[iammare]

I love to bake. I would've been a baker/pastery chef had the pay been better - but it didn't pay the bills. So, my question to you foodies out there is this.

How do I make a great lf or ff, sf cheese cake? I've got a great recipe for pumpkin cheese cake, but it's a traditional one - lots of cream cheese, eggs, and sugar. I usually make the cheese cake for my mother's Turkey day dinner, and would love to make it this year, but I want to be able to eat it too! I've already modified the recipe a little to substitute either Acorn or Butternut squash for the pumpkin - it's got a better color, and because I always have too much in my garden, I thought why not? The flavor is the same as the pumpkin, so no one notices!

I would like to use Agave if I could, I don't like splenda that much in large doses like I would need for baking.

Thanks in advance.

[Schmoodle]

iammare, I haven't done this myself, so these are just ideas - you may need to experiment some. There is a recipe for breakfast cheesecake in the Phase I Breakfast Recipes. I made that and it was really pretty good. It substitutes FF cream cheese, mixed with neufchatel for the cream cheese, and also some ff cottage cheese. You have to blend the cottage cheese really smooth though, so as not to have lumps. I'm not sure how the agave nectar would work, it, along with the pumpkin, might make things runny. I also made it crustless, but I know some of the other chicks have done crusts with nuts, wheat germ, smart balance, cereal, etc., so they might have suggestions.

[femmecreole]

I've tried several baking recipes and just finally quit. I've used ground nuts for crusts etc. I did that with cheesecake..and it was ok...just ok. I don't want to go to all that trouble for "just ok". I've come to realize that for me, it just isn't the same as the "real thing" and dissapointing. I also just LOVE to bake and used to do so every afternoon until SBD...

So, my new "thing" will be, I will make the real deal for holidays and just have a piece of the real thing on that special day. I'm sure I'll enjoy a small piece of cheesecake or creme brulee or bread pudding a lot more than I would enjoy a big chunk of the fake stuff. But that's just me. Others may feel entirely differently. I have just recently started baking again for my family...not every day as before and find that I don't want it as much as I thought I would.

[iammare]

Cat - That's what I was thinking as well. There are some things that just don't work well. I made Zucchini bread last week, and substituted 1/2 the flour with ww. I thought that it would've been too heavy if I used all ww. I did cut back on the sugar oil though - used more water, and about 2 times the amount of zucchini that the recipe called for. It turned out quite good. But I don't want to go mucking around with something too much.

With all the eggs and cheese in a cheese cake, it can get a little on the pricey side to 'play' with. I'll probably do it once or twice, but that's it - if it's not worth it, then I won't bother. PLUS, if I make it, and it's horrible, DH will have my head on a platter if I throw it out! "Look at all that money you've wasted!" etc....

[Magfish]

This is a WW recipe that I tried -- it's 5 WW pts and very low fat -- probably somewhere around 250 calories a slice. I brought it to a party and no one had any idea it was healthy!!! I don't know much about S. Beach, but WW has a lot of really good low fat/high fiber recipes that might work for S. Beach too, and everyone I've tried has been delicious.

One thing about this recipe -- go easy or eliminate the almond extract -- it can be a bit overwhelming.

* 10 average Nabisco Reduced-Fat Oreo(s), or other similar reduced-fat, cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies
* 8 oz fat-free cream cheese
* 8 oz light cream cheese, tub-style
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
* 1 cup fat-free cottage cheese
* 2 tsp almond extract
* 6 large egg white(s)
* 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions

* Preheat oven to 325ºF.

* Lightly coat a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Crush cookies and sprinkle cookie crumbs evenly over bottom of pan.

* Using an electric mixer, beat together cream cheeses on lowest speed until well blended.

* In a small bowl, combine sugar and flour. Add to cream cheese mixture and beat until smooth.

* In a food processor or blender, purée cottage cheese until smooth. Add cottage cheese and almond extract to cream cheese mixture; beat until smooth. Add egg whites and beat until well blended. Stir in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.

* Pour into springform pan; top with remaining chocolate chips and bake until cheesecake puffs and center is almost set, about 60 minutes.

* Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. Run a knife around sides to loosen and release pan sides. Cover and chill overnight. Cut into 12 slices and serve.

[beachgal]

Check with Cooking Light for good cheesecake recipes--they have perfected baking things with less than 30% fat--they turn out amazing! They recently moved their recipe database to a new site: www.myrecipes.com where you can search through several magazines' recipes at once. The enhanced recipe search (which rocks!) is here. Here are three recipes for pumpkin cheesecakes that I found quickly (all received a five star/highest rating from users):
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake
Pumpkin-Streusel Cheesecake

Make sure to read the reviews for each--other users often share modifications they've made that make the recipe work better or ways they've made the recipe healthier/low carb/gluten free, etc. It's very helpful!

I buy frozen pie crusts at my local health food store that are made with whole wheat (or whole spelt, etc.) flour and canola oil. They are delicious and so easy to work with!

I haven't done it yet, and it might be a bit of work, but you could make your own graham crackers and then use those for a crust for your cheesecake. I looked around online and found a ton of inventive ideas for crusts...there's tons out there! I would think a toasted hazelnut crust would be really good with pumpkin cheesecake. You could make it out of hazelnuts and ground up Fiber One cereal with some spices. Yum!

Actually, I love baking too! I've never stopped baking and enjoy it just as much, if not more, on SBD. It's such fun to play with recipes and try to make them work within the parameters of the diet.

I've always used 100% WW flour, though I usually use a combo of WW and WW pastry (aka "White Whole Wheat" or "Spring Whole Wheat") flours. The "pastry" flours are the same as the WW ones, but they are made with a softer kind of wheat that makes for a fluffier flour with a lighter color. It seems to work well with more delicate things like cakes and pie crusts, etc. Sometimes I use real butter in my recipes, since Smart Balance doesn't work too well, IMHO, in baking. I used to use light butter with canola oil, but they stopped carrying it in our stores. I think they might have discontinued it entirely. I often use Earth Balance, a trans-fat free margarine that comes in sticks, which I find in the health food section of Wegman's. I also found a trans-fat free (really!) Crisco-type shortening in the health food section. It seems to work really well.

I know that I can make anything (short of things like creme brulee that call for caramelization) SBD-safe, but I find that the most satisfying things are ones that you know will work well with WW flour. For instance, making oatmeal thumbprint cookies with SF jam is tastier than making shortbread with trans-fat free margarine and WW flour. You know? I make 8-10 different kinds of cookies every Christmas and have made them all SBD-safe for the last three years. I do include semi-sweet or dark chocolate in some of them. There's at least one diabetic in every house on our block, so I figure it's good for them as it is for me. Honestly, they turn out fantastic! I purposely choose recipes that I know will work better with WW flour, but I've made such things as Rugalah (SO good!) or these divine chocolate walnut truffle cookies. Sometims I have to play with things a couple times to get them just right. Sometimes there's an aftertaste (which I can't taste, so DH is in charge of telling me that!), and I work on that too. I read on a website that if you combine sugar substitutes, you get less aftertaste, so I often use a combo of Splenda, Erithrytol (a natural sugar substitute), Diabetisweet, and the SF syrups. It does seem to help.

Actually, iammare, using all WW flour turns out fantastic in zucchini bread! I've come to accept that there are some recipes that work better with a little white flour (though I haven't tried it yet), but this is one where that's not necessary. It makes a dense, wonderful loaf. Very good! Even DH enjoys it...he ate all of the half loaf I left while I was gone for three days! I find that the key to working with WW flour is to increase the liquids a bit in what you are making. With something like zucchini bread where there is lots of liquid, it's easy!

Obviously, I could go on and on and onnnnnn about this subject! So I'll stop here...but I'd be glad to help anyone who wants to make something SBD safe. Just pass the recipe to my via PM (or post it here so we can *all* help!). Happy Baking!

[KO]

Laurie!!! YOu're making me drooooool! I'd love to get some of your recipes! Where do you get Erithrytol or the diabetisweet?
does the Erithrytol have the same stomach fun as xylitol?
I was looking up low carb baking and I found a recipe for a pumpkin cheesecake and a pumpkin spice cake are we allowed to do links?

[JessieW]

KO, Not usually allowed to do links, but you could copy in the recipes.

[beachgal]

KO, I get the Erithrytol and Diabetisweet from www.netrition.com They have amazing products for really good prices. I get all my DaVinci Syrups from them, too--even with shipping costs, it's cheaper than anything (except finding them on sale at TJ Maxx! ).

I don't think the Erithrytol would cause bad stomach problems, but it might. It's worth getting a small bag and seeing how you feel. Of course, those side effects help, too--if they keep you to eating a regular portion and no more.