Lemon Silk Mini Cheesecakes

These mini cheesecakes are yet another variation of my original cheesecakes. The addition of extra lemon juice gives them a tangy sweet twist. They're so creamy and luscious they'll feel like silk in your mouth. Serve them for dessert tonight if you're looking for something tangy, sweet and refreshing!

Directions:

Use the same recipe and directions for Adriana's Mini Cheesecakes. The only change you will need to make is to increase the lemon juice from 1 tbsp to 3 tbsp.

*Optional* You can add 2-3 drops of yellow food coloring to the batter to make it look a little more bright and yellow.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until set. Let cool and refrigerate overnight before eating. Garnish with slivers of lemon zest if desired.

This recipe is suitable for induction IF you make it WITHOUT the crust.

This recipe yields 12 mini cheesecakes. Each cheesecake has 1.91 Net carbs

You can also make this cheesecake in a pie pan if you'd prefer.

Low Carb Double Fudge Brownie Bites

For a while now i've been seeing recipes for black bean brownies and cakes and i've been curious to try them. I modified several recipes I saw to create what were amazingly delicious, almost fudge like brownie bites! They DO NOT taste like beans, not even a little bit. They're perfectly sweet, fudgy, moist, and crunchy from the walnuts. They're very low carb and are sweetened with all natural erythritol and Stevia. Delicious!

Ingredients:

1   15 oz can of unseasoned, unsalted black beans

4 eggs

3/4 cup of erythritol, powdered

1/4 tsp NuNaturals pure Stevia extract (the white powder)

2 tbsp melted butter

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 tbsp Torani's Sugar Free Vanilla syrup (you can also use Davinci's)

3 tbsp Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder

2 oz of Baker's unsweetened baking chocolate

2 tbsp heavy cream

2 tbsp melted butter

1/4 cup of water

pinch of salt

8x8 baking mold

foil paper

non stick spray

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F

2. Drain the black beans in a strainer and rinse them with cold water.

3. Add the to a food processor, Ninja, or magic bullet, along with 1/4 cup of water. Puree until completely smooth.

4. In a large bowl mix the pureed beans, 2 tbsp melted butter, the eggs, cream cheese, baking powder, sweeteners, vanilla syrup, and cocoa powder. Beat with a hand mixer until smooth.

5. In a large microwave safe bowl, add the unsweetened chocolate and the butter. Microwave for 2 minutes, stopping and stirring at 30 second intervals. Until completely melted and smooth. It might be ready before or after the 2 minutes depending on your microwave.

6. Heat the heavy cream for a few seconds in the microwave, then slowly add it in to the chocolate mixture and stir to completely combine. It will look smooth and glossy.

7. Add the melted chocolate and a pinch of salt to the brownie batter and mix until thoroughly combined.

8. Fold in the walnuts or pecans.

9. Line the baking pan with foil and spray foil with pam. The foil will help you remove the brownies from the pan and make it easy to cut them.

10. The batter will look runny and that's ok. It'll bake up beautifully. Add the batter to the pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or until set and toothpick comes out clean. My brownies took 35 minutes.

11. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan. When cool remove the brownies from the pan using the foil. And cut into one inch squares. I got 49 bites from this batch.

12. Let them set room temperature over night. After that, store in the refrigerator.

NOTE:

I used a combination of erythritol and stevia because a combination of two or more sweeteners works better with chocolate and these two have very little net carb impact. It doesn't make it bitter like say, Splenda would. However, you can most certainly try it with Splenda if that's what you have on hand. Even better if it's liquid to save you the carbs of granular Splenda.

You can powder your erythritol in a food processor, magic bullet, or ninja. Just keep it running until it turns into powder. I like to powder 1 cup at a time and store it in a plastic baggie to use as needed.

64 Net Carbs for the entire recipe.

1.3 Net carbs per bite

Apple Cinnamon Cheesecakes

This is the third and last variation of the mini cheesecakes I made for Christmas. I used canned apple cinnamon pie topping sweetened with Splenda. They were very good and tasted very fall-ish and winter-ish if those are words! You can also use blueberry, strawberry, or cherry Sugar Free pie topping.

Ingredients:

1 recipe for Adriana's Mini Cheesecakes
1 cup of Splenda sweetened apple pie topping and filling.
1tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1. Make the cheesecakes as directed and top with the apple pie topping and cinnamon.

Chill overnight before serving. Very good with a cup of coffee!


I used Great Value No sugar added pie filling sweetened with Splenda, which has 6 net carbs per 1/3 cup

Recipe yields 12 cheesecakes.      Net carbs per cheesecake  3.25



Adriana's Homemade Chocolate Ganache

I used this ganache to top my mini chocolate chip cheesecakes. But I made extra and I made homemade sugar free peanut butter cups! This can also be used to cover strawberries, pecans, almonds or any kind of nut or low carb cookie or marshmallow. It's really, really good!

Ingredients:

1 oz of unsweetened baking chocolate I used Baker's brand
2 tbsp powdered erythritol
1/8 tsp NuNaturals pure Stevia extract (the white powder kind)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream, warmed in the microwave
2 tbsp butter, melted


Directions:

1. In a microwave safe bowl melt the chocolate on its own for about 1 minute 30 seconds. Stop and stir the chocolate every 30 seconds. If it's melted before the 1 minute and 30 seconds take it out if it needs more time then keep microwaving it until it's melted.
2. Add the melted butter and stir until incorporated.
3. Add the vanilla and the sweeteners and stir to combine.
4. Add the warmed heavy cream a little at a time and stir to combine. The mixture will be very smooth and rich.

Use as you wish!


This recipe as written has 7.32 Net carbs.  Net carbs per serving will depend on what you use it for and how many servings you get.
It's very important that the cream be warmed for it to finish melting the chocolate and it can be glossy and smooth.

This is the chocolate I used:



Mini Chocolate Chip Cheesecakes with Homemade Chocolate Ganache!

I made several variations of cheesecakes for Christmas and this was my ABSOLUTE favorite. It was AMAZING! It tasted like something I expect to get at a gourmet bakery. It's the best cheesecake I have ever had, low carb or not. Very, very LUSCIOUS!

Ingredients:

1 recipe for Adriana's Mini Cheesecakes
1/2 cup of your favorite sugar free chocolate chips. I used Sensato Sugar Free chocolate chips. You can also use a Green and Black's or Godiva's 85% chocolate bar chopped up.
1 recipe for Adriana's Homemade Chocolate Ganache

Directions:

1. Follow all the instructions for making my cheesecakes. Before pouring the mixture into the crusts, fold in the chocolate chips. Then bake as directed.
2. After the cheesecakes come out of the oven and are cooled, spoon the ganache on top and let it sit for 2 hours or until set. Refrigerate over night for best taste.


Recipe yields 12 cheesecakes, each with 2.36 Net carbs

The carb counts might differ slightly depending on the chocolate chips you choose to use.

Adriana's Mini Cheescakes

For Christmas I made three kinds of mini cheesecakes. They're so creamy and very low in carbs because they're sweetened with a combination of erythritol and stevia. All of them start with this basic cheesecake recipe. I'll post the variations separately.

Ingredients:

Crust:

3/4 cup of pecan meal (just run the pecans through the processor until they turn into a meal)

1/4 cup vanilla protein powder (I used Jay Robb)

3 tbsp butter, melted

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Cheesecake:

2   8 oz pckgs cream cheese, softened

1 tbsp Torani Sugar Free Vanilla syrup, you can also use Davinci's

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/8 tsp NuNaturals pure Stevia Extract (It's the white powder)

1/8 cup erythritol, powdered

2 eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. In a bowl mix the pecan meal, protein powder, cinnamon, and melted butter. Stir to completely combine.

3. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.

4. Press the crust mixture down into the liners and bake for 5 minutes. Remove to cool.

Meanwhile,

5. Cream the cheese and the eggs. Add the Torani or Davinci's, lemon juice, stevia, and erythritol.

6. Add the cheesecake mixture to the crusts and bake for 12-15 minutes until set.

They're best if you let them cool completely at room temperature and in the refrigerator over night. The BEST cheesecakes I have ever had. Well, second to the chocolate chip cheesecake with homemade chocolate ganache variation! 

I got my pecan meal at a local Farmer's Market. I got a full pound of pecan meal for $2.95!

Please note: You can powder erythritol in your food processor, magic bullet, or Ninja. You can powder a full cup then store it in a plastic baggie and use it as needed for these cheesecakes or other recipes that call for powdered erythritol.

Also note: If you do not have these sweeteners, then use 3/4 cup of Splenda or liquid Splenda for lower carbs.


Recipe yields 12 cheesecakes.  Net carbs per cheesecake (recipe as written) 1.75

Fruity cheesecake tart

Based on this recipe

For my birthday this weekend, I wanted a dessert that would not sabotage all the hard work i've done and that my whole non low carbing family would enjoy. I've seen several recipes for low carb fruit "pizza". So I adapted a few to suit my tastes and needs.

This tart was sooooooo good! It did not taste "diet" at all. It didn't have any after taste either. My whole family had seconds!!!

Ingredients:

For the crust:

2 cups almond flour/meal
1 stick of butter melted
1/4 cup erythritol
1 tbsp Davinci Sugar Free vanilla
1/4 cup Splenda (I used liquid for zero carbs, 6 drops)

For the cheesecake topping:

1 8 oz package of cream cheese
1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
1 tbsp Davinci sugar free vanilla
1/3 cup Splenda (I used liquid for zero carbs, 8 drops)
1 tsp. erythritol

1 kiwi peeled and sliced
5 strawberries sliced
1/2 cup pineapple chunks in juice not syrup drained
1/4 cup blueberries


Directions:

For the crust:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2.  I don't have a microwave so I melted the butter in a pan on the stove. My erythritol wasn't powdered so I stirred it into the pan with the melted butter. (If you're erythritol is powdered you can skip this step)
3. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and spread on a tart pan.
4. Bake for 12 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Let cool for 15 minutes before adding the topping.

It should look like this:

For the filling:

1. Mix the cream cheese, heavy cream, Davinci, Splenda, and erythritol. (You can leave the erythritol out. I added this small amount because it's always better when you use several types of sweeteners. It gives the food a more "real" sugar taste)
2. I beat mine with a mixer until it was thoroughly mixed and fluffy.

It looked like this:

3. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the crust.

4. And top with the fruit.

I let the dessert chill in the refrigerator overnight before trying it.

Erythritol can sometimes have a "cooling" effect when not combined with other sweeteners. I detected a slight "cooling" effect on the crust by itself. But when it was topped with the cream and fruit it was amazingly delicious!!! No after taste or any type of artificial taste at all!

I got 12 good sized slices out of the tart.

Carb counts from fatsecret.com:

Net carbs for the entire tart: 70.88

Net carbs per serving: 5.90