Cheesecake (New York Style, Almond Crust)

Cheesecake is one of our favourite desserts in this household, and I've been making low-carb cheesecakes since my first time doing keto. They're fun to cook and easy to adjust for flavours. I'm not sure why I never posted a recipe! I have plenty of pictures and instructions, so I'm going to post them today. This recipe is going to be for a New York style cheesecake, but you can expect chocolate drizzle with brownie crust, chocolate swirl, maple pecan, and strawberry flavours soon enough!

Left: New York cheesecake bars with almond coconut crust
Right: peanut butter fudge bars with almond coconut crust

---

Ingredients

Ignore "sugar"!!!
This picture is from when I made cheesecake for my mum, and she dislikes hates sweeteners

Crust

The crust we will be using for this, whether you're making bars or a round cheesecake, is almond coconut crust. If you're adding flavours to this cheesecake and you want to change up the crust, swap out the coconut for another kind of filler, such as crushed pecans.

• 3/4 cup ground almonds
• 1/4 unsweetened coconut, shredded
• 1/4 cup granulated sweetener, or equivalent (I'm  using Splenda)
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Filling

• 2 bricks (16 oz) plain cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sweetener, or equivalent (I'm using Splenda)
• 1/4 cup (4 tbsp) heavy whipping cream
• 2 large eggs, whole
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt (optional)

Nutritional info, per serving (12): 239 cals, 4g net carbs (5g carbs, 1g fiber), 22g fat, 5g protein

Nutritional info, whole batch: 2867 cals, 49g net carbs (59g carbs, 10g fiber), 263g fat, 61g protein

Ingredients	Calories	Net Carbs (g)	Carbs (g)	Fiber (g)	Fat (g)	Protein (g)
3/4 cup ground almonds	412	6	14	8	36	15
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut	71	1	3	2	7	1
1/4 cup unsalted butter	407	0	0	0	46	0
3/4 cup Splenda	0	18	18	0	0	0
16 oz plain cream cheese	1600	16	16	0	144	32
2 large eggs	140	2	2	0	10	12
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream	200	4	4	0	20	1
1 tbsp vanilla extract	37	2	2	0	0	0

---

Directions:

We're going to start off by making the crust. First, preheat your oven to 350F and grease the bakeware you plan on using (a kick-ass brownie pan like mine, a 9 or 8 inch springform pan, ramekins, etc).

Melt 1/4 cup of unsalted butter. Mix dry crust ingredients in a bowl and add the melted butter. Spread the dough throughout your pan. I usually start from the middle and work my way out (using my fingers). It might look like you don't have enough, but you do: 

You can choose whether to bake your crust or not. You aren't using any ingredients in the crust that will harm you if you don't bake it now, and you will be baking it later. If you decide to bake the crust, pop it in the oven for roughly 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Be careful not to burn the crust. After baking (or if you didn't bake it), put your dough in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

While your dough is chilling, make the filling for your cheesecake. An easy way to soften cream cheese is to leave it on the counter for a few hours the day you know you're going to make cheesecake. If you didn't do that, however, just pop your cream cheese in a microwavable bowl and microwave it for 20-30 seconds. To make softening easier, cut the cream cheese into slices/cubes/portions (by the way, the same works for butter!). 

I left these out all afternoon so I didn't need to bother chopping them up. 

Whip up your filling ingredients (16 oz cream cheese, 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, 2 eggs, 1 tbsp vanilla, 1/2 cup granulated sweetener, and a pinch of salt). Unfortunately I don't have a picture of what the above looked like after mixing. 

This is from the cheesecake bars I made for my mum.
I picked up this kick-ass brownie pan from Stokes for $11 and I LOVE it.

Carefully pour your filling into your crust-lined pan. The crust is delicate so try not to push it around. Bake your cheesecake at 350F for 45 minutes to an hour.

Note: I don't use water baths for these, but if you're concerned about your cheesecake drying out, go ahead and use a water bath. To do so, wrap your pan in foil to make it water tight, put the pan in roasting bakeware and add some water. Check out this video for some tips on this process. 

This is one of the first few cheesecakes I ever made with this recipe.
A New York style cheesecake with a brownie base. Mmm!

Carefully remove your cheesecake from the oven and let it cool for 10-20 minutes, then place in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.

Send me some pictures if you make this cheesecake! I'd love to see them!

xo,
Jennifer

Read More

Almond Crust

I use almond crust a lot in my dessert recipes (pies, dessert bars, etc.), so I'm posting up the recipe for easy reference in the future. This is a pretty versatile crust and could be used unsweetened for breakfast or dinner recipes. This recipe is enough for one 9 inch springform pan or pie plate, or a 9x5 inch brownie pan, for example.

Check out some of my recipes that use this crust: Peanut Butter Fudge Bars, Pumpkin Pie, Whipped Jell-O Pie, and Cheesecake Bars, to name a few.

Ingredients:

Almond Crust

• 1 cup almond flour/ground almonds
• 1/4 cup granulated sweetener (I use Splenda)
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Almond+ Crust

Sometimes I want a little more than almond in the crust, so here is a recipe to show how easy it is to change the make up of the crust.

• 3/4 cup almond flour/ground almonds
• 1/4 cup granulated sweetener (I use Splenda)
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup other filler (e.g: crushed pecans/walnuts/etc., unsweetened shredded coconut, flaxmeal, and so on)

Tools:

• A fork and mixing bowl
• A baking pan

Directions:

Melt the butter. Mix the dry ingredients and add butter. Spread your dough in whatever pan you're using (e.g. a springform pan, brownie tin, and so on).

You do not have to bake your crust before using it. Usually, if I plan on baking my entire dish for a lengthy period (e.g. pumpkin pie) I simply refrigerate the crust until I'm ready to use it. If the dish is not being baked (e.g. whipped jell-o pie), bake the crust. On t he other hand, I always bake the crust first if I'm baking cheesecake. If you decide to bake the crust, do it for about 10 minutes at 350F or until lightly browned. Regardless of whether you bake the crust or not, always cool it in the fridge for about 30 minutes before using it!

xo,
Jennifer

Read More