Foods A peanut butter cheesecake with a chocolate brownie crust, covered in chocolate ganache… oh yes! And it’s gluten-free and sugar-free. Can you beat that?!
I think I just may have outdone myself with this recipe. No, really. I even got this recipe right on the very first try. That doesn’t happen very often.
By the way, are you looking for gluten-free recipes and resources? This Everything Gluten Free page is a library of everything gluten free we’ve worked on.
I’m often asked how I come up with recipes. It’s usually a long slow process. I come up with a vision for a recipe. Then I make my best guess at how it should be made and record every ingredient. Then, the long part…revisions. Very rarely does a recipe turn out just how I wanted the first time around. It often takes a lot of tweaking to get it just so.
This recipe for peanut butter & chocolate cheesecake, however, hit the spot the first time around. Woot!
Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cheesecake: Notes
This peanut butter & chocolate cheesecake will take a bit of time to prepare, so be forewarned. It’s not one of those throw-together-on-short-notice types of desserts.
You’ll have to allocate a decent amount of time and make it the day before you’d like to eat it. Cheesecakes need to sit in the fridge overnight to reach their optimum potential. I know it’s hard to wait, but you can do it!
As for the ganache in the recipe— yes, I know this isn’t a true chocolate ganache. True chocolate ganaches’ are made with chocolate not cocoa. But I’ve messed up more than a couple true ganaches in my lifetime.
I wanted to provide you with a more fool-proof ganache-like recipe. Nobody likes a lumpy ganache. And with a recipe as involved as this one, we don’t have time to be making a ganache over and over again!
This is an easy to make recipe for ganache, not fussy at all. If you’d prefer a true ganache, Google has you covered. You’ll find plenty of recipes with a quick search ;).
Are you ready? Let’s get started making peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake!
Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cheesecake (sugar-free and gluten-free)
Ingredients
Brownie Crust
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup xylitol
- 1/4 teaspoon stevia
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 Tablespoons cacao please use quality cocoa
- 1/4 cup + 3 Tablespoons almond flour
Cheesecake
- 1 pound cream cheese 2 blocks at room temperature.
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 3 Tablespoons sour cream
- 3 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 cup xylitol
- 1/4 teaspoon pure stevia extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- dash of salt
Ganache
- 1/2 cup cream
- 1/4 cup butter
- 6 tablespoons high quality cocoa
- 5 tablespoons xylitol
- 1/8 teaspoon + 1/16 teaspoon pure stevia extract
Instructions
Brownie Crust
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Liberally grease a 9" springform pan with butter or coconut oil.
- Mix all of the brownie crust ingredients together until well-blended.
- Pour the batter into the springform pan, being sure to spread evenly.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the crust is set up. Let cool.
- After you take the crust out of the oven preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
Cheesecake
- If you haven't yet, be sure the oven is preheating to 500 degrees.
- Cut the room temperature cream cheese into 1" cubes and beat for approximately 1 minute. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Add 2 eggs and beat for 1 minute. Scrape the bowl again.
- Add 1 egg and 1 egg yolk and beat for 1 minute. Scrape the bowl well.
- Add peanut butter and cream cheese. Beat for one minute and then scrape the bowl.
- Add the xylitol, stevia, vanilla, and salt. Beat for at least 1 minute. Scrape the bowl being sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Pour your cheesecake batter into the springform pan.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees. (Do not open the door to check on the cheesecake!)
- Bake for 20-25 minutes.
- After you remove the cheesecake from the oven, run a knife between the cake and the pan.
- Once the cheesecake is cooled to room temperature, cover with chocolate ganache (recipe below).
Ganache
- Pour the cream, butter, and sweeteners in a double boiler over medium-high heat.
- Measure the cocoa into a medium mixing bowl.
- Once the cream mixture is just about to boil, pull it off of the heat and pour it on top of the cocoa. Let it sit for 5 minutes without mixing.
- After 5 minutes, whisk the mixture until there are no lumps left.
- Pour the ganache over the cheesecake (you may not want to use all of it, I didn't).
- Cover the cheesecake tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Notes
Nutrition
If you try this recipe peanut butter & chocolate cheesecake, I’d love to hear how it turns out. Be sure to share in the comments!
Xylitol has kind-of a minty cool feeling about it. Can you taste that in this recipe, or does the fat tone it down all the way?
Nope, I didn’t notice any cooling effect in this recipe and my friend (who serves as my cheesecake guinea pig 🙂 ) didn’t notice any either. I find that as long as you don’t use too much xylitol you don’t get that cooling sensation (it’s actually one of the reasons I prefer xylitol of erythritol – I find the cooling sensation more prominent in erythritol). It is also part of the reason I typically always pair xylitol with pure stevia extract because it allows me to cut down on the xylitol a lot. That, and I like the taste of the two sweeteners combined better than just either of them on their own. Hope that helps!
This looks so amazing!
I want to try this recipe. I can’t eat almond flour – can I substitute with coconut flour? Thanks.
I’m sure you could, but you would need to use MUCH less than the almond flour. Coconut flour absorbs a lot of moisture. Can you eat peanut flour? That could be a good substitute too.
Thank you !!! I will try the peanut flour… Great idea!
Please report back and let us know how it turns out for you! It might be a good option for others who can’t use almond flour!
Would you post nutritional information, please? Including carbs and calories and serving size? Thank you..
Hi Paula, I’ll have to get back with you on that since I haven’t figured it all out. But I WILL get to it 🙂
Have you gotten the nutrional values yet?
This looks absolutely amazing! I can’t wait to try it! Thanks so much for linking up with “Try a New Recipe Tuesday.” I can’t wait to see what you’ll share this week. 🙂
Amazing recipe. We have a blog hop and would love to have you share it with everyone. Here is the link to the party.
http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2013/06/wednesdays-adorned-from-above-blog-hop.html
Have a great week.
Debi and Charly
Thanks! I’ll have to come check it out for sure 🙂
This sounds so good. I’d love it if you would bring this over to my Saturday Spotlight party to share. Hope to see you there!
http://angelshomestead.com/saturday-spotlight-20/
April
Angels Homestead
Thanks for the invite!
Hope you are having a great week and thank you so much for sharing your awesome recipe with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
What a yummy treat. Thanks for linking up to last weeks party. Can’t wait to see what you link up this week!! Nichi http://mandatorymooch.blogspot.com/2013/06/tasty-thursdays-45.html
I think we should be friends. Why? Because your recipes ROCK MY FACE OFF. For real.
Thanks for linking up at Trim Healthy Tuesday!!
Well, of course we can! Your comment made me smile 🙂
That looks really amazing! Can’t wait to try it and see how it tastes!
Thanks for this recipe…especially the crust. I have so many ideas for it. I did change the recipe a bit…I don’t put Xylitol in my body and I decreased the amount of Stevia cause of the taste….Which means i had to increase my cooking time. i loved it and have shared the creation with my neighbors. So, thanks! Btw…for the ganache, I added equal parts (5oz) of semi-sweet choc chips and sour cream. Melted in a double broiler and poured over the top. It wasn’t smooth (like a poured ganache…that could be because I barely heated to melt. idk), but it was yummy!
Thanks for the input! I’m glad it turned out good for you 🙂
Why do you prefer not to use xylitol? I know it can cause some gastrointestinal problems if some people eat too much of it. Erythritol is a good substitute if that is the case for you!
Yum! I just made this tonight. I didn’t bake it all the way though because it was getting really brown around the edges. I’ve never baked a cheesecake before – it is supposed to do that? I took it out early and am hoping it still firms up in the fridge tonight. It’s super yummy though. My husband, son, and I took a taste test. 🙂
http://www.wholefoodmomonabudget.com
im very interested in the macros – your recipes looks yummy but I don’t want to do all the math! lol
I know, I really need to sit down and figure out the macronutrient profile for this recipe. Such a tedious experience though! I’ll try to do that and get back to you 🙂
Your Cheesecake looks delicious, we will really enjoy it. Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and hope you have a great weekend!
Come Back Soon,
Miz Helen
This looks like a cheesecake I must eat! Thank you for linking up to Wake Up Wednesdays!! I’m including this post in my special round up going live tonight!
Thanks so much for including us in your roundup! I’m a big cheesecake fan 🙂 I hope you enjoy it!
What can you substitute for the Xylitol? I don’t have this on hand. Can you replace it with the stevia? Also, can you use just use plain whole wheat flour? I would like to make this for my Dad on Thanksgiving, who’s Diabetic but don’t want to spend the extra money buying all new ingredients.
You can replace it with sugar or erythritol, but not stevia because it doesn’t have the bulk you need. If you use erythritol, you’ll need a bit more.
No, you can’t substitute wheat flour for the almond flour – it wouldn’t turn out the same.
Is xylitol sweeter thn erythritol? I have Swerve on hand…haven’t tried xylitol except in Trident gum!
Yes, xylitol is sweeter than erythritol. You should definitely be able to sub Swerve, but you might have to use a bit more.
I just found your recipe and can’t wait to try it. Some of the ingredients I have never heard of. Where can I find almond flour, xylitol, and stevia extract?
Hi Suzie,
Each of the ingredients can be purchased on Amazon, and that’s where I purchase them from. Just click on the links in the recipe above and it will take you to them 🙂 Hope that helps!
What kind of punt butter did you use in this recipe? Thanks
I just use natural, nothing added peanut butter!
I never use xylitol, or stevia. To me stevia is not sweet at all, and it causes bad side effects for me. Xylitol will kill a dog, and I have dogs, so I don’t dare even bring that into the house. I use only Swerve, and it works great for me. I need to look for info on substituting Swerve for xylitol & stevia, I am sure that information is out there somewhere. Other than your choice of sweeteners, you have some great recipes.
Stevia varies quite a lot between brands and what types of fillers it has in it. I use a pure stevia extract with no fillers. It’s quite different than what you find in the grocery stores. There are reasons I do prefer xylitol to erythritol (ie. swerve). Xylitol has some health benefits that erythritol does not have. Though, certainly if you have dogs and fear they might get into your food, xylitol isn’t a good option.
Your recipe calls for cream,could you use half & half?? This recipe looks soooo good and I want to try it.
Thanks in advance for your help
Since it’s a fairly small amount, my guess is that it would work out OK. But, since I’ve not ever tried it I can’t say for sure!
I forgot to put the sour cream into the cheesecake mix LOL. So let’s see how it tastes tomorrow when I serve it… I’m hoping that lovely ganache will distract from my mistake!
It looks gorgeous though, can’t wait to eat it! This is the second time I’ve made this and it’s absolutely delicious.
Thanks for the recipe 🙂
So glad to hear you’ve been enjoying it! 🙂