Happy holidays ladies!!
Three words you’re gonna love: Cranberry-Orange Cheesecake. Oh, and lemme add, Gluten-Free & Sugar-Free. I’m serious as a heart attack – and let me tell ya, I promise that your guests will never know.
Instead of the typical round cheesecake, I made them into petit fours (small bars) simply by pouring the batter into a 9×9 baking dish vs. a round springform. I find the petit fours much nicer for casual gatherings, as guests can simply help themselves to a small bite as they please.
Oh – Covid Side Note…. a casual gathering is just my immediate family right now. The Pelly household is party-less for a while. Sigh….Sigh….and SIGHHHH…..
This almond-flour crust cheesecake is a holiday riff on the Strawberry Cheesecake that I made for my birthday on YouTube. It’s one of my most popular YouTube recipes to date – so I thought I’d bring it back – Holiday style – with a Cranberry-Orange sauce marbled on top for a gorgeous holiday feel! It also adds a nice touch of tart to balance out the sweetness of the cheesecake.
I ate the one in front right after taking this picture. Taste testing is part of being a responsible blogger. I suffer.
Use a Round Springform or a Baking Dish for Petit-Fours
It’s totally your call. This recipe can be poured into a 9″ round springform pan for a traditional “round cheesecake”, or into a 9×9″ baking dish to make into bars as I’ve done here. It’s really up to you.
Easy to Make – But Needs 4-6 Hours in the Fridge to “Set”
The recipe is easy – but heads-up, it needs to bake for about 50-minutes, cool for another hour on a wire rack…..then “set” in the fridge for another 4-6 hours. I usually make it the day before I want to serve or early in the morning. Yes, you can slap me now.
I displayed the bars on this 12″ cake stand. For guests, I have 4″ doilies on which to lay each bar, giving guests a pseudo “plate” to catch crumbs…. or god forbid, to save your pretty white sofa from a spill of cranberry-orange sauce. Oyyy.
12″ Cake Stand
4″ Doilies
Healthy Holidays! CRANBERRY-ORANGE CHEESECAKE Petit Fours (Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free)
Ingredients
For the crust
- 2 cups almond flour
- 3 tbsp Erythritol (it’s a sugar-substitute)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup melted butter
For the Cheesecake
- 4 blocks blocks reduced calorie cream cheese (32-oz, room temperature)
- 1⅓ cup powdered Erythritol
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp or 1½ tbsp lemon juice, fresh squeezed
For the Cranberry-Orange Sauce
- 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, unsweetened
- 1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
- ¾ tsp orange zest
- 3 tbsp Erythritol, granulated
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350-degrees
Make the crust:
- In a medium mixing bowl, mix together all of the crust ingredients until fully bound by the butter. Press firmly into the bottom of the baking dish.
- Bake 10-minutes or until crust is slightly golden. Remove and allow to cool while you make the cheesecake & sauce.
Make the Cranberry Sauce
- In a small saucepan, add all of the Cranberry Sauce ingredients.
- Bring to a boil (the cranberries will start to pop), reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 10-15 minutes.
- Place the mixture into a food processor. Give it a quick whir to blend (about 20-seconds). Note: I didn’t feel like dragging out my huge food processor – so I used an Immersion Blender. It wasn’t as fast – but it was easier.
- Strain the mixture through a Colander-Strainer, to remove the solids – leaving you with a pretty orange-cranberry sauce! Set aside.
Now the fun part! Make the Cheesecake
- In a large mixing bowl, whip the cream cheese until it’s nice and fluffy. Just a couple minutes.
- Add the eggs, whipping again to incorporate.
- Mix in vanilla, powdered Erythritol & lemon juice.
- Pour into prepared almond-flour pie crust.
- Now drizzle the Cranberry-Orange sauce over the top of the cheesecake, in back and forth motions, going “east and west”.
- To make the “marbling” affect – run a table knife back and forth in the opposite direction (“north and south”)
Bake it baby!
- Bake in the 350-degree oven for abut 50-minutes. The sides will be solid – but the middle will be very jiggly!! Don’t worry – that’s what you want!!
- Remove and allow to cool on a wire rack 1-hour.
- Place in the fridge, and let it “set” for 4-6 hours. This is where the magic happens – resist the temptation, lol.
- Slice into small squares and serve on a pretty platter! Leftovers? I doubt it. But if you do – store in an airtight container in the fridge.
