Amanda Cook The flavor of fresh strawberries is synonymous with summer, and these bright strawberry cheesecakes are a perfect, bright bite with no lactose or gluten, and very little refined sugar.
The majority of the recipes on this blog are 100% refined sugar-free, but just this once, I’ve cheated to create a gluten-free nilla wafer crust using Partake vanilla wafer cookies. This is not an ad or a paid partnership — I just love these cookies so much! The brand is top nine allergen free, and their vanilla wafers only have 5g of sugar per serving. If you’d like to know what love looks like, here is my personal stockpile of these cookies that my husband bought for me when I was having a bad week.
The gluten-free vanilla wafer crust is just two ingredients: the cookies, and some melted butter or melted coconut oil — both work equally well! If you’d like to completely avoid refined sugar in this recipe, you can substitute the vegan oatmeal crust found in my Refined Sugar-Free Honey Lemon Cheesecakes recipe.
The cheesecake filling uses lactose-free cream cheese and lactose-free yogurt. I personally like the Green Valley brand of lactose-free products, but Fage also makes a very good lactose-free yogurt now! For your sweetener, you can use either maple syrup or honey according to your taste preferences.
The most important step when making the cheesecake filling is removing the excess liquid from the lactose-free cream cheese. This can be accomplished by putting the cream cheese between two paper towels and gently pressing the water out. Most bakers know that you always use a block of cream cheese, which is higher in fat, instead of a tub of cream cheese spread, which tends to hold too much water and get soupy. The problem is, most lactose-free cream cheese options only come in a tub. So this extra step of pressing out the excess liquid ensures that you will get the right texture for your cheesecake!
Be careful not to overwhip your cheesecake mixture, and let the baked cheesecakes fully cool on the countertop before moving them to the fridge to finish setting up. These two potential missteps could cause your cheesecakes to sink in the middle. But if you find yourself with slightly sunken cheesecakes, they’ll still be just as delicious, and you can just pile more strawberry compote on top and no one will know the difference.
The strawberry basil compote is a burst of summer flavors. The basil makes the compote more savory and floral. I’d highly recommend giving it a try because I’ve never taste anything like it, but if that doesn’t sound like your jam (!), simply omit the basil.
Lactose-Free & Gluten-Free Strawberry Cheesecakes
Ingredients
For the GF Nilla Wafer Crust
- 1 cup Partake gluten-free vanilla wafer crumbs
- 3 TBSP melted butter sub melted coconut oil
For the Cheesecake
- 2 8oz containers lactose-free cream cheese
- 1/4 cup lactose-free plain whole milk yogurt
- 1/2 cup maple syrup or honey
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
For the Strawberry Basil Compote
- 16 oz fresh strawberries, quartered
- 2 TBSP maple syrup
- 1 TBSP lemon juice
- 3-4 fresh basil leaves
Instructions
Make the vanilla wafer crust
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 12-count muffin tin with paper baking cups.
- In a food processor, pulse gluten-free vanilla wafers until cookies resemble sand.
- Measure one cup of packed vanilla wafer crumbs and add to a mixing bowl.
- Add 3 TBSP of melted butter or coconut oil and stir to combine. The mixture should resemble wet sand and hold together when squeezed.
- Scoop one heaping tablespoon of the vanilla wafer crust mixture into each baking cup.
- Press down firmly and evenly with fingers, working the mixture to the edges of each baking cup.
- Blind bake for 8-10 minutes or until the mixture begins to dry out.
- Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
Make the cheesecake filling
- Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.
- Remove cream cheese from the tub and place between two paper towels. Gently press excess liquid out of the cream cheese like its a block of tofu.
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, beat together cream cheese and yogurt until smooth.
- Add the maple syrup or honey and the vanilla extract and mix until incorporated.
- Add eggs, mixing on low speed until combined, then mixing on medium speed until light and fluffy. Be careful not to overwhip the mixture at this stage or your cheesecakes might collapse after baking.
- Evenly fill the baking cups almost to the top.
- Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until cheesecake is mostly set. It should still have a slight wobble.
- Remove from oven and let cool on countertop before placing in the refrigerator for 2 hours to set completely.
Make the strawberry basil compote
- In a medium saucepan, combine the strawberries, maple syrup, water, and basil.
- Stir to combine, then bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat.
- Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until strawberries have broken down to desired consistency. Gently break strawberries up with a wooden spoon to achieve a more jammy consistency.
- Remove basil leaves and allow to cool before pouring over individual cheesecakes. Compote may also be refrigerated for two hours to continue setting.
