Ninja Cheesecake with Almond Crust

Even though I don’t use the Ninja for this recipe, these are definitely Ninja cheesecakes!  Three of them disappeared out of the pan before they were fully cooled, and you could put them side-by-side with a “real” cheesecake and never know it!

Seriously, I can’t make these fast enough.  On Keto or not, EVERYBODY loves these!!  I think the best thing about them is that you can actually have them!!  On Keto.  Sweet cravings solved!  They just don’t last long.  They’ve never actually hit the freezer so I don’t know how long they would keep or how well they would thaw.  Someone else might be able to figure that out for me because in my house, there is a good chance that mystery will never be solved!  This is a simple recipe and has room for variations.  The actual recipe only differs from my normal cheesecake recipe in the sweetener, so I think my next challenge might be chocolate cheesecake… stay tuned!

I originally tried making these with coconut sugar as the sweetener for the filling.  You can see that I also put a little of my 2 different types of Chia Jam in the middle of a couple of them before baking.

The filling with coconut sugar tasted good, but I don’t think they were as sweet as the Stevia ones.  The bigger issue was that they turned out yellow-brownish, more flattened, and had a shine to the top of them that made them look almost greasy.  With picky eaters, presentation is a pretty key element, so I switched to using Pyure by my second batch, and I think they were better all the way around.  Maybe the acidity from the lemon and pinch of salt take the Stevia bite/tang out of it?  Even the good Stevia blends have a little bite to it, but it doesn’t come through in these as much.  I also found I like it better when I put the jam on after cooking (if at all) since it doesn’t really need it.

I used Pyure Stevia Blend for my sweetener in the second batch and had better results over the coconut sugar.

Allulose update!!

As promised, I have continued to play with sweeteners that don’t have Erythritol, so my Keto recipe for ninja cheesecakes has gotten a bit of an overhaul.

I discovered Allulose (a type of sweetener that the body does not metabolize, is not a sugar alcohol like Erythritol, and doesn’t kill dogs like Xylitol). I did a little research, and then I ordered some to play with.

I used it once to make marshmallows, but I couldn’t roast them which is my true test for a marshmallow, so I turned them into Keto fudge which turned out great. It got me thinking that it might be great for other recipes.

The UPS guy delivered it today, so I had to run my first test.  I had to go back to my first favorite recipe of course and recreated my Ninja Cheesecake recipe with it. I don’t mess around with cheesecake prep, so of course I made a double-batch (the recipe will make 12 muffin-sized cheesecakes).

I sped thru the cooling process in the freezer, and taste test proves AWESOME!

There are only a couple variations in the entire recipe from my regular cheesecake, swapping sweetener for sugar in the filling.  For the crust, I just grabbed a few handfuls of almonds and put them through the food processor until they were course.  I used those in place of graham crackers, and ended up with amazing results!  Actually far better than expected!  I made a couple changes on the crust recipe actually measuring and testing this time through the process.  I had too much butter in my previous recipes.  I generally fly by the seat of my pants so actually coming up with amounts other than “3-4 handfuls and some butter” was a little difficult for me.  I also added some cinnamon to it since I forgot the last time around.

Also, this is about the only recipe where I won’t tell you to separate the egg, because these are so good, I don’t think anyone would notice!  I’ve also used up to 10 oz of cream cheese on this without issue.

So… Set out cream cheese and egg ahead of time, then get your oven heated up to 350°

 

Crust 

3/4 cup Raw Almonds (or 1/2 cup almond flour)

1 TBSP. + 1 Tsp. Coconut Sugar (Substitute: 2 TBSP. Allulose)

2 TBSP. Melted Butter or Ghee (substitute: Coconut Butter)

1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon (optional)

 

I’ve only made these with almonds, but I’m sure you can substitute your nut of choice here.

Put the nuts into a food processor and pulse to crumbs.  I like mine bigger (2-3mm) which holds together nicely and makes a beautiful crust.

Choose your sweetener.  I like Coconut sugar if you don’t have Allulose.  Mix together the dry ingredients, then add the melted butter and stir with a fork.  It will be moist and crumbly.  Press just over a tablespoon into the bottom of each muffin cup.  The back of a flattened spoon or piece of parchment paper works nicely.

Bake at 350° for 8-9 minutes before filling.

 

Filling

8 oz Cream Cheese (softened)

1 lg Egg (at room temp)

½ Tsp Lemon Juice

Pinch of Salt

¼ Cup Pyure or 6 TBSP Allulose (or sweetener of choice, see notes)*

½ Tsp Vanilla Extract

 

Blend all ingredients together.  This is where I prefer to use my KitchenAid or hand mixer and not the food processor.  I think it makes a better cheesecake batter, and I can switch to the wire whisk if I have lumps from trying to speed through the process by not letting the cream cheese sit long enough.  Blend all ingredients until you have a smooth texture without lumps.

Drop 1 ½ TBSP into each muffin cup.  Get a cookie scoop for this purpose!  It cuts time and hassle to almost nothing!  Use remaining batter to fill in any cups that don’t have quite enough filling.

Bake at 350° for about 15 minutes.  The cakes will set and may start to crack at the top.  You can push the time a little longer.  I left mine in for about 20 min and they were fine.

Cool on the counter until no longer warm to the touch, then cool in the fridge for 2-3 hours (or you can speed up the cooling process in the freezer).

 

I will let all you true Keto experts figure out the nutrition counts on this recipe.  Maybe someday I’ll add that to my skill set, but (still) not today!! 😉

Enjoy!