Low Carb Eggnog Cheesecake with Caramel Whipped Cream: Wheat and Sugar Free!

Did I mention that I love eggnog?

Now that I’ve got a fairly easy way to make my own low carb eggnog, more eggnog recipes have been buzzing around in my head, among them being eggnog cookies and dairy free eggnog ice cream. But today, I felt like you can’t go wrong with a cheesecake and so this recipe was born!

My crust was inspired from this recipe and I found that it was really similar to normal crust. It held up well and was far easier to cut through than my pumpkin cheesecake crust.

The filling was adapted from the recipe that can be found here which I’m sure is delicious! But as for the results of my low carb version…WOW. It’s got all the flavor of eggnog with the creaminess of cheesecake. I think cheesecakes should be rich but not heavy, and that’s exactly what this one achieves. It’s indulgent and satisfying in that cheesecake-sort-of-way, yet light and smooth. For all the eggnog lovers out there (and possibly even the less inclined) it will not disappoint! 

As for the caramel whipping cream—yum! It definitely kicks up the richness of this cheesecake. When all the flavors combine something wonderful happens in your mouth.

Tip: I highly recommend making this the night before you plan to serve it, the longer all the flavors blend together in the fridge, the tastier it becomes!

Recipe

Crust: Note: this makes a lot of crust! For a thinner crust, simply halve the recipe or use half the dough for another delicious pie 

1+2/3 cups almond flour

1/3 cup whey protein powder

2 tablespoon coconut flour

4 tablespoons erythritol, granular

3 egg yolks

4 tablespoons softened butter

3 tablespoons heavy cream

½ teaspoon xanthum gum

½ teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 +1/16 teaspoon stevia powder

Filling:

3 (8oz) packages cream cheese, at room temperature

1 + ¼ cup erythritol, powdered

½ teaspoon stevia powder

1 tablespoon+1 teaspoon coconut flour, sifted and then measured

1 cup Healthy Eggnog, at room temperature

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon imitation rum, or to taste

½ teaspoon nutmeg

Caramel Whipped Cream:

 1 cup heavy whipping cream

4 tablespoons erythritol, powdered

1/16 teaspoon stevia powder, or to taste

1 teaspoon caramel extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Grease 9 inch spring form pan

Whisk all dry crust ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. In a small bowl, beat egg yolks with heavy cream and vanilla. Add egg mixture and softened butter to dry ingredients; combine with fork and knife (or food processor) until dough forms

Press into bottom of pan and ½ inch up the sides

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, and then set aside to cool while you make the filling

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

Powder erythritol in blender, grinder, or food processor

With an electric mixer, cream eggnog, coconut flour, erythritol and cream cheese together until completely smooth—be patient!! You don’t want lumpy cheesecake. Add eggs, stevia, extracts, and nutmeg. Continue beating, making sure to scrape down the sides and bottom with a spatula. Test taste batter, add more extracts, sweeteners or nutmeg if desired

Pour evenly over cooled crust, smoothing the surface with a spatula

Bake at 425 for 10 minutes

Reduce heat to 250 degrees F, bake for 45 minutes. Center should still jiggle. Turn off oven, crack door, and allow cheesecake to cool inside for about 1 hour

Refrigerate overnight or for at least 4 hours before removing spring form pan.

Before serving, whip together heavy cream, sweeteners, and caramel extra until light and fluffy. Spread over cheesecake and sprinkle with nutmeg. And now—finally—enjoy!! J

Tip: To help prevent cracking, fill a pan with water and place on rack beneath cheesecake while it bakes

Pumpkin Cheesecake: Wheat and Sugar Free!

With Thanksgiving only a couple of weeks away, I wanted to share my low carb version of Paula Deen's pumpkin cheesecake.

Let me just say...this cheesecake is good. I mean really, really good. It is rich but light and smooth with the perfect amount of sweetness. The 'cooling' effect that is often caused by erythritol is not at all present in this recipe. In fact, I think it would fool all cheesecake lovers into believing it's the real deal. This is just as good, and possibly even better, than regular cheesecakes I've had in the past. I am very excited to make this again for the Holidays!





Recipe:

Crust:

1 + 1/2 cups almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
2 tablespoons erythritol, granular
1/4 teaspoon stevia powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon xanthum gum
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted.

Filling:

3 (8oz) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 (15oz) can pumpkin puree
3 eggs + 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 + 1/4 cup erythritol, powdered.
1/2 teaspoon stevia powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon clove
2 teaspoons coconut flour
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Topping:

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons erythritol, powdered
1/16 teaspoon stevia powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Grease a 9 inch spring form pan

In a medium size bowl, whisk together dry crust ingredients. Stir in melted butter until combined. Press crust mixture into the bottom of the spring form pan

Powder erythritol in a blender, food processor, or grinder. Leave lid on and set aside

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, yolk, sour cream, erythritol, stevia, and spices. Mix. Add coconut flour and vanilla extract. Continue mixing until well combined, making sure to scrape down the sides and bottom with a spatula

Pour over crust, making sure it spreads evenly

Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes (check at 1 hour) or until the center still jiggles. Turn off oven, crack door, and leave cheesecake inside for 30 to 60 minutes.

Refrigerate for at least four hours before removing from pan

When ready to serve, whip heavy cream, sweeteners, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Transfer to pipping bag or simply plop spoonfuls over cheesecake slices and EAT!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Low Carb 'Buttermilk' Biscuits

Who doesn't like a fluffy biscuit? I was always a fan of the Pillsbury kind, I loved popping open the tube of dough and then enjoying a delicious flaky biscuit. These biscuits will never be as good as the Pillsbury ones I remember, but for being wheat free and low carb, they're pretty darn good!  Almond flour and coconut flour really compliment each other nicely and gave these biscuits a great texture.


I was afraid they were going to be really dense, but they came out very light! Not as fluffy as the real deal though. Its worth a try to sub some of the milk with beaten egg whites to make it fluffier, I'm planning on trying it someday soon and will post my results when I do.

Recipe

2 cups Almond Flour
1 cup Coconut Flour (sifted and then measured) plus a little extra for working the dough
 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon + ½ teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Xanthum Gum
1/8 teaspoon Stevia powder
6 tablespoons Coconut Oil (make sure it’s at room temp.)
(For the following milks you can sub both for 2 cups of buttermilk and omit the splash of white wine vinegar or you can swap the coconut milk out for whatever milky beverage you prefer)
1 cup Heavy Cream
1 cup Coconut Milk
Splash of White Wine Vinegar
 A little melted butter

Instructions

Preheat Oven to 450 F

Coat a cookie sheet with your favorite non-stick spray

Whisk dry ingredients together until there are no little clumps left

Add solid coconut oil to the dry mixture. Using your fingertips break the oil up with the dry ingredients until it’s in pea size pieces--work quickly so you don’t melt the oil! When you’re done throw that mixing bowl into the freezer to keep the little guys solid.

Mix heavy cream and coconut milk together, add the small splash of white wine vinegar.

Grab the dry ingredients from the freezer (yeah, I know it wasn’t in there long but it makes me feel better knowing it was) make a well in the center of the dry stuff and then pour the milk mixture right into it.

Using a butter knife (or a pastry knife, whatever you’ve got) mix the ingredients together, but don’t over mix!!! Just mix until everything is combined. It’ll look sticky.

Sprinkle a small amount of coconut flour over a medium size piece of parchment paper and then dump the dough over that nice mess you’ve created.

Pat the dough together until its one giant mound, the dough will be sticky but you can sprinkle it with a little more coconut flour if you wish. Press it down until it’s about an inch to an inch and half thick.

Using a biscuit cutter (mine was about 2 ½ inches in diameter) press straight down on the dough, and then place that perfect circle of soon-to-be yumminess on your cookie sheet. The biscuits should be almost touching.

Once you’ve got as many biscuits out of the dough as you can, reform it, it doesn’t need a lot of working, just press it back together. Don’t waste a single bit! When you don’t have enough dough to reform simply press it inside your biscuit cutter, it might be smaller than the others but I’ll still taste delicious.

Brush the tops with a little bit of melted butter so they achieve the beautiful golden color on top.

Then all you got to do is pop those babies in the oven and salivate for 15-20 minutes as they fill your house with the wonderful aroma of baking carbs.

Biscuits are done when golden brown and firm on top.

They might be a little delicate at first but they’ll firm up as they cool. Slather with your favorite spread or just eat on their own—Hope you enjoy!!!

Healthy Eggnog: Dairy and Sugar Free!

I love everything eggnog. I love eggnog tea, eggnog lattes, eggnog ice cream, but my favorite will always be a tall glass filled with the creamy holiday drink. I'm lactose intolerant, and while there are some decent tasting alternatives to dairy eggnog in grocery stores, I find that none of them have that traditional thick creaminess of regular eggnog. In my opinion, thick and creamy are essential! So even though it was sure to result in a stomach ache, I always had a glass...and another glass, and probably a third glass of the delicious Darigold brand.

As yummy as Darigold eggnog is, I'm pretty determined to create low carb versions of all my favorites, and don't want to indulge in the sugary stuff. But this is my first low carb holiday season, and I knew I wouldn't be able to resist the fat cartons of eggnog lining the shelves of every grocery store for long, so I rushed to the internet and started googling eggnog recipes. Once you've looked at a few different recipes, it's pretty easy to adapt your own based on personal preferences and needs.

Eggnog is supposed to be thick, so I was a little nervous about using coconut milk. But rest assured--this nog is plenty thick! If you want, go ahead and sub the coconut milks with heavy whipping cream and regular milk. I used coconut because, not only does my body not like cow's milk, I don't like the 12 carbs per a cup compared to the 2 carbs in a cup of So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk. This milk is also a great source of healthy fats and calcium, and did I mention there is only 45 calories per a cup of So Delicious? Low carb, low calorie, delicious and healthy--you can't get much better than that!
If you're worried this will taste like coconut, don't be! There is only the slightest hint of coconut, but I don't think that's a bad thing! I'm proud with how it turned out, and I'm pretty picky when it comes to eggnog. I wasn't missing Darigold at all! My boyfriend is an eggnog-lover just like me, and he said it tastes like the real thing. My dad even liked it--and he hates anything 'alternative' :)

Just a note: The rum extract really makes this recipe. I tried the eggnog before adding it, and it was good, but definitely missing something. The moment I opened the bottle of extract, I could smell the missing ingredient. It won't taste like traditional eggnog without it!

Recipe:

2 cups + 1/4 cup full fat coconut milk (I used Thai Kitchens and needed three cans)
4 cups+1/4 cup coconut milk (I used unsweetened So Delicious)
5 eggs
1 cup+1/2 cup erythritol, powdered (If subbing sugar or splenda, reduce to 1 cup and omit stevia)
1/2 teaspoon stevia powder
4 teaspoons coconut flour (omit if using heavy whipping cream) 
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon rum extract
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

Refrigerate coconut milks, eggs, and a mixing bowl overnight or for at least 8 hours

Powder erythritol in a blender or coffee grinder for one minute (make sure your grinder is COMPLETELY dry. I like to blow dry mine beforehand). Leave the lid on and let the powder settle while you work.

There is a little bit of coconut water in the full fat cans, so either drain the water or scoop out the cream--you want this to be as thick as possible! Add the coconut cream, half the erythritol, and 1 teaspoon of coconut flour to the chilled bowl. Whip with an electrical mixer until thick and fluffy, adding teaspoons of coconut flour slowly, this will take about 10 minutes (It won't be as fluffy as real whipping cream) set aside in fridge as you continue to work.

Separate the eggs, let the whites run into a medium sized bowl and put the yokes in a very large mixing bowl.

Beat egg whites until stiff, about five minutes, set aside. 

Add the rest of the erythritol, stevia, vanilla, rum extract, and nutmeg to the yolks. Beat until fluffy, about one minute. Pour in the coconut milk and whisk until combined. Gently fold in the egg whites and coconut cream, don't over mix!

Serve right away or refrigerate for one hour to let it thicken even more! Make sure to drink it within 2 to 3 days. Hope you enjoy!!