Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake Tart

Oh my chocolate, my sweet peanut butter, my heavenly cheesecake. Come forth and meld into perfection!

I seriously sigh just thinking about this tart. Creamy, peanutty cheesecake cream, rich and crunchy chocolate coconut base, and a dark chocolate drizzle. Sigh again.

Full of proteins and fats, and free from any refined-white-wheaten flours, this cake also offers a heap of vitamins and minerals from the cocoa, peanut butter, and coconut. It is incredibly satisfying and moreish at the same time, though I can’t say how that works!

The wonderful fats from peanut butter, cream cheese, butter, coconut and cream all create that wonderful feeling of satiety, but I can’t say I stopped at one piece 😉

I used crunchy peanut butter, made from 100% peanuts, but smooth would probably be better for a perfectly uniform texture. I actually liked the tiny specks of crunch, left after pulverising the cream - the choice is yours!

This recipe can be gluten-free, low-carb, and egg-free.

Preparation time: 30 minutes (plus refrigeration)

Serves 8

Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup thread coconut

- 1/2 cup coconut flour

- 1/2 cup cocoa powder

- stevia, to taste, or 3 Tablespoons dextrose

- 50 grams butter, softened

- 250 grams cream cheese, chopped

- stevia, to taste, or 2 Tablespoons each dextrose + rice malt syrup

- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence, or good grinding vanilla bean

- 3 rounded Tablespoons natural peanut butter

- 100 ml cream

- 2 Tablespoons coconut oil, melted

- 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder, extra

- stevia, to taste, or 2 teaspoons dextrose, exta

Method:

1. To make crust, grease a 20-22 cm round pie dish with butter and preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius. In a food processor, place the coconut, coconut flour, cocoa, stevia/ dextrose, and butter. Blitz until crumbly clumps form, and press into the pie dish.

2. Bake for 10 minutes, until the coconut has turned golden-brown and the crust has puffed slightly. Remove from the oven and cool.

3. In the rinsed out food processor bowl, place the cream cheese, extra stevia/ dextrose + rice malt syrup, vanilla, and peanut butter. Blitz until completely smooth. Add the cream, and process until the mixture is light and creamy (don’t over-process, or the cream will curdle!). Pour and scrape the cheesecake cream onto the cooled base. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

4. Mix together the extra coconut oil, cocoa powder, and stevia/ extra dextrose to form a sauce. Drizzle this over the chilled tart, in a haphazardly artistic fashion. The cold cream will ‘freeze’ the chocolate. Serve with yoghurt if desired, and enjoy! 🙂