Hello, again…

It’s been a while since I posted a new recipe on here. Last month was really busy with writing since I participated in NaNoWriMo again. I almost have two complete novel drafts, but not quite. I’d hoped to work on them this month. Who was I kidding?!

So far as new recipes go, I have to say I haven’t been creating many new ones, mostly making some of my fall favorites. But this weekend, I made a simple and simply delicious dessert made with cream cheese, cranberries, and apples. To be honest, I’m not overjoyed with the bottom cake on this recipe, but I deviated from the recipe a bit and it might be my own fault. In brief, the sponge cake wasn’t very spongy. But the rest of the dessert was wonderful.

This would make a light and very scrumptious ending to your holiday dinner. Since it’s not a baked cheesecake, it’s lighter and fluffier. I’ve included some options for an alternate base other than the cake.

Cranberry Apple Cream Cheese Pie

LOW CARB SPONGE CAKE
1 tablespoon Butter, unsalted melted
1 Egg beaten
2 tablespoons Almond Flour
1 tablespoon Coconut Flour
1 tablespoon Low Carb Sweetener
½ teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 tablespoons Unsweetened Almond Milk

FILLING
½ cup Cream Cheese softened
½ cup Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons Powdered Sugar Substitute
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

TOPPING
1 cup Cranberries, fresh
1/4 cup Water
1/4 cup Sugar Substitute
1/2 large Apple, cored and peeled
1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice
1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground Cloves, optional

Make the Topping:
In a medium-sized pot, add two cups of fresh cranberries, 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup of sugar substitute. Stir together, then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium high and cook until all the cranberries have popped.

While the berries are cooking, core and peel the apple. Cut 1/2 in half, then cut into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Microwave for one minute, then set aside.

Let the cranberries cook for about five minutes after they’ve popped. Remove from heat, add apples, cinnamon, and cloves (if using). Stir together and set aside.

Make the sponge cake:
In a small bowl, mix all the cake ingredients together. Divide the batter into 2 three-inch in diameter microwaveable bowls. Cook in microwave for 2 minutes. Allow to cool, turn out and cut each small cake into two horizontally so you have four discs. Or, you can leave in the bowls and make 2 three-inch cakes and cut the completed cakes in half before serving versus 4 smaller cakes.

Make the filling:
Put the cream cheese, cut into pieces, and the heavy cream in a small mixing bowl. Beat with an egg beater until smooth. Add the powdered sugar substitute and vanilla and beat until the filling is fluffy.

Assembly:
Place a cake disc on the bottom of the serving bowl or glass, spread a layer of cream cheese mixture over the top (about two tablespoons), spoon a layer of cranberry and apple mix over the cream cheese. Add another layer of cream cheese and top with the rest of the cranberries.

Chill in the refrigerator for about an hour before serving. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream if you wish.

Makes 4 servings.

TIP: If you want to make this all as one cake, it should fit into a 5″ cheesecake pan. Make the cake in the pan and bake it at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Test to make sure it is done. Let cool, then assemble the pie as described above, splitting the cream cheese and cranberry filling into two portions, one for the bottom, and one for the top layers.

 

Alternate bottom layers: Use a pecan/almond/flour and butter crust for the bottom layer. Mix 1/4 cup chopped pecans with 1/4 cup almond flour, 2 tablespoons butter, and 2 tablespoons sugar substitute. Pat the crust into the bottom of the oven-worthy serving dishes. Bake at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes until the edges are lightly browned. Let cool, then assemble pie.

Pie crust bottom: Use your favorite low carb pie crust recipe and quarter the amounts.

Almond flour sugar cookie crust: Use a low carb sugar cookie recipe. Pat into your bowls to form a 1/4 inch crust and bake any leftovers into cookies. Bake and let cool, then assemble pie.

If you don’t want any crust, just assemble in your serving dishes.

You can use this same recipe to make a strawberry cream cheese pie, or a blueberry, mixed berry, peach or any other type fruit pie you’d like. They’re all delicious.

This is loosely based on Angela Coleby’s Tiramisu Mug Cake (that will be another post).

Nutrition information calculated at www.nutritionvalue.org.   Values may vary based on ingredients and brands that you use, but should be close to the ones I calculated. 

Hope you try this. Let me know if you do and if you like it.