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Friday, January 3, 2014

New Year's Cheesecake

Time for one last decadent treat! (Although this does fit into Keto proportions if you do dairy and sweets) This is the cheesecake I made for my oldest son and the rest of the family for our New Year's Day celebration. I partied too late in the night, so I had to get up early to make one before everyone else got out of bed. My accountant son did beat me awake anyway, but that just gave us some one on one time in a quiet house. That was nice. Because my old springform pan is bent and doesn't seal too well, I went in search for a recipe that didn't need a waterbath. My daughter-in-law wanted a New York style, so I tried altering this recipe from Brown Eyed Baker that claimed no waterbath was necessary. The theory is that a quick high temperature bake followed by a long low heat bake results in a creamy cheesecake that stays moist without the bath. No promises concerning the cheesecake connoisseur's dilemma concerning possible cracks. Mine had not cracked while it was still warm from the oven, but it did crack on the way to my mom's house. Oh well. I just didn't have time to let it chill before we had to go. Everyone agreed that it tasted wonderful, and it was so nice not needing to mess with the water bath and all that foil! I heard recently that cracks may be caused by too much whipping of the eggs, so you might choose to go easy there and see what happens....just a thought from a girl whose day is not wasted by a crack in dessert.

The initial high heat--500 degrees--will leave this cheesecake a little brown on top, so don't try this method if that bothers you. The original author says you may want to check it and add some foil if it is getting too brown. Don't add it at first though, or the cheesecake doesn't cook correctly. This recipe is not as dense as the other New York Style cheesecakes I have made in the past. It has quite a few eggs, so that adds to the lighter texture I think. I even used one less than the model recipe. I think I would always use one less egg, because the texture is very nice. I also opted for an almond meal crust.

I used my sample of sucralose and erythritol blend granular sweetener from Natural Mate. I couldn't find the granular on sale yet at Amazon, but the concentrates are there. Hopefully, this will be available very soon. It measures 2 times as sweet as sugar and blended in very well. Everyone liked the sweetness and did not even notice it was not made with sugar...and yes, I quizzed them on that one!

It makes a large cheesecake--9 inch springform and 5 packages of cream cheese. That will feed a crew! At our house, cheesecake is often subbed for birthday cake, so all is good. In fact, I still have some leftovers to finish up before we hit the keto plan for the new year.

New Year's Cheesecake

Crust:
1 cup coarse unblanched almond meal
5 tbsp butter, melted

Filling:
5 (8 oz) blocks cream cheese, softened
sweetener equivalent to 1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
5 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, melt butter. Stir in the almond meal and mix until the nuts are moist. Press into the base of a 9 inch springform pan. Butter your fingers to rub an inch along the base edge of the spring form pan. Bake for ten minutes. Remove crust from oven and change the oven temperature to 500 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Incorporate the sweetener 1/4 cup at a time. Add in the salt, cream, lemon juice and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg yolks and beat until incorporated. Add the eggs, one at a time, continuing to beat between additions.

Pour the cheesecake mixture into the pan. Smooth the top and tap for air bubbles. Bake on a lower middle rack of the oven for exactly 10 minutes. At the ten minute mark, turn the heat down to 200 degrees. Do not open the door. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. If top is browning too much, place a foil guard loosely around the edges. Remove from oven. The cheesecake should be firm around the outer edges and still slightly jiggly in the center. Let cool for 5 minutes, then run a knife along the edge to loosen it and help prevent cracking. Let cool at room temperature for an hour, then transfer to the refrigerator for several hours.

Serves 16
357 calories     35 g fat    4 net carbs   7 g protein

This is creamy and delicious even without the fruit topping. The nut crust is perfect. Everyone loved it. Don't wait for another New Year Celebration.

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22 comments:

  1. Looks delicious!! I bought your cookbook and every recipe I've made so far has gotten positive reviews from my family!

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  2. So... I'm in the RV for the winter and I don't have a Springform pan. If I make it in a 13 x 9 pan, will it still work do you think? I don't really care if I have to serve it out of the pan...

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  3. I have not had good results w erythritol,. It seems to be very "crunchy/crystalline in my baked goods. Any suggestions?

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  4. Just wanted to answer Carol:
    I use the powdered form of Erythritol and sift it. (Recently bought a new sifter just for this.) It's more like confectioners sugar and slightly less sweet than sugar. I usually use a combination of that plus liquid sucralose. Works especially well when making recipes with cocoa. Available at Netrition.

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    1. It would be helpful to say in your recipe what type of Erythritol to use (powder, crystal or liquid). Additionally, how much liquid sucralose? I'm knew to cooking this way so any additional info would be helpful. Thank you and Happy New Year!

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  5. Thanks GrannyMumantoog. I'll give that a go.

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  6. Does the recipe reflect the number of eggs you used? Did you use 4 or 5?
    Love your blog!

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  7. Try to answer some questions...Yes, if presentation is not an issue, you can use another pan. The crust holds up well and is quite sturdy not crumbly.
    If your erythritol doesn't dissolve, you might try whirling it in a bullet blender first. Or just by the powdered version. This was granular and did not have any texture problems. Swerve would measure the same.
    In the text of the recipe, I said I used the Natural Mate Blend, it may not be available for purchase yet. Low carbers use so many different kinds of sweeteners. Experimentation is necessary to find what you like best. Such a personal preference thing. I think even a liquid sweetener or concentrated sweetener would work fine in this recipe.
    I used 5 eggs, the original called for 6.

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  8. OH MY GOODNESS!
    Over the last 4 years or so, I've tried a gazillion different low carb/sugar free cheesecake recipes. This is THE creamiest and silkiest one ever!
    My top got a little browner than usual, but was okay taste-wise. And I didn't have any lemon juice, so subbed with lime juice. It was still fantastic... and husband approved.
    Thanks for another winner!

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  9. I just made this with a few alterations and it was so good. Thank You.

    I used ground almonds with butter and cinnamon for the crust.

    Because I only had 4 pcks of cream cheese I went with that and just omitted the 2 egg yolks.

    I used liquid Better Stevia to sweeten. 1 1/2 teaspoons. I may use 2 teaspoons next time.

    I baked it at 350 for an hour. It was perfect. Not brown and just so light and fluffy.

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  10. Would this freeze well? It would take hubby & me a long time to eat such a big dessert!

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  11. I halved this recipe because it is only myself and my husband...I didn't have any cream, will the recipe still work out?

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  12. Can this be prepared and put in refrigerator until ready to bake?

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  16. I think it was a little to salty for my taste, other then that it was perfect.

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  17. Would love an answer to the freezing question. It's the only way I would make it. I have successfully frozen other sugar free cheesecakes. Thanks Lisa

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  18. I love cheesecake. I am looking forward to trying this recipe. Yum!

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  19. I have Stevia baking blend on hand. Would I use the same amount of that as what the recipe calls for for sugar?

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  20. Any blend that is a one to one equivalent for sugar should be fine.

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  21. Wow!this recipe is absolutely perfect!! Thanks for sharing. I halved the recipe and instead of using almond flour for the Base I used coconut flour biscuits which I was not entirely enjoying. Just whizzed it in a blender with some butter and followed the rest of the recipe!
    Thank you.

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