Recipe: No/Low Sugar New York Lemon Cheesecake
Just because I am in recovery for food addiction doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the sweet things in life. I just have to be super creative — as I do enjoy dessert.
I try to use ingredients that are simple, easy to find and are less likely to impact blood sugar levels or trigger intense cravings for me. I’m a very simple cook/chef so I don’t like to do things that take a lot of time. I just don’t have that!
This is the cheesecake recipe I made with my Mom for Taste Testing Tuesday. if you caught the video, we did overbake it. So be careful not to do that! Instead of white sugar it was made with stevia and lemon zest.
When it came to the toppings, we did end up getting creative exploring options. One of them was melting a little semi-sweet chocolate which did have some refined sugar in it. So if you think that might send you over the edge I would avoid that and stick to the natural fruit and whipped cream options.
If you decide to give this a try, let us know how it went and what YOU decided to top yours off with. Better yet, send us the photo and be entered to win some cool Soul Sisters United swag.
Part 1 of our Taste Testing Tuesday video (Facebook)
No/Low Sugar Cheesecake Recipe
Crust:
1 ½ cups of almond flour (can make your own by putting almonds into food processor or blender)
¼ cup of melted butter
1 tbsp of erythritol (we used just enough liquid stevia to taste instead)
Pinch of salt
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Grease a 9’ Springform Pan
Mix together the above ingredients and press into the pan bottom to evenly cover the bottom.
Bake for 10 min then cool.
Cheesecake:
3 packages of cream cheese
¾ cup of erythritol (we used just enough liquid stevia to taste instead)
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup plain Greek yogurt (we used Oikos lemon lime Greek yogurt)
Zest of one lemon
Blend together the above ingredients until really nice and smooth. Pour over to springform pan.
Bake at 325 degrees for 40-50 min (we found this time was too long and resulted in an overbaked cheesecake).
We recommend baking for 30 min, then testing until firm in the center and it’s starting to pull away from the pan sides.
Once finished baking, crack the oven door slightly and leave the cheesecake inside to cool to avoid cracking. (Ours cracked from overbaking, but came together as it cooled).
Refrigerate and top with your favourites ie. chopped strawberries, or low to no sugar jam, nuts etc…
Our favourite topping was; melting some semi sweet chocolate squares which we poured over the top, it hardened and then we added a little caramel sauce and topped with a dollop of pure whipping cream we sweetened with stevia. Just enough to feel decadent, but not too much that it triggered sugar cravings.
The cheesecake was not really as tart as we were hoping (if it would have been more tart we wouldn’t have had to give it flavor another way); so we turned it into a turtle style cheesecake which was amazing.
So it didn't end up with zero sugar, but it was definitely low sugar and super delicious. We will try this again but will add way more lemon rind and juice! I like it more on the tart side than sweet!
Recipe by:
Nancy Hays, McCreary, Manitoba
