Low Carb Gluten Free Cookies and Cream Cheesecake

When I was 16, I decided that I wanted a cookies and cream cake for my birthday instead of my usual peanut butter pie, and honestly? It was one of the best decisions I ever made.

While this recipe is truly a labor of love, I just love things that have some sort of crunch to it. My father always chose the classic New York Philadelphia style cheesecake recipe made straight off the box, but there was no texture to it. There was no flavor, and while I personally find cheesecakes delicious, vanilla, on its own, is a pretty bland flavor.

So there’s nothing wrong with spicing it up, especially when you’re adding in more crunch and texture to help entertain a bored palette. This recipe features a crispy cookie crust, a crunchy cookie middle, and crushed cookie crumbs on top to give you three layers of texture and flavor amidst all that cheesecake goodness.

You can save a lot of time if you just use Oreos, but since I’ve been diagnosed with celiac and have to avoid gluten at all costs, there’s no harm in making it yourself and turning a delicious Oreo cheesecake into a delicious chocolate cookies and cream cheesecake (which is basically the same thing anyway!)

(And yes, I did hear they’re making a gluten free Oreo! But making it from scratch is also a great way to cut down on sugar and a lot of the additives they throw in there!)

So, without further ado, let’s get started!

Ingredients for a Full 9″ Cheesecake

Cookie Crumble:

1 cup almond flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder (black works best if you can find it!)
1/4 cup sugar/granulated sugar substitute
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp beaten egg (hold onto the rest of the egg for the filling!)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Crust:

1 cup almond flour
1/4 cup black cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar/granulated sugar substitute
4 tbsp melted butter

Filling:

32 ounces cream cheese
2/3 cup sugar/granulated sugar substitute
6 tbsp heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs (plus remaining egg from the crumble)

Steps

Prepare the crumble:

1. Preheat the oven to 300F and make sure to take out the rest of your cheesecake filling ingredients (cream cheese, heavy cream, and eggs) so they’re room temperature!
   
2. Whisk the almond flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt together. Make sure that the butter has cooled down and then stir it into the flour mixture. Add the eggs and the vanilla extract and then stir until combined.
   
3. Roll out the dough until it’s 1/4 inch thick and then use a 1-inch cookie cutter (or a small mason jar lid) to create small circles to decorate the top of the cake. If you just want to cover the top of the cake with a crumble, you can skip this step and just bake the whole pan as is!
   
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until it is firm to the touch. Remove and let it cool down while you make the crust.

Prepare the crust:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 and grease the bottom of a 9″ springform pan.
   
2. You can reuse the same bowl from the crumble to make this step either, as you’re basically remixing the same ingredients minus the egg!
   
3. Stir together the almond flour, cocoa powder, and sugar. Then stir in the butter until combined.
   
4. Press into the bottom of the springform pan with wet fingers and bake for 10 minutes.

Prepare the filling:

1. Using a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese together until smooth. Then beat in sugar until combined.
   
2. Add in the heavy cream, vanilla, and the remaining egg from the cookie crumble you made earlier.
   
3. Break up the cookie crumble into small pieces, saving as many or as little of the circles as you want to decorate the top! Mix some crumble into the filling, and save the rest to garnish the top of the cake.
   
4. Pour the filling onto the crust and even out the top with a spatula. I don’t personally use a water bath, but feel free to. Just make sure you seal it tight with aluminum foil to prevent a soggy bottom!

Prepare to bake:

1. Bake the cheesecake at 300 F for at least 45 minutes to an hour. Make sure to check on it every five minutes to check for doneness.
   
2. You’ll know the cake is down when the edges are set, but the center should still jiggle a bit when you shake the pan.

Serving:

1. Let sit at least 8 hours to set. I always make mine the day before to make sure it has enough time to set properly.
   
2. Take the remaining crumbles and sprinkle them over the top of the cheesecake before slicing. If desired, you can take a little dollop of whipped cream and garnish with the remaining cookies to make it look fancy, but it’s totally optional if you’d rather just grab a fork and dig in!

Enjoy!