Cheesecake Experiment

I haven't actually made a cheesecake in some time.  I overloaded on store-bought snacks and had to work through them.  Then the price of eggs got too stupid to "waste" them on dessert.  Then, even though this year's A1C wasn't bad for all the sugar I've been having, I really did want to cut back.

One day, as my afternoon tea was getting way too sweet from the stevia leaves I forgot to fish out, I got an idea for a sugar- and egg-free cheesecake.  I know, what's the point in that?  I also had a brick of cream cheese in the fridge that wasn't getting any younger, so out came the 6" springform.

The first step was to make a very sweet stevia water.  The plan was to use that as the water for the egg replacer and the sugar.  Now, sugar in a baking recipe isn't just for sweetness.  It's also for texture and structure.  Cheesecake is more forgiving than a gluten treat and can handle being messed with.

I put two packets of granulated stevia in the almond flour crust.  Following this recipe, minus the spices, I put together the cheese batter.  I whipped in the dry egg replacer with the other ingredients, then added the sweetened water until the desired consistency was reached.  It ended up being more like 1/2 cup instead of 1/4, and was still a thicker batter than usual.

So, did it work?  Drumroll...yes and no.  It did bake into a cheesecake.  I forgot it was going to be very white without egg yolks.  The wax paper under it got very stuck and I had to cut off the outer edges.  It was more dense than average, and not nearly sweet enough.  I had it with canned cherries (which I would have used even if it was perfect) and whipped cream to make it less bland.  It was edible, so that's good, and counted as dessert for the week.  But I'm not going to make it again.  Sugar and eggs are necessary for how I like my cheesecakes.