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Okay so cheesecake, I made this for mothers day and brought it to my friends house, we were pleasantly surprised by it (the zucchini makes you wonder) and more so when her daughter ate a piece and asked for seconds. It is not overly sweet if anything its on the no so sweet side which I actually like, I will be trying out a few different versions such as a lemon curd one and a chocolate one, but for now here is the classic vanilla paleo cheesecake. It is surprisingly easy, the hardest part is making the cookie crust which is as hard as making a batch of cookies and then blending. Do not be put off by the zucchini as you do not taste it and it gives it a certain lightness. I copied the original recipe from Kelsey Ale's cookbook and slightly adapted it.
Ingredients for Graham cracker crust
for a 9 in round pan
1 cup Almond flour
3/4 cup Arrowroot starch
1 1/2 tbsp Coconut flour
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 + 1 tsp Coconut oil
3 tbsp Maple syrup
1 tbsp Molasses
Step by Step
Preheat oven to 350F
In a bowl place all the dry ingredients and mix together
In a separate bowl place melted coconut oil, maple syrup and molasses. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well together, it should form a dough.
Place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper
Roll out to about 1/5 of an inch. In this case it is not necessary to make a perfect rectangle or shape, just as long as it is rolled out evenly so the cooking is uniform and you don't have some burnt and raw bits.
Place the rolled out dough on a cookie sheet and peel off the top layer of parchment paper, leaving the bottom one on.
Poke with fork. if you want cut into squares or
rectangles as it will help it cook more evenly
however we will break them up after so they do not
have to to be even.
Bake at 350F for about 11 minutes
Remove from oven and let them cool slightly before breaking them up. They have to cool completely before blending for the crust. I have to add, they are not a bad cookie to snack on.
Place the cookies in a blender or a food processor. I hate washing the food processor so use the blender whenever I can.
Once they have blended, it should be the consistency of coarse sand. Add 1 egg white and mix, you can either do this in the blender or by hand.
Pat the dough into a springform pan. I used an 8 inch one this time, because my kids got into the graham crackers and I realized I didn't have enough for the larger one, however if you don't have little "mice" it is enough for a larger pan. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes. Remove and let cool.
Place the pan on two squares of tin foil and cover up
the sides. This will prevent any water getting in during
cooking as it is cooked in a water bath
Ingredients for Cheesecake
(makes 9 in round pan or if you want more filling an 8 in round pan)
1 cup Cashews, raw and soaked overnight (or soak them in boiling water for an hour or so)
1/2 lb Zucchini, peeled and chopped (always choose smaller firm zucchinis)
2/3 cup Coconut cream (if you only have milk you can refrigerate the can and only use the top)
1/2 cup Maple syrup
1/4 cup Lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp Apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp Coconut oil
3 Eggs
3 tbsp Arrowroot starch
2 tsp Vanilla
Step by Step
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Place all the ingredients in the blender and blend. (yes, it is that simple)
Place the pan with the crust on to a larger baking tray (which we will pour some water into when we bake it), and pour the cheesecake mixture on to the prepared crust.
Place the baking tray with the cheesecake on the middle rack of the oven and pour 3-4 cups of boiling water into the baking tray . I really recommend first putting it in the oven and then adding the water as you risk spilling boiling water on yourself if not.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Turn the temperature down to 255F and cook for about an hour more. If you use a 9 in pan you will bake it for 45 minutes instead of an hour.
After it has baked for an hour, turn off the oven and slightly open it to slowly let out the hot air for about 1/2 hour, this will prevent any cracking on the top. Remove from the oven and leave at room temperature for another 1/2 hour then place in the fridge to cool completely before decorating or serving.
Decorating is of course optional and you can put any fruit or topping on top. In this case I cut 1lb of strawberries and put about 1 tbsp of maple syrup on them, let them sit for about 15 minutes and then arranged them on the top. I will be posting other decorating and topping options. Enjoy!
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