I’m a girl firmly against the idea of tofu sausages. And the like. Bastardising food is somehow naff, no? But sugar free cheesecake is a mighty fine exception to that rule. I’ve ranted on Twitter about this cake – which I made with my beautiful friend Claire – and promised to share the recipe. So, here she is (and, yes, Jo, I’ll make it for your birthday!).
Now, once again, our measurements are VERY imprecise. Claire and I literally “added a bit of this, added a bit of that”. And it simply worked. So have faith! Feel it with your fingers!
Sarah + Claire’s sugar-free nut cheesecake
First make the base (meals and nuts can be substituted for any others you have lurking in the cupboard):
- 100g of dessicated coconut
- 110g of shelled pistachios
- 150g of almond meal
- 4 “generous” tbls of butter…which is to say, keep adding more butter till you get a nice gooby consistency
Preheat the oven to about 160 C. Stab-mix or blend pistachios until they are semi-fine chunks, add to a mixing bowl with the coconut, almond meal, and room temperature butter and rub until the mixture is an even, thick consistency. Then press into a baking paper lined spring form pan. cover the base and sides with your mixture to an even thickness – you may need more or less of the mixture depending on the size of your pan. Try to keep it an even thickness – about 1/2-1cm.
Place in oven for 8 minutes or until slightly firm. Don’t wait for the base to brown as it will continue to cook once the filling is in. We made this mistake…but not before dropping the whole tin on the floor and repressing it back into place. This recipe is bombproof, I tell you!
Then the filling:
- 2-3 boxes (250g each) of Philadelphia cream cheese
- one egg
- a dash of natural vanilla essence or vanilla powder
- 2 tbls of natural yogurt
- 1/4 cup coconut cream
- 1/2 cup-ish of rice syrup (or add more/less to your individual taste). And, yes, rice syrup is fructose-free.
In a large bowl add the cream cheese (room temp), egg, vanilla, coconut cream and rice syrup and yogurt. Mix until it’s an even, thick consistency. Don’t over mix and try and keep aeration to a minimum while stirring – it will make the thing puff up, then collapse. Add your mixture to the base and return to the slow oven for 20-30 mins or until the mixture is puffy on the edges and the centre slightly soft and custard-like – (don’t overcook). Put in the fridge until it’s firm, otherwise it’s way tooooooo egg-y. We made this mistake in our impatience.
Then eat.
While I’m at it, some of you wanted to know how to make kale chips. Here goes:
kale chips
- 1 bunch of kale (cavalo nero)
- 1 tbls of olive oil
- sea salt
De-stalk the kale (never eat the stalk of the kale – it’s too hard to digest. The easiest way to do this is to grab the end of the stalk and then literally run your fingers down it, shearing the leaf off), then tear into 4cm x 4cm bits. Toss in the oil and salt, lay out on a baking tray and cook in a 200 C oven for 5-10 mins, until crisp. An easy pre-dinner hit!
Please do share any of your sugar-free bloggings/recipes…I’ll be only too happy to share it with the readers here! And remember, for more recipes (chocolate mousse, shortbread and more) you can download my I Quit Sugar ebook for $15 here.
