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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