When it comes to gluten free desserts, cheesecake is such a fantastic option since flour (i.e. gluten) is basically irrelevant. For that reason (and the fact that it’s delicious of course) it’s always been one of my go-to. And today I think I just made my favourite version yet: a super rich New-York style creamy cheesecake with the most perfect peanut butter cookie dough crust. Made even more complete with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar and raspberries on top.
I’ve never really been a fan of biscuit based cheesecake crusts partly because pre-made biscuits are often so full of sh*t ingredients and the gluten free alternatives are sometimes even worse. Not only that, but they tend to be quite dry and require even more butter to make a crust that holds together well (and even then…). Plus, they’re expensive as hell.
But today I decided to use my edible peanut butter cookie dough recipe (not sure how I didn’t think of that before) and it worked perfectly. It was so tasty, very easy to make, held together well and as a bonus you can control how much or how little sugar you want to add. I can’t ever see myself ever going back to biscuit bases after this.
My super creamy cheesecake + cookie dough recipe:
- 335g plain cream cheese
- 55g sour cream (or plain greek yoghurt + ½ tsp cider vinegar)
- 80g sugar
- 1 Tbsp all purpose flour (I used Doves Farm gluten free self-raising)
- 1 egg
- Pinch of salt
- 65g peanut butter (I used Morrisons natural crunchy peanut butter which is 100% peanuts)
- 25g all purpose gluten free flour (or coconut flour works well too)
- 7g butter
- 5g honey
- 10g brown sugar
- Pinch of salt
- Cinnamon sugar (1 part cinnamon x 1 part sugar)
- Raspberries
220C (428F) for 10 mins
+
110C (230F) for 25 mins
+
1 + ¼ hour (just sitting in the oven with the door closed and the heat turned off)
*This recipe only yields a small batch, double it up as needed.
*The cookie dough quantity yields just about enough for a thin base and a little bit extra to put inside the cake batter. If you want a thick crust and more cookie dough in your cake batter, double up the recipe.
Directions
- Make the cookie dough: mix the peanut butter, butter (melted in the microwave first), honey, brown sugar and salt together in a bowl. Then add the flour and knead until you have a smooth dough ball.
- Prepare the filling: stir the cream cheese with a spoon or spatula until smooth and creamy. Then stir in the sour cream (or yogurt and vinegar), sugar, salt, flour and finally the egg. Mix until.
- Prepare the cheesecake: grease an oven dish or cake tin with butter or oil and add a sheet of baking paper (big enough to cover the bottom and sides). This really helps remove the cake from the tin in order to slice and serve. Then press the cookie dough at the bottom of the pan and add the cheesecake filling on top.
- Bake the cheesecake: bake in a pre-heated oven for 10 minutes at 220C (428F). Then lower the heat to 110C (230F) and keep cooking for another 25 minutes. Finally, turn the heat off completely and let the cake sit in oven for an hour or so. Don’t leave it too long as it will affect the texture. For a very creamy cheesecake, 1 hour to 1 hour and a quarter is just about right.
- Refrigerate the cheesecake: cover the cheesecake with cling film or foil and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours (or overnight) before serving.
- For the toppings: you can add whatever you want on top, but I really enjoyed just a simple sprinkle of cinnamon sugar and fresh raspberries.
Kimi x
