Let's kick off my week of writing about making soap, cheese and sourdough bread with a sweet slice of cheesecake. Zero sugar. Zero gluten. And definitely no preservatives or GMO. I also had almost zero time to spend on this post. Our sheep have broken off our homestead and taken themselves adventuring in the riverbed to who knows where. We spent a good deal of the day pickling through thorn bushes, slipping in mud and bounding over loose rocks. So this will be short and sweet (pun intended).
Remember those curried eggs? Turns out they make delicious cheesecake. After a moist chocolate cake, I love cheesecake. But making it is tricky. And prone to turning out very UN-cheesecake like. Unless you use the regular sugar and condensed milk and GMO recipe. Have you met me? You won't catch me near the stuff. When another health nut friend sent me this recipe with her health nut additions and subtractions I immediately made a batch of goats milk cream cheese and skimmed some milk off our neighbour's cow. Because yes, it DOES contain dairy. I would probably be vegan except that my favourite food is cheese. And I have goats. And beehives. My favourite sweet treat is honey. This cheesecake uses both.
After that it is really quick and easy, if you have five minutes to spare. 10 if you want to clean up afterwards. And then the hour it takes to watch the cheesecake baking.
You need lemon and a teeny bit of flour. I chose to mix cassava and coconut but you can really use any combination. Sometimes it's chickpea and tapioca. I prefer to avoid cornflour as it is inevitably GMO.
For the sweetening I obviously use honey. But again. What works for you. Maple syrup is a rare commodity in SA so I sometimes use coconut blossom sugar. For the rest you'll need that cream cheese and either sourcream or regular cream with a good dose of lemon. And vanilla.
CHEESECAKE RECIPE:
750 grams cream cheese
250 grams sour cream
3 large eggs
200 ml honey
70 grams coconut and cassava flour
Dash vanilla
Zest and juice of one lemon
You literally measure everything into a large container. Blend or beat until smooth then spread in a large pie dish.
And bake in the oven at 120C for an hour (my oven runs at a slightly higher temperature so keep an eye on it). Once set and smelling baked, remove. Once cool, chill overnight.
Here's a tip for those of you who really like a crust - I do but didn't have time. In a food processor chop 1 heaped cup of pecan nuts with 8 large dates and press into the pie dish before topping with the filling. I sometimes add 2 tablespoons of cacao powder and 1 tablespoon of coconut oil for an extravagant taste sensation! A normally expensive and intimidating cheesecake recipe is now a fairly regular spoil on our homestead - and at the breakfast table.
