It’s been a long time coming that we finally get a more traditional baked dairy-based berry cheesecake recipe up on the site!
I dealt with a pretty severe intolerance to dairy for many years back when I was sick. With being much more intentional about my eating the last 8 years, combined with omitting dairy for a long time and then beginning to reintroduce safer sources of dairy gradually, I’ve come to tolerate a lot more dairy than before.
It’s a very happy thing.
One way I’ve found to incorporate more into my daily life is to find low- or no-lactose dairy options. Like the Green Valley Creamery brand you see pictured above. They add a lactase enzyme into their products to pre-digest the lactose for you! And they have quite a few products that are all pretty great, both in taste and on my digestion.
Any cream cheese will work but I love to support this brand. And as always, being intentional with the dairy farms we support since there is a LOT of shitty dairy to choose from out there.
Be sure to read through the notes on the crust since there’s quite a bit of flexibility there, depending on your personal tastes.
And if you aren’t friendly with the dairy, check out these dairy-free cheesecake options here at BRG >>>
Or this OG no-bake dairy-based berry cheesecake that put me on the map >>>
No-Bake Greek Yogurt Berry Cheesecake
(And if you’re curious about how I can help you heal your gut and get dairy back into your life, email me or send me a DM)
Berry Cheesecake Bars
Yields: 16
For the crust:
- 5-6 oz. grain-free or gluten-free cookies of choice*
- ½ c. almond flour*
- 2-3 tbsp. melted butter*
For the cheesecake filling:
- 16 oz. organic cream cheese
- 4 oz. créme fraîche
- 3 eggs
- ⅓ c. honey
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of sea salt
For the berry swirl:
- 12 oz. ripe berries of choice (I used 8 oz. strawberries & 4 oz. raspberries)
- ¼ c. honey
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 325* F. Line an 8″ or 9″ square baking dish with parchment, tucking it above the sides for easy removal of the slices. Or use a round springform pan.
- Prepare the crust by adding all the ingredients to a large food processor. Process until wet and crumbly.
- Press into the baking dish and bake for 8 minutes. Remove the pan and allow it to come to room temperature before filling.
- While the crust is baking, add the cheesecake filling ingredients to a large bowl. Whisk gently until combined. Set aside.
- Add the berry swirl ingredients to the food processor and pulse until just barely combined. The texture is best if you still have a few chunks left throughout.
- Pour the cheesecake filling onto the cooled crust. Add the berry mix into the filling in large dollops scattered throughout. Then swirl the berry with a knife, as shown above.
- Bake for 70-85 minutes, or until the center is still jiggly but doesn’t appear wet.
- Rest on the counter until room temperature. Move to the fridge and chill fully before slicing. Store extras in the fridge (or freezer, yum!).
Notes:
- I tried quite a few renditions with different flavors of cookies. The crust turns out more crumbly with a crispy cookie rather than a soft batch cookie. My top choice was the Partake brand Birthday Cake Crunchy cookies. What is also fun is to swap the almond flour for crumbled Simple Mills Sea Salt crackers. Make sure to use unsalted butter in the crust if you choose this option.
- Add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time until it’s just barely moist. The amount of butter needed will be determined by which cookies you use.
