepan with boiling water, creating a bain-marie and allow the chocolate to fully melt.
8. Transfer a few tablespoons of the melted chocolate into a two separate bowl and colour one bowl with black food gel and the other with orange food gel. This will be for the snowman eyes and nose.  When you add any sort of food gel or colouring to vegan white chocolate, it might go hard. If this happens, add in a small amount of coconut oil and stir over heat. This will help it get back to a smooth texture.
9. Remove the truffles out of the freezer & dunk them in the melted white chocolate!
10. Place the coated truffles back onto the lined tray and place them into the freezer to set. Once set, remove from the freezer and coat a second time (optional). As the truffles are very cold, the chocolate will set almost immediately.
11. Transfer the orange and black chocolate into separate piping bags with the tip snipped off and pipe on the snowman’s face (watch the tutorial here). 

Assemble

1. Whip up some more whipping cream, add into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip nozzle. Pipe a swirl of cream on top of each cheesecake. 
2. Decorate with some shavings / curls of white chocolate and a snowman truffle.

As the snowmen truffles are quite heavy and the cheesecake is made from cream (so its extremely light), place the showman on JUST before serving to avoid it from sinking into the cheesecake.