One last summer flavor hurrah before the spicy autumn blends begin!! The jars make it feel like a warm summer night porch party too. Gosh I love summer!!
Recently I have been in the kitchen whipping up new dessert recipes. Most have been keto friendly, including this one I'm about to share, however I would be lying if I said I haven't indulged in some good ol' flour and sugar too! I will say I have found news ways to manipulate the "regular" recipes and make you not even miss out on what you think you are missing out on!!
Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts. I recently shared my Cheesecake Whip recipe which is the base for this recipe. The crust is what I was missing from the basic whip and I knew there had to be a way to get a good tasting crust and still keep it keto friendly. I will say this crust doesn't beat a traditional graham cracker crust, I'll still have to do some work to get it close to that, but it does give you that crunchy-special something!
I have found there is a key to helping with the crust. Put your almond flour in a blender and make it ultra fine and then sift it just like you would regular flour. I promise it makes such a difference in the texture. Beyond that its a pretty basic recipe and I think you'll love the flavors of lemon and basil.
FOR THE CRUST
1 cup almond flour
1/4 cup Swerve sweetener
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla
FOR THE CHEESECAKE
2 cups heavy cream
1 package of sugar free Jello pudding cheesecake mix
1 package of cream cheese
1/4 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice
sprinkle of basil (to your liking)
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. As mentioned above, put almond flour in a blender and blend until fine. Then sift. Add swerve and combine. Pour in melted butter and vanilla and stir until combined. The consistency will be almost play-doh like. Press the crust into 4 oz mason jars. I usually fill the bottom and half the sides of the jar. Poke the bottom and sides with a fork to help release the air pockets. (They will still puff up a bit after baking, but will go back down once cool.) Put into oven for 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
In a large bowl blend heavy cream, pudding mix cream cheese, and basil together. Once the consistency is cheesecake like, I slowly stream i in the lemon juice, making sure it gets fully combined without making the mixture lumpy.
After the crusts have completely cooled, pipe cheesecake into jars, cover and put into the fridge.
Serve and Enjoy!
I wish I could tell you how long these keep, but they are a family favorite of ours and usually get eaten within a couple days! I hope you all enjoy as much as we do!