Chocolate Coconut Almond Joy Cheesecake (Low Carb, Keto, GF)

My husband LOVES Almond Joy chocolate bars.  If he had to pick only one candy to eat for the rest of his life, this would definitely be his pick.

The combination of the creaminess of the coconut with the mild saltiness of the almond and the sweetness of the chocolate is, in his opinion, the perfect treat.  I, personally, have never really been a big fan of coconut.  I'm not sure why, but I would take the combination of caramel, peanut butter and chocolate ANY DAY over coconut, chocolate and almonds.  However, since it is his birthday and not mine, I decided to put my own desires to the side.

In order to make this recipe fall into my low carb lifestyle, I had to come up with a low carb option for the crust.  This was relatively easy as most cheesecake crusts consist of some form of ground up cookie mixed with butter.  Since I was aiming for an Almond Joy flavor, I decided to use ground almond meal to replace the cookie and combine it with butter.

I pressed this mixture firmly into a spring form pan and placed in the oven for 15 minutes.  As the crust was baking, I moved on to the next step, making the cheesecake mixture.

Recently, I discovered a new brand of cream cheese called Arla.  What's so special about Arla?  For starters, it has no added hormones, artificial flavors or preservatives.  The ingredient list is: cream, skim milk, salt and cheese cultures.  For those of you who know me, the fact that I can read and identify every ingredient on the list, is a huge plus!

I decided to compare these ingredients with Philadelphia brand cream cheese.  According to the Philadelphia cream cheese website, the list of ingredients are as follows: Pasteurized Nonfat Milk and Milkfat, Whey Protein Concentrate, Cheese Culture, Salt, Whey, Stabilizers (Xanthan and/or Carob Bean and/or Guar Gums), Sorbic Acid as a Preservative, Vitamin A Palmitate.

How can a product be sold with the words "and/or"?  Seriously, does the company know what is in their product or not?  Anyway, let me step down from my soap box and get back to the recipe!

So, I simply took 4 packages of Arla, added some stevia, coconut cream and eggs and a dash of vanilla and combined all these ingredients.  Next, I poured the mixture onto the crust and returned it to the oven to bake.

To finish off the Almond Joy cheesecake, I melted some stevia sweetened Lily's dark chocolate chips in the remainder of the coconut milk.  I then took some unsweetened flaked coconut, and put them in the toaster oven for about 1 minute in order to get a nice, golden brown color.

Once the cheesecake had cooked and had cooled, I spread the chocolate mixture over the cheesecake and sprinkled the toasted coconut on the top.  And there you have it ladies and gentlemen...The Chocolate Coconut Almond Joy Cheesecake was born (just in time for my husband's birthday!)

Chocolate Coconut Almond Joy Cheesecake (Low Carb, Keto, GF)

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5 from 2 reviews

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I can not believe how easy this recipe was to create. It only took a couple of minutes to prepare this  wonderfully sophisticated cheesecake. Low carb, keto and gluten free! 

• Total Time: 1 hours 45 minutes
• Yield: 16 slices 1x

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 28 oz cream cheese (I used 4 packages of Arla which come in 7 oz sizes)
• 13.5 oz coconut cream, divided (I use Trader Joe's)
• 1 ½ cups almond flour
• 100 g Lily's chocolate chips
• 1 ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon stevia (divided)
• 3 eggs
• ¼ unsweetened coconut, shredded and toasted
• 3 tbsp melted butter, unsalted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ⅛ tsp salt

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Instructions

Making the crust:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F.  Grease a 9 inch spring form pan and wrap the bottom in aluminum foil.  Place melted butter, almond flour and 1 tablespoon stevia in a bowl.  Combine with a fork.  Firmly press mixture into base of greased spring form pan and place in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until it is beginning to brown.  Pull out of the oven and let rest.

Preparing the Cheesecake:

1. While crust is baking, combine cream cheese, 7 oz of coconut cream and 1 cup of stevia in a large mixing bowl.  With a handheld mixer, beat ingredients until well incorporated.  
2. Add the eggs and the vanilla and continue to mix for 1-2 minutes.
3. Prepare water bath by taking a roasting pan and filling it with ½ inch of water.
4. Pour the cream cheese mixture into the pan.  Place spring form pan in water bath.
5. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F and place cheesecake into oven.  
6. Bake cheesecake for 70-90 minutes.  Cheesecake is done when the middle jiggles slightly.
7. Turn off oven and open oven door slightly and let cheesecake cool in the oven for approximately 1 hour.

Making the Chocolate Ganache and Toasted Coconut:

1. Prepare chocolate mixture by combining 6.5 oz of coconut milk with Lily's chocolate chips. Place in  microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring in between and continuing to cook until chips are melted.
2. Once melted, add ¼ c stevia and ⅛th teaspoon salt.  Stir and set aside to cool.
3. Place coconut in toaster oven and toast approximately 1 minute.  Watch coconut carefully as it can burn easily.
4. Once cheesecake and chocolate mixture has cooled, pour chocolate over cheesecake and top with toasted coconut.  Place in fridge overnight.

Notes

• make sure you use coconut cream and not coconut milk or cream of coconut
• feel free to replace Lily's chocolate chips with regular chocolate chips but be aware that this will change the nutritional value of the cheesecake.

• Author: Cat
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hours 30 minutes
• Category: Dessert
• Cuisine: Cheesecake

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 slice
• Calories: 323
• Sugar: 2.6 g
• Fat: 29.1 g
• Carbohydrates: 6.8 g
• Fiber: 3.1 g
• Protein: 6.1 g