Saturday, March 15, 2008

Low Carb Crustless Cheesecake


32 ounces cream cheese
1 cup splenda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3 eggs
3 tablespoons sour cream

With an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese and splenda at slow to medium speed, scraping sides often. Add all other ingredients except eggs. When completely mixed (with no lumps), add the eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, beating very slowly. When eggs are incorporated, do not mix any more. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Cooking Instructions#1 (the Right way)
Pour the mixture into the springform pan. Place the pan on a very large piece of aluminum and fold the foil up around the pan to create a watertight barrier around the cheesecake. Then place the barrier pan in an even larger pan and fill the larger pan halfway with water. This is called a water bath. It is a gentler way to cook the cheesecake. Place the entire water bath containing the cheesecake in a 300-degree preheated oven. Cook for 1 hour and reduce heat to 200 degrees for 1 more hour. Turn oven off and leave cheesecake in until the oven is completely cool. The cheesecake can even be left overnight at this point. Cracks can also occur when a cheesecake cools too quickly.

Alternative cooking instruction#2 (The Way I Did It)
If you do not own a springform pan, you can use a cake pan covered in aluminum foil, leaving some excess around the edge, and spray with cooking spray. In the 300 degree preheated oven, cook the cheesecake for 35 minutes. Reduce heat to 200 degrees, and cook for 35-40 minutes. Let the cheesecake sit out until cool. You can pull the cheesecake out of the pan by the foil and place on a serving dish. Then, refrigerate overnight. Serve!

The difference between these two methods is that my method, the cheesecake will crack. However, if you don't care to much about that, it is a quicker and easier method. I served my cheesecake with blackberries and whipped cream, both really low carb! Blackberries have a low gylcemic index, which works great for the carb diet.

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