New York Cheesecake is sacred.

I have my Swerve. I've mentioned it in my last post. I can't explain it to you, so visit their site at www.swervesweetener.com and read about it. It looks and tastes like sugar. It's natural, not artificial. It doesn't create "gastric discomfort" which anyone with any experience in sugar free commercial foods knows is code word for "where's the restroom?"

It also bakes and cooks like sugar. That's really the importance of it. As the title suggests, I take my cheesecake seriously.

Cream Cheese. Sugar. Vanilla. The real deal. Now since I don't eat grains, and we need to keep it low carb, I do have to lose the graham cracker crust. So I'm going with a coconut crust instead. Just to give it a bottom to stand on. 

I don't often eat cheesecake since I left New York. It's always smooth and creamy or custardy. Doesn't have that dryness it requires to be true to itself. Everyone is always adding Sour Cream or milk or some such nonsense. Sacrilegious if you ask me. So with Swerve in hand, here we go. The almighty New York Cheesecake, sans sucre.

The Crust is simple. Just 2 cups of unsweetened coconut, 2 tablespoons Swerve and 6 tablespoons of butter, melted. Toss it together with a spatula and smash it into the bottom of a well-greased 9" springform. 

The filling is simply Philadelphia Cream Cheese recipe. Just replace the sugar with Swerve. That's it.

4 Packs of Cream Cheese, softened (8 0z bars)

4 Eggs

1 Cup sugar /sweetener

1 Tsp Vanilla

Beat the Cream Cheese and Sugar and Vanilla in a mixing bowl. It'll help if you cut the cream cheese into smaller pieces. At least in my cheap stand mixer it helps. Otherwise the weight of each bar of cream cheese sends the bowl flying.

When smooth, add the eggs, one at a time, mixing gently. Don't over beat. Please. 

Pour it onto the crust in your springform pan and bake at 325 (300 if using dark nonstick pan) for 55 minutes. Turn the oven off.

Looks beautiful, no?

Let the oven cool before opening the door or you might crack it by letting it cool off too quickly. Like mine did. Do as I say not as I do. Give it an hour or so, and then remove from the oven, loosen the pan and place on a cooling rack.

The cracked chef

When completely cool, place in the fridge for a few hours at least.

Top with fresh berries and you've got fabulous cheesecake. You'll have to trust me that it tastes as good as it looks. It's not smooth and creamy and custardy. It's dry, heavenly, New York Cheesecake. I'm a New Yorker. I know these things.
Yeah it's sugar free, low carb and gluten free. But when it tastes this good, quite frankly that's almost irrelevant.

Perfection.