This is very much primal, rather than paleo, but it works a treat. Cheesecake is perhaps the pudding I miss most with all that creamy deliciousness, however the base was never the thing that really mattered to me – it was the topping. So I found myself wondering, what if I just put the topping into smart glasses as a free-standing dessert of its own?
This was a first attempt and it really does taste like a cheesecake with the Mascarpone bringing out the cheesiness of a good cheesecake. It also reacts better with me than most since it doesn’t actually have any cream in it and therefore doesn’t have that heavy clagginess that a more cream-based dessert creates for me.
If you aren’t averse to dairy then give this a go. Once you’ve mastered it you can actually do almost anything with the fruit instead of strawberries. Blackberries or raspberries, perhaps.
Paleo strawberry cheesecake pots (primal)
Ingredients (makes 6 small glasses):
500g mascarpone
200g plain Greek yoghurt
4 tbsp runny honey
1 tsp vanilla essence
227g strawberries, roughly chopped
4 small sheets gelatine or 11g sachet powdered gelatine
handful flaked almonds, lightly toasted (optional)
Directions:
- If using gelatine sheets, follow the preparation instructions. Usually it involves something like laying out in a flat dish, covering with cold water (must be cold or the gelatine won’t act properly) and soaking for about 5 minutes until a little expanded and starting to wrinkle. If the sheets are overlapping then move them about from time to time to make sure the water is getting to every surface.
- Meanwhile, put the mascarpone, yoghurt, honey and vanilla essence in a large bowl and beat together until smoothly combined.
- In a small pan, put a couple of tablespoons of water (enough to cover the bottom). If using the gelatine sheets, squeeze them out of their soaking water, or sprinkle the gelatine sachet over the water. Stir over a low heat until the gelatine is dissolved.
- Pour the gelatine liquid over the cream cheese mix, add the strawberries and stir together until well combined.
- Spoon the mixture into 6 glasses, smooth the tops and refrigerate until set.
- If you’re feeling artistic, sprinkle some toasted almond flakes over the top to decorate before serving or add a small whole strawberry (or a quarter of a larger one).
Seems like a great recipe, except greek yogurt is not paleo. A question that I hope does not offend you, do you always deliver the wrong foods for paleo to people?
Dairy is a very grey area, even among Paleo dieters, and is not always considered to be 100% off-limits.
Even some of those considered to be the strongest Paleo advocates, such as Robb Wolf, recommend taking an approach of Paleo+Dairy provided your body doesn’t react badly to dairy to those people who are trying to build significant amounts of muscle. Personally I do have some reaction to most dairy and as a result I don’t have it often, but I do find (as many lactose intolerant people do) that yoghurt doesn’t react with me, therefore I may use yoghurt in my cooking from time to time. Meanwhile my partner is building significant amounts of muscle and has dairy a couple of times a week – essentially he is following a Paleo+dairy diet.
In addition, the Primal crowd (loosely this could be taken as meaning those who follow sites such as Mark Sisson’s) might be considered to follow a paleo diet but they often have a more relaxed attitude to dairy. Since many people in the Primal community obtain recipes from paleo sites, this is why the heading to this recipe includes “(primal)” indicating that this recipe is leaning more to the Primal view of eating than the very strict Paleo approach, due to the inclusion of dairy as a significant ingredient.
The important thing with dairy is to know if your body reacts well or badly to it and also, if you choose to keep dairy in your diet, to perhaps still only use it in moderation. Please see my posts on Paleo and dairy for more information on all of this.
Since so many people who consider themselves to be Paleo still keep periodic dairy use in their diet, whether because they don’t react or because they are going through bulking muscle-building phases, and also because the Primal community also tend to seek out Paleo recipes, I do choose from time to time to include a recipe that includes some dairy on this site. If you do not consume dairy then there is no reason that you should use this recipe – there are plenty of other recipes here that do not contain dairy. In the last 6 months or so I have taken to flagging those with dairy with “primal” in the title to make them more obvious but this won’t necessarily be the case on older recipes.