Brain Boosting Strawberry Banana Cheesecake

Brain Boosting Strawberry Banana Cheesecake.

 

It’s hard to believe that something that can taste this good can actually be good for your brain? The main reason is because the essential fats that are in the cheesecake.

There is none of the usual cream with loads of added sugar in this cheesecake, and it’s not sickly sweet which you sometimes find with cheesecakes.

Instead, I have used cottage cheese and natural greek yoghurt with bananas and fresh strawberry’s for the filling, and nuts, flaxseeds and no-sugar oatcakes for the base with healthy coconut oil.

I have used Rice Malt Syrup for the sweetener, instead of regular white sugar, to reduce the fructose content in the dish. Ideally,  using no sweetener would be healthier but I don’t think it would taste as good. But feel free to experiment with the sweetener, you might find that you can add less, keeping to an all banana cheesecake instead of using strawberries might enable you to do this, or use extra sweet strawberries.  You can substitute the Rice malt Syrup for honey if you prefer. You could also replace it with Xylitol if you are diabetic. It’s still quite early in the strawberry season here, so this would be a good one to make in the summer when the strawberries are super sweet.

This is a great dish to make with the kids because it is so easy to make or for yourself and friends and family if you are partial to a little cheesecake but don’t like the calories and fat that you would normally find in a cheesecake. You could make it for an after dinner treat, or for a special occasion, or just because you would like some delicious cheesecake. It is suitable for vegetarians, it is wheat and egg free and can be frozen to eat later.

I hope you enjoy making it and please let me know how you get on?, I would love to hear your versions of this recipe 🙂

 

Brain Boosting Strawberry Banana Cheesecake

Recipe

Ingredients (Serves 8-10 people)

For the Base

100g Rough Oatcakes (I used Nairns)

100g unsalted nuts (I used walnuts, but you can use mixed nuts cashews, hazelnuts, which you prefer)

60g coconut oil or butter

1 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds

1 tablespoon of Brown Rice Syrup

For the Filling

2 Large Bananas

150g fresh strawberries

375g (13oz) plain cottage cheese

300g (10 1/2 oz) natural greek yoghurt

Extra strawberries and mint leaves to garnish. (optional)

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees C/325 F/Gas 3.

Blend the oatcakes with the coconut oil, flaxseeds, nuts and brown rice syrup until it looks like rough breadcrumbs.

Grease an 8-inch (20cm) flan dish with removable bottom, or cake tin with removable bottom. Add the base mixture to the dish and press down firmly and evenly in the bottom and bake in the oven for approx 10 minutes. Once cooked set aside to cool.

Blend together all the ingredients for the filling until it’s smooth in consistency.

Pour the filling over the cooked base and cook in the oven for approx 1 hour, or until the top is firm to touch.

Allow the cheesecake to cool and once cool, place some extra strawberries on top and garnish with some peppermint leaves.

This recipe was adapted from Patrick Holford and Fiona McDonald Joyce’s book Smart Food for Smart Kids (Banana Cheesecake). Photographs and styling by Natasha Rushton