"Almond Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake" (Gluten Free)
by ~ gingerlemongirl.blogspot.com
I am a huge fan of cheesecake. I learned to make the baked variety last year during a Daring Baker's Challenge and I've found any excuse to make it ever since.
I've been successfully following a low carb diet since Christmas and I wanted to create a low carb, but delicious dessert for Valentine's Day this year.
I wanted the dessert to be light, yet decadent with a swirl of chocolate and a hint of almonds!
This particular recipe is for a no-bake cheesecake that relies on unflavored gelatin added to the base to help the recipe firm. It is quickly created and will be ready to serve within 2 hours of refrigeration.
This recipe does not taste like a traditional dense baked cheesecake. It is a much lighter version with an "airy" texture, much like a whipped cream cheese based dessert.
For sweetness, I combined two of my favorite all natural sugar-free substitutes: erythritol and a non-bitter stevia. These sweeteners are perfect in this light and delicious almond-hinted cheesecake.
I love regular baked cheesecake that uses eggs, but this recipe is a low carb time saver, and it makes a truly beautiful presentation!
Happy Low Carb and Gluten Free Valentine's Day!
"Almond Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake"
(A No-Bake Cheesecake)
Cheesecake Ingredients
16 ounces cream cheese or greek yogurt, softened to room temperature
2 cups sugar-free cool whip, or whipped cream (whipped until stiff peaks appear)
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
2/3 cup boiling water
1/2 cup erythritol (or sugar substitute of your choice)
1/8 teaspoon stevia
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sugar-Free chocolate syrup, for swirling on top
Crust Ingredients
3/4 cup almond meal
2 tablespoons erythritol
3 tablespoons butter or coconut oil, melted
Directions
In a large glass bowl, mix boiling water with both packages of unflavored gelatin, erythritol, and stevia. Mix in cream cheese or greek yogurt until mixture is very smooth. Add vanilla and almond extracts, and finally fold in whipped cream. Mix thoroughly and set aside while you make the crust.
In a small bowl mix together all crust ingredients until crumbly. Pour into an 9" pie plate, press and shape into the bottom and sides of pan to form the crust.
Pour prepared cheesecake batter into crust. Gently spread batter with a spatula so it covers the crust evenly. Stream 2-3 tablespoons of sugar free chocolate syrup back and forth over the cheesecake. Take a clean butter knife and pull it through the cheesecake batter and chocolate to form a decorative swirl pattern.
Refrigerate cheesecake for 2-4 hours until firm and set. Makes 12 delicious slices.
(6 net carbs per slice.)
Printer-friendly recipe.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
"The Very, Very Best Homemade P'Nut Butter"
A Note From Nomi:
I found this recipe online about three years ago, and I haven't changed any of his words, except in the "title" (lol)! This recipe sounded so delicious, as well as healthy, and I keep putting off making it ~ but I really want to. I would probably add some honey, and possibly a few other things. **And make sure that you use olive oil with this for the best results! But read this, and I hope you enjoy just the way this guy wrote this. I think it was great! ~Nomi~ :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The World's Very Best P'Nut Butter!!!" ;)
No one I know in meatspace is nearly as excited about me making peanut butter as I consistently am (although many of them fake it pretty well). Thank goodness for the Internet! At Roboco's request, here are my steps/tips for whipping up yourself a nice peanut butter OR almond or cashew butter. You can pretty much butter any nut you fancy in the same basic steps.
"yep."
First things first: here's where the magic happens. I haven't posted many (any) pictures of my new apartment at 4th and Stabbytown since it's still in progress but maybe by the end of the month it'll be ready for company. The kitchen is somewhat of a wasteland--it's not so much a kitchen as a big room that I threw some stuff in and has places to warm food. There's absolutely no counter space whatsoever other than about one square foot next to the sink that I use for drying dishes and is a big huge empty square. I bought those stainless steel tables off of a resident who was absolutely insane and although you have to clean them very carefully (and rub the crazy off) they are great work surfaces. The one in the middle also doubles as a desk (hence the office chair) since my real desk is covered in crap (again, hence no pictures).
Anyway, the appeal of making your own peanut butter is as follows:
*It tastes about a thousand times more fresh than any weird, pre-made peanut paste you might buy in the stores;
*Natural peanut butter is naturally really oily and greasy and hard to work with;
*You can manipulate flavors based on your own preferences;
*It's cheap;
*You can make huge amounts at a time;
*It's fast as hell (provided you're not shelling your own nuts);
*Buttering nuts is a pretty fulfilling hobby that your friends and family will really get behind.
Keep in mind: from start to finish it was 15 minutes until I was settled down on the couch with a delicious peanut flavored snack, and that includes this sort of tedious picture taking process. THAT IS DAMN QUICK SON.
"complicated!"
Second things second: crap you need to make peanut butter. The ingredients are pretty straightforward for basic PB-- nuts, oil, salt, food processor. I use Splenda to sweeten because I don't find sugar necessary and I like SCIENCE. My understanding is that if you didn't want to do this you could use brown sugar or molasses.
DO NOT use jarred peanuts like that. I learned this lesson the hard way after I bought a whole bunch that were on sale--they're horrendously awful. Find a place (usually they are in bins) with freshly shelled, bagged peanuts and it will make all the difference (shelling is a nightmare all of its own). These bottled ones have a real aftertaste of chemicals since they're already treated with malodextrin and other shenanigans. Seriously, don't bother.
"bowl 'o' nuts"
I'm pretty loyal to Cuisinart products. They're really heavy duty, reasonably priced and last forever. This thing could probably make bone paste if I told it to. There are two settings-- OFF and NOW YOU BE GRINDIN’ . If yours is more nuanced, just throw it on high and start the process. (( **Do this at 2 am regularly and your neighbors will be big fans of your work. ))
Peanuts like this don't really have enough of their own natural oils to become a smooth consistency without add-ins. They're just going to become smaller and smaller pebbles and the friction of the blades going through is going to turn them into a sort of awkward, miserable, lumpy spread that kind of looks like styrofoam cliffs from up here. This is pretty much worthless.
"nut dough v1"
I like to wait until the batch is at this consistency before I start to add in the oil. With the right food processor it won't matter--the oil will still get delivered to all the nooks and crannies and you'll already have something that's beginning to become warm and pliable. I tend to add any oil or ingredients while the nuts are spinning to get a more even distribution.
"oilin'"
There's no real recipe here like most of the stuff I make. I add and taste and add and taste until I get it right so every batch is a little different. If you're big on going by the book, add 2 teaspoons at a time, let it mix together, see what consistency you have, and then go from there. Or just drizzle it in from the top, whatever.
"nut dough v2"
When you do it little by little you'll see it go from being that lumpy dough to something that gradually looks more like what you're going for. I'm making smooth here because that's what Jon prefers, but it's at this intermediate stage that I'd thrown in more peanuts (about a half a cup's worth) if I were going to be making it chunky style. You've still got enough chops left in this whole procedure so it will grind them down without getting them too fine that your mouth won't have anything to work at when you eat it. If you want chunky and are out of peanuts you can manually add in corn flakes when you're done. If not, keep adding oil little by little and check the consistency often.
"peanut perfection:"
Being careful with oil really pays off. Smooth, creamy, and NOTHING rising to the top. It's basically the best thing ever. Here is where you want to start adding your flavors.
"ingredients"
I prefer a sweeter, bolder peanut butter which is another tough thing to get with these awful store-bought peanuts. I generally add about 3-4 packets of Splenda and 4-5 hefty dashes of salt. Again, I usually do this while it's spinning but there'd really be nothing to look at if I'd done that.
"it's really warm!"
You know it's done when it, well, tastes good. Taste, taste, and taste again (and again, and again), to figure out how you want it to be. Don't agonize too much over your salt or sugar ratios--the flavors will mellow over the next couple of hours and it'll become sweeter than it originally was. **Kosher salt works best because it can be broken up by the blades but even this isn't that big of a deal.
You could totally store this is in any of the expensive Tupperware you may have bought last weekend at Ikea OR you can put it in the flimsy Mu-Shu container you got when you ordered Chinese food last Tuesday. THE CHOICE IS YOURS. Also, technically 'organic' peanut butter is supposed to be stored in the fridge but I haven't found much of a difference if you leave it out (it doesn't get moldy, it doesn't get hard, etc etc). I also am not dead so this probably won't kill you either.
I don't like peanut butter on bread so much--I think it makes it sort of weird and soggy and sad and unfulfilling. I prefer a bread product that maintains integrity and has a lot of fiber and the occasional vitamin and mineral: the tortilla. It's also a lot easier to roll up a tortilla in peanut butter, wrap it in a paper towel, and throw it in your purse without leakage than you could with a piece of bread.
"wash up!"
If you're me, this will sit in the sink until the next time you're ready to make peanut butter (about 7-10 days).
I found this recipe online about three years ago, and I haven't changed any of his words, except in the "title" (lol)! This recipe sounded so delicious, as well as healthy, and I keep putting off making it ~ but I really want to. I would probably add some honey, and possibly a few other things. **And make sure that you use olive oil with this for the best results! But read this, and I hope you enjoy just the way this guy wrote this. I think it was great! ~Nomi~ :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The World's Very Best P'Nut Butter!!!" ;)
No one I know in meatspace is nearly as excited about me making peanut butter as I consistently am (although many of them fake it pretty well). Thank goodness for the Internet! At Roboco's request, here are my steps/tips for whipping up yourself a nice peanut butter OR almond or cashew butter. You can pretty much butter any nut you fancy in the same basic steps.
"yep."
First things first: here's where the magic happens. I haven't posted many (any) pictures of my new apartment at 4th and Stabbytown since it's still in progress but maybe by the end of the month it'll be ready for company. The kitchen is somewhat of a wasteland--it's not so much a kitchen as a big room that I threw some stuff in and has places to warm food. There's absolutely no counter space whatsoever other than about one square foot next to the sink that I use for drying dishes and is a big huge empty square. I bought those stainless steel tables off of a resident who was absolutely insane and although you have to clean them very carefully (and rub the crazy off) they are great work surfaces. The one in the middle also doubles as a desk (hence the office chair) since my real desk is covered in crap (again, hence no pictures).
Anyway, the appeal of making your own peanut butter is as follows:
*It tastes about a thousand times more fresh than any weird, pre-made peanut paste you might buy in the stores;
*Natural peanut butter is naturally really oily and greasy and hard to work with;
*You can manipulate flavors based on your own preferences;
*It's cheap;
*You can make huge amounts at a time;
*It's fast as hell (provided you're not shelling your own nuts);
*Buttering nuts is a pretty fulfilling hobby that your friends and family will really get behind.
Keep in mind: from start to finish it was 15 minutes until I was settled down on the couch with a delicious peanut flavored snack, and that includes this sort of tedious picture taking process. THAT IS DAMN QUICK SON.
"complicated!"
Second things second: crap you need to make peanut butter. The ingredients are pretty straightforward for basic PB-- nuts, oil, salt, food processor. I use Splenda to sweeten because I don't find sugar necessary and I like SCIENCE. My understanding is that if you didn't want to do this you could use brown sugar or molasses.
DO NOT use jarred peanuts like that. I learned this lesson the hard way after I bought a whole bunch that were on sale--they're horrendously awful. Find a place (usually they are in bins) with freshly shelled, bagged peanuts and it will make all the difference (shelling is a nightmare all of its own). These bottled ones have a real aftertaste of chemicals since they're already treated with malodextrin and other shenanigans. Seriously, don't bother.
"bowl 'o' nuts"
I'm pretty loyal to Cuisinart products. They're really heavy duty, reasonably priced and last forever. This thing could probably make bone paste if I told it to. There are two settings-- OFF and NOW YOU BE GRINDIN’ . If yours is more nuanced, just throw it on high and start the process. (( **Do this at 2 am regularly and your neighbors will be big fans of your work. ))
Peanuts like this don't really have enough of their own natural oils to become a smooth consistency without add-ins. They're just going to become smaller and smaller pebbles and the friction of the blades going through is going to turn them into a sort of awkward, miserable, lumpy spread that kind of looks like styrofoam cliffs from up here. This is pretty much worthless.
"nut dough v1"
I like to wait until the batch is at this consistency before I start to add in the oil. With the right food processor it won't matter--the oil will still get delivered to all the nooks and crannies and you'll already have something that's beginning to become warm and pliable. I tend to add any oil or ingredients while the nuts are spinning to get a more even distribution.
"oilin'"
There's no real recipe here like most of the stuff I make. I add and taste and add and taste until I get it right so every batch is a little different. If you're big on going by the book, add 2 teaspoons at a time, let it mix together, see what consistency you have, and then go from there. Or just drizzle it in from the top, whatever.
"nut dough v2"
When you do it little by little you'll see it go from being that lumpy dough to something that gradually looks more like what you're going for. I'm making smooth here because that's what Jon prefers, but it's at this intermediate stage that I'd thrown in more peanuts (about a half a cup's worth) if I were going to be making it chunky style. You've still got enough chops left in this whole procedure so it will grind them down without getting them too fine that your mouth won't have anything to work at when you eat it. If you want chunky and are out of peanuts you can manually add in corn flakes when you're done. If not, keep adding oil little by little and check the consistency often.
"peanut perfection:"
Being careful with oil really pays off. Smooth, creamy, and NOTHING rising to the top. It's basically the best thing ever. Here is where you want to start adding your flavors.
"ingredients"
I prefer a sweeter, bolder peanut butter which is another tough thing to get with these awful store-bought peanuts. I generally add about 3-4 packets of Splenda and 4-5 hefty dashes of salt. Again, I usually do this while it's spinning but there'd really be nothing to look at if I'd done that.
"it's really warm!"
You know it's done when it, well, tastes good. Taste, taste, and taste again (and again, and again), to figure out how you want it to be. Don't agonize too much over your salt or sugar ratios--the flavors will mellow over the next couple of hours and it'll become sweeter than it originally was. **Kosher salt works best because it can be broken up by the blades but even this isn't that big of a deal.
You could totally store this is in any of the expensive Tupperware you may have bought last weekend at Ikea OR you can put it in the flimsy Mu-Shu container you got when you ordered Chinese food last Tuesday. THE CHOICE IS YOURS. Also, technically 'organic' peanut butter is supposed to be stored in the fridge but I haven't found much of a difference if you leave it out (it doesn't get moldy, it doesn't get hard, etc etc). I also am not dead so this probably won't kill you either.
I don't like peanut butter on bread so much--I think it makes it sort of weird and soggy and sad and unfulfilling. I prefer a bread product that maintains integrity and has a lot of fiber and the occasional vitamin and mineral: the tortilla. It's also a lot easier to roll up a tortilla in peanut butter, wrap it in a paper towel, and throw it in your purse without leakage than you could with a piece of bread.
"wash up!"
If you're me, this will sit in the sink until the next time you're ready to make peanut butter (about 7-10 days).
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