Dark chocolate graham cracker crust cheesecake
Prep time: 15 minute
Cook time: 45-60 minute
Serves: 6-8 servings
Ingredients:
1 Mi-del gluten free graham cracker crust
Filling ingredients:
1 8oz brick of cream cheese
1/2 cup of heavy cream / half & half
2 large eggs
1/4 cup of sour cream
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
2 tbsp of cocoa powder
4 tbsp of palm sugar
(Optional) Topping
2 tbsp of cocoa powder (if you’re not celiac, try this)
1 tbsp of shredded coconut flakes
Cooking Tools:
Blender
Oven
Directions :
Preheat oven at 350F.
Add all the filling ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth.
Pour the mixture into the graham cracker pie crust and bake for 45-60 minutes (depending on oven). Cheesecake is done when a toothpick comes out clean from the center.
Optional - top with cherry pie topping
Cooking Tip:
Mi-del makes very small pie crusts, so double the recipe if you’re using any other brand of pie crust or homemade. Also, add 2 more tbsp of palm sugar if you’re using a normal (instead of graham cracker) crust as this recipe accounts for the amount of sugar already in the crust.
Especially for the holidays, I usually makes 2x or 4x this recipe to have extra pies to share with friends and family.
Stay healthy with Annie:
For someone who tries to use good-for-you ingredients and substitutes everywhere I can, you might wonder why my two recommended cocoa powders one and two (for non-celiacs) are not organic brand (reduced risk pf pesticide contamination) or raw cacao (higher antioxidants).
Here’s my why.
For all the benefits of raw cacao, and worries about pesticides with non-organic chocolate, what is less frequently talked about is the amount of heavy metals contained in many brands of cacao and coco, particularly cadmium. Cadmium is highly toxic and can bring on a whole host of serious health issues including neurotoxic and behavioral effects, particularly in children.
Reading through the test results done by Consumerlabs (subscription required) on several chocolate/cocoa/cacao brands, many of the dark chocolates contain less flavonoids than claimed and several contain alarmingly high levels of cadmium. Upon realizing this, my decision for myself was to do-no-harm and go with the brands that contain lower cadmium levels and focus on getting my antioxidants from fruits and vegetables.
Nutritious and Delicious:
Disclaimer that the amount of sugar in each pie slice is still less than a serving of Yoplait yogurt, I consider this a holiday treat and not quite a daily fare. This is what’s in my mind a “holiday recipe” as each serving is over my typical sugar limit for dessert (~10g), as each serving of pie crust contains 8g of sugar, plus 7g more from the cheesecake filling.
But a little holiday indulgence is good for the spirit and soul, and it makes the sweets that much more cherished.