Love creamy goodness!

I. Love. Cheesecake.  LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  Sorry but there is something about the dense creamy cold delight meeting the salty sweet crust that I just love to death.  And it is high protein and can be sugar free and gluten fee as well. 


When I was pregnant with Annabelle I had to up my protein A LOT.  So we pretty much made cheesecake every week, and it is pretty cheap to make as well.   Lorelei loved this recipe and she is the one that named it.  I am sure you can figure out what part my oldest added to this recipe to make it a surprise...


Shannon's Citrus Cheesecake Surprise
2.5 pounds of cream cheese (5 blocks and I used the reduce fat ones)
2- 6 oz containers of Dannon Light and Fit Yogurt- Lemon
1 grapefruit- zested and juiced
3 tsp of vanilla extract
1.75 cup of sugar sub (or sugar)
3 tbsp of all purpose flour (or a GF flour)
5 large eggs
2 egg yokes
purple food coloring
3 graham cracker crusts


Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.


In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until soft and smooth, about 1 minute. Combine flour and sugar in another bowl and then add to the beaten cream cheese. Mix well Scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the grated citrus zests. Add in the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla extract. Mix thoroughly scraping down the sides of the bowl, until the batter is perfectly smooth.

Pour the batter into the graham cracker crusts, tapping the bottom on the counter 4 or 5 times to eliminate air pickets. Bake 1 hour, or until the center feels firm when pressed. Immediately remove the cake pan from the larger pan and set aside to cool on a rack. Refrigerate for a few hours.

Eat and enjoy!

Heavenly Chocolate Covered Cheesecake

One of the things that I believe I have mastered since having gastric bypass is cheesecake.  Why, because it is high protein and can be made reduce fat and sugar free- if you want... or you can make it completely sinful!  While this isn't gluten free with some minor changes it can be gluten free as well.  Cheesecake is one of those things to me is rich, tangy, and just ooooohhhhh so lush and creamy in your mouth.

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Crust:
1 cup Murry sugar free short bread cookies
1 box of Sugar free Oreos- minus 5 cookies (lore ate them)
1/2 cup of splenda
1/2 cup of DiabetiSweet Original Sugar
7 tablespoons butter, melted 

Crust:
In a medium size bowl, combine everything and mix well. Spray the pan with PAM, making sure you get th sides. Mix well and place in the bottom of an 8x8-inch pan. Make sure to press against the bottom of the pan. Place into oven and bake for 10 minutes. Let cool.

Filling:
4 boxes of reduced fat cream cheese, softened
2 cup splenda
2 teaspoon vanilla extract -I used a dried vanilla powder
6 eggs (or 1.5 cup egg sub)
1 pinch of kosher salt

Filling:
Prepare the filling by beating cream cheese. Mix in splenda and vanilla while beating until well blended. Add in eggs one at a time and then add salt. The mixture is runny. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate overnight or if you want it faster- place in freezer for an hour and then add the chocolate topping and freeze again until set.

Chocolate Glaze:
1 stick of butter
2 50/50 milk chocolate bars (giant carries these)
2 cup splenda
1 cup heavy whipping cream (or half and half)
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

In a medium saucepan melt butter over medium-low heat. Add chocolate to the butter. Whisk in everything and whisk until combined. Cook over medium-low heat for 2 minutes while whisking constantly.


WHen I made this I was also able to make 12 cupcake size mini cheesecakes besides the 8x8 cake. I didn't put the crust in the cupcake papers, just the cheesecake mixture. You can also add the chocolate mixture on these as well. I also put 2 tsp of sugar free strawberry jelly into these mini cheesecakes. They came out very yummy as well.

Yield: 20 pieces in the 8x8 pan and 12 cupcake minis