Sweet Like A Lemon

For me, there is nothing more exciting than a challenge, especially a sweet one.

So far on my diet, desserts and puddings have proven to be the biggest challenge - as I have mentioned before, I do not have much of a sweet tooth, but the excitement of the challenge is getting to me and some days I race home, my head filled with brilliant ideas, that I just KNOW will work, (ok, some turn out to be huge flops) but when I think they work, I need to have lots of guinea pigs to try them out on - so I "use" the people at work :)

This is one such experiment that got the thumbs up:

Mock Lemon Cheese Cake:
(Makes 4 Mini "Cheese" Cakes)

People are strange, the minute they find out that this contains tofu, they are not so keen. So here's a tip - just tell them it's cheese cake and they will be none the wiser :)

Ingredients:

For the Base:

1 Cup Almonds

Half Cup Buckwheat

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1.5 Teaspoons Vanilla Essence/ Extract

2 Tablespoons Xylitol
3 Tablespoons Water

For the "Cheese":

300g Soft Tofu
1 Lemon Juiced and Zested
2 Tablespoons Xylitol
2 Leaves of Gelatin, Dissolved in a Little Water

1.5 Teaspoons Vanilla Essence/ Extract

2 Teaspoons Ground Nutmeg

Directions:

Heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Put all dry base ingredients into a blender and whizz until fine crumbs have formed

Make a syrup from the sugar and water, in the microwave

Add the syrup and the vanilla to the crumb mixture and stir to combine

Spoon equal amounts into the bottom of 4 muffin tins, patting flat to compact the mixture
Cook in the oven for 10 minutes, until the base mixture sticks together
Mix together tofu, lemon juice and zest, xylitol, vanilla and nutmeg (in a blender if you prefer)
Add the gelatin mixture to the "cheese" mixture being careful of lumps - mix well
Spread the mixture onto each base
Place the muffin tray in the fridge and chill for 4 hours until set

See? Looks just like cheese cake hey? No one will have a clue :)