Coconut Lime Cheesecake
What a delight this pie is! You know those times when you get an idea in your head that pie or cheesecake would be amazing? But who makes a really worth the effort to go get it pie? There are only one or two places (I’m being generous here as I can really only think of one) in our local area that make a worth the drive pie but they’re all sugar bombs so we can’t.
Yesterday I came across a potential awesome cheesecake recipe. I say potential because, for those of us on Pinterest, we know that often times there is some amazing photography or picture editing going on and not so much when it comes to the actual end food product. So I sent the recipe to Mia (the benefits of kids who like to cook when the mood strikes them) and while I was doing yard work today she was inside making this gem. That kid is definitely worth the stretch marks!
Ingredients
- For the Pie:
- 2 - 8 oz pkgs cream cheese (room temp.)
- 2 C. heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 C. water
- 1 packet plain gelatin
- 1/2 C. xylitol (or sweetener of choice) (powdered)
- 1/4 C. fresh lime juice
- For the Crust:
- 1 C. almond meal
- 1 C. shredded coconut (non-sweetened)
- 3 Tbsp. butter (melted)
- 2 Tbsp. sucralose (or xylitol or sugar free sweetener of choice.)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a pie pan or 9" springform pan. Mix the crust ingredients and press into the bottom of the pan. Bake for approx. 12 minutes, or until it starts to get lightly browned. Allow to cool.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. In separate bowl, beat the whipping cream to soft peaks.
- In a saucepan on the stove, sprinkle the gelatin over the water--let rest for about 1 minute. Then stir in the xylitol and lime juice. Turn the heat on low and stir until the sweetener dissolves.
- Pour the gelatin mixture slowly into the cream cheese. Turn the mixer on medium and keep blending. At first, it will look like Jello with cottage cheese, but don't panic. Just keep the mixer going until the mixture has a smooth texture. Then fold in the whipped cream.
- Spoon the mixture onto the crust and spread evenly. Garnish with toasted coconut and grated lime, optional. Refrigerate for a few hours, then remove the springform. Enjoy!!
The recipe we pulled this from used food coloring to get a green pie color. Mia left that out. The original recipe also called for almost twice the sweetener and she skipped that. We’ve been reducing sugar load for years now and find that the amounts called for in most recipes are not actually needed. We didn’t have fresh limes on hand for grated lime peel so she skipped it. It tastes great without. She also chose not to use a springform pan and went with a large pie plate instead. This little move meant the pie only needed to sit in the fridge for 1 hour instead of a couple. Yay!
On sweeteners…we’ve been following a paleo-esque lifestyle for easily 10 years now. We’ve tried all of the ‘healthy’ sugar substitues – honey, maple syrup, stevia, agave – and found they all have their own set of drawbacks. The main one being that they did not live up to the promise of a sweet treat being nearly identical to the sugar filled one. So we went back to regular ol’ sugar but reduced and reduced and reduced. We were able to do that mostly because we switched to almond flour and coconut flour which both are slightly sweet on their own in comparison to regular baking flour or any of the gluten-free alternatives. Going low carb meant we had to replace even the sugar so we went with sucralose and have been happy with the results. With sweeteners, less is always more.
If you’re wanting a sugar bomb then eat a spoonful of sugar. Its cheap. If you’re wanting to taste the coconut and the lime and the cream cheese then add as little sweetener as possible. It’s amazing!