Low Carb - Macadamia Nut Cheese Cakes (mini)

Over the last three years I have packed on the pounds, and after creeping up four pants sizes I’ve declared “Enough Is Enough”. I stood on my groaning scale and declared, “I will not buy a size 16 pants”.

So now I’m back on my low carb bandwagon and have sworn off all baked goodie. Ummm scratch that... I’ve sworn off all baked goodies made with sugar and flour. Now that doesn’t sound QUITE so bad.

So what kind of dessert doesn’t contain any flour or sugar? Jello? Pudding?

How about Cheesecake?

I love cheesecake, and these little cheesecake gems are allowed on my diet. With a short list of ingredients (cream cheese, Splenda, egg, and vanilla) they pack only 4.7 carbs per serving. If you add the macadamia nut crust they zoom to 5.5 carbs per serving.

Be still my Low-Carb heart.

The recipe starts out with a nut crust.  I use macadamia nuts nuts because they have the lowest carb count, but you can also use almonds, pecans, cashews, or a combination of all four.  I can never find unsalted macs (at a good price) so I just buy the regular and wash and dry them off before chopping.

I chop the nuts, mixed them with a little butter and Splenda, and then evenly divide the mixture between the 7 cupcake liners (use the aluminum liners because the paper ones will absorb the butter and make a mess in your pan).  Next I press the chopped nuts firmly into the liners.  I have a vitamin  bottle that is the perfect shape for this.  Just wrap it in an aluminum cupcake liner and flatten the nuts against the bottom of the pan. 

Bake the crust for 8 minutes...

And then cover with the filling... 

Just out of the oven they a high and puffy...

 

But they will deflate as they cool...

Hope you like these as much as I do.  They are a sanity saver when you are on a low-carb diet.  These little bit of sweet, baked goodness keeps me strong and helps me avoid the really bad (really good) stuff.

Enjoy

---

Low Carb - Mini Macadamia Nut Cheese Cakes
(yield 7 servings; 5.52 carbs per serving)


Crust  (optional) - total carbs: 5.5g; carbs per  serving: 0.79g

2 oz unsalted macadamia nuts , finely chopped;  (net carbs: 4;  8 carbs - 4 fiber) 
1 Tablespoon Butter, melted ( carbs = 0)
1 Tablespoon granulated Splenda (carbs = 1.5)


Filling - total carbs: 33.1; carbs per  serving: 4.73

1 block Regular Cream Cheese (8oz), softened (carbs = 8)
1 cup baking Splenda (carbs = 24)
1 large egg (carbs = 0.6)
1 teaspoon vanilla (carbs = 0.5)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Crust Directions:

• In a small bowl blend the chopped nuts, 1 TBL melted butter, and 1 TBL Splenda.
• Spoon the nut mixture evenly between the 7 cupcake liners.
• Press/compact the nut mixture firmly into the liner. I use a vitamin bottle wrapped in a foil cupcake liner wrap to compress the nut mixture. The vitamin bottle is the perfect fit for the cupcake pan.
• Bake the crust for 8 minutes. Note: it may smoke slightly

Filling Directions:

• While the crust is baking, prepare the filling.
• Cream the cream cheese and Splenda until light and fluffy. About 3 minutes
• Add the egg and vanilla, and mix until incorporated
• Spoon the filling on top of the hot nut crust.
• Bake 25 minutes until tops are golden brown.
• Store in the refrigerator or freezer after they cool.

---

---

Cheesecake Napoleon

If you ever stumble upon a Copeland's of New Orleans restaurant stop in and have a piece of their signature cheesecake. It is light and fluffy and smooth as rich cream. The cheesecake can be decked out with a variety of toppings (praline is my favorite), but it also comes "Napoleon" style, where a layer of cheesecake is sandwiched between two layers of yellow pudding cake. Delicious.

For years I've been hunting for a copycat version of Copeland's Cheesecake Napoleon and in all that time I've only been able to find one recipe. One. In the whole world wide web. And according to that one recipe, Copeland's cheesecake is no-bake. Hummm. Like Jell-O cheesecake?

Intrigued, I decided to kludge together random pieces-parts or different recipes and come up with my own version of Cheesecake Napoleon. Here it is…


First I made the no-bake cheesecake layer:

2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-8oz tub of Cool Whip topping

* Beat together the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth.
* Gently fold in the Cool Whip topping.
* Drape one 8" cake pan with two 30" pieces of plastic wrap. Center the first piece of the plastic wrap in the center of the pan. Fit the plastic wrap to the contours of the pan drape the excess over the side. Do the same with the other piece, positioning it perpendicular to the first piece.
* Dump the cheesecake mixture into the prepared pan and smooth until flat.
*Cover the flattened top of the cheesecake with the plastic wrap that was draped over the sides of the pan. Gently press the plastic wrap into the cheesecake, flattening the cheesecake even more and making sure it conforms to the shape of the pan.
* Freeze the cheesecake (and the pan) for at least 8 hours or overnight.


Next bake a yellow cake. Any yellow cake will do, but it needs to be moist. Over the last month I baked five different yellow cakes for Cake Central's June Scratch-Off, and from that experience I decided to try a modified Downy Yellow Cake recipe. I liked the Downy cake's texture and ease of mixing, but I really loved the taste of Sylvia Weinstock's Classic yellow cake. Maybe a combination of the two would give me that elusive "perfect" yellow cake. I used all the ingredients called for in the Downy recipe but added 1/2 cup of sour cream, 4 additional tablespoons of butter, an extra teaspoon of vanilla.

Mixing the cake was a snap:



After the yellow cakes are cooled and the cheesecake is frozen solid, start the assembly. 1) Remove the crown from the top of the cake with a serrated knife. 2) Stack the layers: yellow cake at the bottom (cut side toward cheesecake), cheesecake in the middle, yellow cake on top (cut side toward cheesecake). 3) Let the cheesecake soften up a bit and using a spatula work smooth the cheesecake into the gaps between the layers until it looks like one continuous tower of goodness.



Slice a piece of Cheesecake Napoleon and smother in your favorite topping. I used raspberry preserves and whipped cream on mine, but let your imagination run free!

But does it taste good?

Well yes, kinda. It taste okay, but it's not "Copeland's". Both recipes need some tweaking. The cheesecake needs a lot more flavor, and the yellow cake ended up denser than I wanted. Next time I'm gonna use Crème Fraiche instead of Cool Whip, and adjust a few ingredients in the cake to try and lighten it up.

I'll also get a few slices of the real stuff so I can compare the two side-by-side.
See how willing I am to suffer for my craft?
No really, I am…