This is one of my absolute favorite desserts. It is super light and refreshing. A great summer dessert as it requires no oven, and perfect for those succulent strawberries that are in season! It is low in carbs, keto friendly, and gluten free.
It is cream cheese based, and uses gelatin to bind it. And the layer of strawberry jello makes it look so pretty! You can “cheat” and use store bought strawberry jello if you like (sugar free or not). As you will see I simply pulverized the strawberries and simmered them with some gelatin to make my own, without the use of any sweetener. It did not need it at all!
And the crust is from almond flour! Of course, you can easily make this with graham crackers or other cookies, and use sugar in the filling instead of alternative sweeteners if you aren’t following a specific diet!
Ingredients:
Crust:
1 1/2 cups of superfine almond flour
6 oz of butter
pinch of salt
zest of 1/2 lemon
Filling:
3 packages of cream cheese (8 oz each)
1 2/3 cups of heavy cream
1 lb (or 16 oz packages) of strawberries
zest of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 envelopes gelatin (I use Knorr)
1/2 cup of water
1/4 tsp powdered monk fruit extract (or 1 cup of your favorite sweetener)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Topping:
1 lb (16 oz package) strawberries (reserve 8 strawberries for decoration)
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 envelope of gelatin
1/4 cup water
Directions:
Crust:
Melt the butter. In a small bowl, mix all of the ingredients for the crust. Press them into a buttered springfrom pan. Place it in the freezer to set while you make everything else!
Filling:
In a small sauce pan, pour in 1/2 cup of water. Sprinkle the two envelopes of gelatin over that, and allow to bloom for a few minutes. Warm it up, and stir to completely dissolve so there are not lumps, and set aside to cool.
I start the filling as if I am making a smoothie! In a blender, pulverize the strawberries. Add in the cream cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice, monkfruit extract (or your favorite sweetener), vanilla extract. Blend it all until totally smooth.
In a large mixing bowl, using your hand or stand mixer, whip the heavy cream until it becomes whipped cream. Then pour in the “smoothie”. Pour in the gelatin that you had set aside. Mix it all together very well.
And finally pour it into the springform pan over the crust that has been setting in the freezer. Refrigerate for two hours.
Topping:
In a medium sauce pan, allow the gelatin to bloom in the water as you did for the filling. After a few minutes, warm it up until it dissolves and set aside.
Blend your strawberries in a blender until liquified. Pass the liquid through a strainer and disgard the strawberry seeds, so that you are left with juice. Pour that into the sauce pan with the gelatin and warm up and stir it all together. Let it cool down to room temperature.
When the filling has been set for at least two hours, then you can gently ladle the strawberry jello over that. Put it back in the fridge to set.
Optional:
If you desire to decorate it, you can take a few fresh strawberries (washed and dried), and press them into the semi set topping.
It will be completely set in around 4 hours.
Kali Oreksi!!!
on xenia street 