This delicious Chocolate Cheesecake has a hint of hazelnut but is nut free!
As I’ve mentioned before, I am moving away from cakes and slices being made of all nuts because…
- They’re hard to digest
- They’re full of polyunsaturated fats, which we now know when eaten in excess, mess with a cell’s ability to process sugar (read more here.)
Potential cause of diabetes anyone?
So I went searching for some Hazelnut extract to still have the nutty taste without the nuts (I could only find it online and picked the one with the healthiest sounding ingredients – there was one with Propylene Glycol! I thought you shouldn’t even use that in your shampoo, let alone eat it?!)
Anyway, I also found this amazing high protein cottage cheese by Barambah Organics, so I thought I would try them both in a creation.
And Hooley Dooley Batman it’s good!
One other thing I’ve noticed recently is that too much shredded coconut is far too heavy on the fibre front. Again it makes me feel heavy and holds up digestion. If I keep it at half a cup in a whole cake, it seems to be fine.
So let’s cook! Or at least melt, mix and chill in this case.
Chocolate Cheesecake
Base
½ cup shredded coconut
¼ cup coconut butter
4 Medjool dates
2 tbs coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
Middle
1 cup Homemade Chocolate mix melted (or melted chocolate)
1 cup low fat grass fed cottage cheese (I use Barambah Organics)
2 TBS raw honey
2 TBS Hazelnut Extract
How to do it:-
Base
Melt the coconut butter, coconut oil and vanilla extract in a double boiler, mixing occasionally.
Whack the dates and coconut in a food processor and whiz until it forms a ball.
Tip in the melted mix and whiz again until all combined.
Press into your parchment lined tin.
Middle
Whack everything in the food processor and mix until well combined (about 30 secs)
Spoon the middle mix over the base and chill in the fridge for about two hours or overnight.
Optional: Top with Vanilla or Chocolate Sweet Potato Icing.
So this was totally delish and didn’t even make it to my taste testers!
It makes only a little cake – about four small portions, so if you are feeding hungry hordes you may need to double up.
Happy healthy indulging.
Kristy x
