This recipe is for a rich, creamy and delicious cheesecake made with Labneh. The cheesecake is really easy to make, with just a few steps of preparation for the crust. It is perfect to serve as a sweet treat, afternoon snack or dessert. This cheesecake is gluten and sugar free.
I might be the biggest cheesecake lover out there! I’ve made so many different cheesecakes with different flavors, ingredients and tweaks. Now this cheesecake is one of my all time favorite! The cheesecake is made with Labneh and yogurt. Labneh is a yogurt that is well strained to remove almost all excess liquid and whey. This makes it both rich, creamy and also more tangy compared to regular cream cheese or yogurts, resulting in a very creamy and more tangy cheesecake. But I still don’t like my cheesecakes to be too heavy or overwhelming, hence I love adding greek yogurt to them to make them less heavy. The crust is made with roasted oats, coconut flakes, oat flour, fiber syrup/honey as the main ingredients, which give the curst a lovely extra roasted taste, more crunchy and chunky texture and combines so well with the creamy tangy cheesecake. The cake is topped with an easy honey caramel sauce that comes together in only a few minutes, roasted fresh figs and hazelnuts. So all in all, this is a creamy, slightly more tangy cheesecake that I made less sweet just because you get sweetness both from the crust, caramel sauce and roasted figs on top. But the amount of sugar can be adjusted according to taste. Serve this cheesecake as a warming, comforting and absolutely delicious afternoon snack, sweet treat, dessert or include it in a dessert buffet.
A few tips:
- If you don’t have coconut flakes you can use desiccated coconut, but that will affect the texture and taste slightly.
- I really recommend you not to skit the part of roasting the oats and coconut flakes since it adds a lovely roasted taste to the crust. The crust will of course come together if you skip this step, but the taste and texture and end result will not be the same.
- The amount of fiber syrup/honey in the crust can be adapted according to taste. You might need to add more/less coconut oil and apple sauce in that case.
- The amount of coconut oil and apple sauce can vary slightly (+/- tablespoon) depending on how large your coconut flakes.
- The crust dough will be a bit sticky, that’s how it should be.
- I made my cheesecake batter less sweet since the crust, caramel sauce and roasted figs add much sweetness. By making the cheesecake less sweet it makes a wonderful contrast to the sweet caramel and figs. But you can adjust the amount of sugar if you prefer it sweeter.
- Bake the cheesecake until the edges have set, but the middle still is a bit wobbly. The center will set while it cools.
- When the cheesecake is done, turn off the oven, open the oven door and leave the cheesecake in the oven for about 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, take out the cheesecake and let it cool completely in room temperature.
- When cooled place in the fridge and let it rest for at least five hours, but preferably over night.
Ingredients for this Labneh Cheesecake with Figs & Hazelnuts:
- Oats
- Coconut flakes
- Oat flour
- Apple sauce
- Coconut oil
- Fiber syrup/agave/honey
- Labneh
- Greek or Turkish yogurt
- Eggs
- Granulated sugar free sweetener
- Lemon juice
- Vanilla extract
- Fresh figs
- Granulated sugar free sweetener that can caramelize (observe that not all sugar replacers are suitable to use for caramel sauces since they don’t caramelize well. I used this one).
- Cream
- Hazelnuts
Other recipes you might like:
- Mini Cinnamon Roll Cheesecakes (Gluten, Nut & Sugar Free)
- Cottage Cheese Yogurt Soufflé (Gluten, Grain, Sugar Free & Low Carb)
- Vanilla Ricotta Cake with Raspberries (Gluten, Oil & Sugar Free)
- Walnut Honey Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (Gluten, Oil & Refined Sugar Free)
- Gingerbread Cheesecake (Gluten, Sugar Free & Lower Fat)
- Mini Creme Brulée Cheesecake (Gluten, Refined Sugar Free & Lower In Fat)
- Chocolate Cheesecake Tartlet (Gluten, Sugar Free & Low Fat)
- Blue & Blackberry Cheesecake Bars (Gluten, Sugar Free & Less Fat)
- No Bake Toffee Mini Cheesecakes (Gluten, Sugar Free & Low Carb)
Labneh Cheesecake with Figs & Hazelnuts (Gluten & Sugar Free)
Ingredients
For the crust
- 2 dl oats
- 1 1/2 dl Coconut flakes
- 1 dl Oat flour
- 1 tbsp Apple sauce (can be replaced with more coconut oil or fiber syrup/honey)
- 2-3 tbsp Coconut oil melted
- 2-3 tbsp Fiber syrup/agave/honey
For the cheesecake
- 250 g Labneh
- 1 1/2 dl Greek (or Turkish) yogurt
- 3 Eggs
- 1/2-3/4 dl Granulated sugar free sweetener (depending on how sweet you prefer it)
- 1 tsp Lemon juice
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
For the topping
- 3-4 Figs cut into wedges
- 1 dl Sugar free granulated sweetener (that can caramelize, I used NICKS use as sugar)
- 1/2 dl Fiber syrup/Agave/Honey
- 1 tsp Water
- 3 tbsp Cream (I used reduced fat)
- Hazelnuts roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
- Place the oats on a parchment covered baking sheet. Roast in the oven for about 5 minutes.
- Add the coconut flakes to the baking sheet and roast for 5-10 minutes more, until oats and coconut chips are golden brown.
- Line or grease a 18 cm spring form. Increase the heat to 200 degrees.
- Combine roasted oats, coconut flakes, oat flour, apple sauce, coconut oil and fiber syrup/agave/honey in a bowl.
- Add the crust into the lined spring form and press down to an even layer. Bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
- Meanwhile add Labneh to a bowl or mixer and mix until smooth.
- Add granulated sugar and mix until incorporated.
- Add the Greek yogurt, lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix again until combined and smooth.
- Add egg one by one and whisk until incorporated but do not over mix.
- Take the crust out of the oven and pour the cheesecake batter over it. Spread it out using a spatula into an even layer. Bake for 25-35 minutes, until the edges have set but the middles is still a bit wobbly.
- Turn off the oven, open the oven door and let the cheesecake cool for 30 minutes.
- Remove the cheesecake from the oven and let it cool completely. Then place in the fridge at let it re-fridigate for at least 5 hours, but preferably over night.
- Make the caramel sauce by adding granulated sugar, fiber syrup/agave/honey and water to a small pot. Let the sugar dissolve. Then bring it to a boil. Let it cook over medium heat until the sugar caramelises. Do not stir the sugar. Make sure to keep an eye on it, it turns from caramelized to burnt in seconds. Remove from the stove, let it cool for a few minutes then stir in the cream. Let it cool down.
- Roast the figs in the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about 15-20 minutes.
- Remove the cheesecake from the spring form. Top with caramel sauce, roasted figs and chopped hazelnuts.
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