SunButter Gluten Free Mini Cheesecakes

SunButter Sunflower butter is a great replacement for nut butters if you have a nut sensitivity. The other day my husband made a chocolate (almond) milk shake with bananas and sunflower butter. That inspired me to make this cheesecake. I used SunButter Sunflower Butter in this recipe. I was introduced to the product at the Gluten Free and Allergen Friendly Expo in February. You can visit the company’s website to see where to find it in your area. Target stores in my area carry SunButter.

I started with my mom’s mini cheesecake recipe and modified it to be gluten free. For the crust I used a package of gluten free crunchy chocolate chip cookies. I added sunflower seed butter to the batter as well as a garnish on top as I served the dessert. The sunflower butter added a subtle salty and caramel flavor to accompany the cheesecake and chocolate crust. The salt and sweet offset one another perfectly.

Crust Base Ingredients:

1 Cup crumbled cookie crumbs (I used gluten free crunchy chocolate chip cookies)

3-4 TBSP melted butter

Instructions:

Combine 3 TBSP melted butter with 1 cup of cookie crumbs

Add extra tbsp of melted butter if needed to moisten crumbs

Add to foil lined muffin tin (6) and press down to form a solid crust

Filling Base Ingredients:

8 OZ Cream Cheese

1/3 Cup sugar

1 Egg

1 TSP Vanilla Extract

1/4 Cup Sun Butter Sunflower Butter (No Sugar Added)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Bring the egg and cream cheese to room temperature.

Cream the cream cheese in a stand up mixer then add the remaining ingredients until incorporated.

Add the filling on top of the crust and bake for 15 minutes or until set.

Garnish:

Add sunflower butter and fresh fruit on top at time of serving. Cut in half for a pretty presentation…perhaps sprinkle a few extra pieces of fruit on the plate as well.

Recipe Variations:

Use a different cookie as a base – perhaps shortbread

Sprinkle sunflower seeds on top for garnish

Add sunflower seeds to the crust to layer the flavor through each level

Use low fat cream cheese

Use a different variety of SunButter