Lemon Cheesecake with Blueberry Sauce
I never liked cheesecake and always wondered what others saw in it. It was heavy and left me feeling so uncomfortable. It wasn’t until I realized that I was dairy intolerant that understood. It wasn’t the flavor or the consistency that was the problem, it was my GI system. Since then, I’ve tried so many different dairy free recipes. Most are blended and frozen to set. They are delicious and my pumpkin cheesecake recipe is exactly that. However, I was looking for one that had less nuts and was baked. I found the filling on domsticgothess.com, but I wanted a crust that was whole food and nutrient dense yet tasted amazing. That I found on bakerita.com. By tweaking what I found on each of these sites and adding my blueberry sauce, I developed what I think (and everyone who has tasted it thinks) is the BEST lemon cheesecake, dairy free or dairy full! I know you will love it as well!
Ingredients:
Crust:
1 2/3 cups pecans
1 2/3 cups almond flour
1/2 cup coconut sugar 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp sea salt
Filling:
100 g raw cashews, soaked
563 g silken tofu
350 ml coconut cream/milk from can (all the cream and then add water)
zest of 3 lemons
150 ml fresh lemon juice
250 g sugar (I used 175g allulose, 75g sugar)
37.5 g GF flour blend
25 g cornstarch or arrowroot
1 1/4 Tbs vanilla
3/4 tsp salt
Blueberry Sauce:
1 bag frozen wild blueberries or about 9 oz. fresh
1 tsp of lemon zest
3 Tbsp water, divided
1 tsp arrowroot/cornstarch
Allulose/maple syrup/sugar to taste (depends on how sweet your blueberries are)
Directions:
You need to begin this recipe the day before serving to ensure that the cheesecake can fully cool and set.
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9" springform pan with coconut oil and place on baking sheet.
In a food processor, combine the pecans, almond flour, coconut sugar, cinnamon, and sea salt. Pulse lightly to break up the pecans. Stream in the melted coconut oil and pulse again until the mixture is well moistened and sticks together when pressed between your fingertips.
**Do not over process or you will have nut butter!
Press the crust evenly along the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan. (I use a glass to make this easier!) Bake for 15 minutes or until firm to the touch. Let cool while making the filling.
Press crust mixture into pan using a glass
To make the filling, place the soaked and drained cashews in a blender along with the silken tofu, coconut cream/milk, lemon zest and juice, sweetener, flour, cornstarch, vanilla and salt. Blend starting at low and increasing speed until mixture is perfectly smooth.
Wrap the bottom of the springform pan in a double layer of tin foil, allowing foil to come up over the level of the water bath. Put the kettle on to boil water for water bath.
Double wrap pan in foil and place in oven before adding boiling water to your water bath. Be careful not to get water into the cheesecake.
Pour the cheesecake mixture over the baked base and then bang the pan on the counter several times to burst most of the air bubbles. Place pan into larger pan or tin and place it in the oven.
Pour boiling water into the roasting tin so that it comes up about halfway up the sides of the springform pan. (Ensure that no water gets into the cheesecake pan, just around it)
Bake the cheesecake for about 90 min, checking after an hour or so. When it is ready it should be set but still jiggle in the middle if you tap it. Turn the oven off and leave the door open several inches so that it can begin to cool gradually. After 5-10 minutes, remove cheesecake from the oven and water bath to a cooling rack and let it cool further before refrigerating. You may find that the cheesecake cracks as it cools. This does not affect the flavor. Just cover it with blueberry sauce!
Let cool gradually before refrigerating overnight.
While the cheesecake is baking make the blueberry sauce.
Place the blueberries, 2 Tbsp. water, zest and sweetener into a pan and bring to a simmer.
Simmer for about 5 minutes to allow the berries to release their pectin. At this point, I like to use the back of a spoon and pop some of the blueberries. This releases more of their pectin.
In a separate glass, mix cornstarch/arrowroot with 1 Tbsp cold water making a slurry. Add slurry to blueberries as they simmer, mixing thoroughly for about 2 minutes until mixture has thickened slightly.
Remove from heat, allow to cool and then refrigerate until ready to serve.
*Allow cheesecake to set in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight. When ready to serve, release the cheesecake from the springform pan. Cut individual slices and top with blueberry sauce, or, for a showstopper, cover the entire cheesecake with blueberry sauce, allowing a little to run down the sides. Gorgeous AND Delicious