I love bacon! A lot. No wonder this farmstyle low carb cheesecake is one of my all time personal favourites. It is very rich, super filling and utterly delicious. Real good food.
I have tested this recipe many times on myself and others (some who are not even low carb followers) and it seems to be a hit with everyone time and again.
One of my main challenges when creating this recipe was to make a crust which I would be happy eating as I am not a crust person at all. I do not want to have to struggle through a crust to get to the filling. Well, I love this rough and rustic cheesy crust as much as the filling!
I prefer to use an 18 months matured Cheddar cheese for this cheesecake, but have made it several times using a 6 months matured Cheddar and it also tasted delicious. So just use your favourite aged Cheddar.
Please note, there is no salt in the recipe. This is correct. There is enough cheese to add the salty taste.
Also, it is important to bake at 170ºC /375ºF. Defintely no fan.
I have given gram weights where I felt it was important. If you have a scale, rather weigh than measure off these ingredients.
Ingredients for the crust:
- butter for greasing
- 3 tablespoons / 45 ml butter (45 g) (I use salted butter, but unsalted butter is also fine.)
- 1 cup / 250 ml (100 g) ground almonds (not almond flour)
- ½ cup / 125 ml (50 g) tightly packed coarsely grated mature Cheddar cheese
- a pinch of cayenne pepper
Ingredients for the filling:
- 1 tablespoon / 15 ml butter (15 g) (I use salted butter, but unsalted butter is also fine.)
- 6 streaky bacon rashers, coarsely chopped
- ½ cup / 125 ml chopped onion
- 250 g cream cheese at room temperature (Use a cream cheese with a fat content of 33% or more, usually sold in block form such as Philadelphia cream cheese.)
- ½ cup + 2 teaspoons / 135 ml (125 g) crème fraîche
- 2 extra-large eggs (not large or any other size, but extra-large)
- 1 cup / 250 ml (100 g) tightly packed coarsely grated mature Cheddar cheese
- 1 teaspoon / 5 ml dry mustard powder (I use Hot English mustard powder)
- ¼ cup / 60 ml chopped chives
- milled black pepper to taste
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 170ºC / 375ºF. Grease a 19 − 20 cm diameter ovenproof dish (at least 5 cm high) with butter.
- To make the crust: Melt the butter. Add the ground almonds, Cheddar cheese and cayenne pepper and mix well until the mixture is lump-free. Roughly press into the base and against the sides (3.5 cm – 4 cm high) of the dish. The crust does not have to be perfect.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven. Allow the crust to cool for at least 10 minutes while preparing the filling.
- To make the filling: Heat the butter in a frying pan. Sauté the bacon and the onion.
- Place the cream cheese in a mixing bowl. Cut it into rough blocks. Add the crème fraîche. Beat well until combined, but do not overbeat. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and the mustard powder until smooth.
- Beat in the Cheddar cheese, bacon, onion, chives and black pepper.
- Spoon the filling into the crust. Bake for about 45 minutes (40 −50 minutes), or until just set in the centre. It should not be wobbly in the centre as required for a sweet cheesecake.
- Allow to cool until lukewarm. Don’t worry if deep cracks form on cooling − it is perfectly fine and to be expected.
- Cut into 8 wedges and serve.
- You can cover and store this cheesecake for up to 3 days in the fridge.
- You can heat a wedge of cheesecake in the microwave oven for 25 seconds on High (100% power), but the crust will be soft and slightly chewy. It will still be scrumptious. Take care not to overheat it.
Serves 8
Tip:
- Sometimes I add grated garlic to the filling. Three fat cloves will do. When sautéeing the onion and bacon, add the grated garlic right at the end (when the onion and bacon are just cooked) and stir-fry over medium heat for 1 minute. Take care that the garlic does not burn.
Dalene Crafford Low Carb 