Behold…cheesecake berry crunch. This recipe is my very favorite dessert from the Trim Healthy Mama book, and the authors gave me special permission to share it with you! Get those taste buds ready…this stuff is SO good.
If you love cheesecake, then this is an amazing, no cook stand in for busy days! It’s really only a few ingredients tossed together: salted roasted almonds for the crunch, frozen berries, and some cream cheese that’s sweetened up a bit. The result is an amazing, flavor and texture bursting experience that’s worthy of fireworks display and declarations of love.
In fact, I think I need to whip up a batch, of this cheesecake berry crunch recipe RIGHT NOW!
The recipe in the book calls for your food processor, and I have used my little 2 cup counter top processor to do this, but I have found that I turn into more of a smushed puree when I use the food processor.
I really love to get the whole berry texture and the little crunchy nuts chunks in there with just a ribbon of creamy cheesecake flavor. Plus, lazy. I just don’t like to mess with appliance washing if it can be helped. So I have found that it’s just as easy to chunk up the almonds with my knife, schmoosh the cream cheese around with them in a bowl with the stevia, and then just stir in the berries.
SUPAH yum. Cold berry-fresh tartness, sweet cream-cheesy, and crunchy-salty…all of my favorite textures and flavors. You can see why this is my favorite Trim Healthy Mama dessert. Now you need to TASTE it for yourself!
Here is your printable cheesecake berry crunch recipe:
- ½ cup dry roasted, salted almonds
- ½ t. vanilla or almond extract
- 2 drops NOW Lemon essential oil or ⅛th t. lemon extract (optional but so good!)
- ¼ cup cream cheese (low fat or regular) or 2 oz. from a block.
- sweetener to taste- I use NuNaturals Stevia extract
- ¾ cups raspberries, strawberries, or berry blend
- Chop almonds by hand into chunks (each almond into about ⅓ if you're detail oriented), or pulse briefly in the food processor.
- If using a food processor: dump chopped almonds into your serving bowl, and add cream cheese, flavorings, and sweetener to the food processor bowl. Cream together, and add to your serving bowl with the almonds.
- If you're doing it by hand: which is my preference, then just leave your almonds on the cutting board, and add your cream cheese, flavorings and sweetener to the serving bowl and cream together.
- Taste and adjust flavors/sweetness.
- Stir chopped almonds, frozen berries, and cream cheese mixture together until well combined.
- Dig in!
Stacy says
May 15, 2013 at 7:24 AMIf I didn’t love you already, now I love you 10xs more. Barry LOVES this. I think my favorite dessert is Cottage Berry Whip though. 🙂
Its_Gwen says
May 15, 2013 at 10:33 PM😀
Kim Brush says
May 15, 2013 at 11:51 AMMy favorite too . . . .
Kathy Walter says
May 15, 2013 at 7:16 PMLove this Gwen! I like to do things by hand too…. cookie bowl oatmeal is super easy with a whisk. No blender needed!
Its_Gwen says
May 15, 2013 at 10:40 PMYes! I do the same thing with cookie bowl oatmeal. 🙂
Jessica says
May 16, 2013 at 10:12 AMSigh…this.is.my.favorite! I may have had it last night for dessert. I also confess that I wait until my kids are in bed so I don’t have to share…shhhh……
Its_Gwen says
May 18, 2013 at 11:37 PMI’ll never tell. 🙂
Carmen says
June 6, 2013 at 2:55 PMI got around 7 grams net carbs when I calculated 1/2 of this recipe. Did I do something wrong, or is it ok to go over the 11 gram limit sometimes for s?
hi_itsgwen says
June 9, 2013 at 5:58 PMYou’d want to subtract the fiber from the carbs to get the net carbs, which would be around 8 grams per cup of berries (and we’re only using 3/4 cup in a full recipe, so 6 grams). Any carbs from your sugar alcohol sweeteners would not be counted.
CherryBlossomMJ says
November 1, 2013 at 5:05 PMOkay, so I got the book and I’m still reading the intro. Planning to look at breakfast meals like you suggested. But I keep coming across “add stevia (or sweetener) to taste”. How in the world do I even know a starting point? I do still have that Stevia In the Raw, but I won’t buy it again like you said with that maltodextrin. I did buy Organic Coconut Sugar and SweatLeaf Drops to try, but again… I’m not sure where to start.
Its_Gwen says
November 9, 2013 at 11:17 PMThere are so many different kinds of sweetening products, and even among the different brands of stevia extract there is a lot of variation in sweetness.
My best advice is to use the stevia extract in tiny amounts in single serving recipes where you can taste as you go. Something like the cheesecake berry crunch or even your cup of coffee. 🙂 That will help you get a feel for how much to use in other things.
Its_Gwen says
November 9, 2013 at 11:19 PMThe ‘blends’ like the Stevia in the Raw are going to use larger amounts of sweetener to achieve a good level of sweet. A true stevia extract is going to be dusting amounts. The liquid stevia like Sweetleaf will use a few drops for a drink, or up to a dropper full for bigger recipes.
Jessica B. says
November 3, 2013 at 9:48 AMThanks, Gwen! I didn’t have any cream cheese so I mixed it up in a bowl with your Luscious Lemon Yogurt and a few drops of Lemon Extract – SOOOOOOO good!!!
Its_Gwen says
November 9, 2013 at 11:06 PMOh, deliciousness!
suzanne says
January 17, 2014 at 11:52 PMI was running around all morning and had to get ready for an afternoon shift at work. Not much time but I whipped this up for lunch and it was fantastic! Thanks
Its_Gwen says
January 24, 2014 at 2:30 PMOh, this is one of my favorites. 🙂
Mary Adams says
January 30, 2014 at 6:42 PMOkay so this might be a silly question, but is this classified as an S snack?
Naomi says
March 25, 2014 at 10:04 PMThe first time I had this I used a blender…it was a huge hassle, and I had to add lots of almond milk…but it turned into ice cream! Delicious! ! I now have a food processor and made it creamy on purpose. My children are convinced it IS ice cream! So yummy!
Cheryl Horner says
March 30, 2014 at 12:57 PMI have been looking at the lemon essential oil for sale on the internet and it appears to be non-edible. What did I miss?
Its_Gwen says
April 3, 2014 at 1:58 PMI use NOW lemon oil, which I feel very comfortable using in these types of amounts in foods. If you’ll look up their essential oil FAQ, you can read more about their testing and processing methods. They match the higher $$$$ companies for purity.
NOW does not have the “internal use” focus of other EO companies, but their oils are rigorously tested for purity. I actually respect that they don’t give usage recommendations on the packaging, since that leaves it up to the consumer to do their own research & speak with a professional.
Many eo’s are toxic, even in their purest form. So there are just very few that I’d consider using internally. This is one of them. 🙂
Rene' says
April 24, 2014 at 12:18 PMHi Gwen, just wanted to let you know that I work for a local health food store and we sell the NOW essential oils. We called the company to ask about using the oils internally. They said that if the essential oil is from something that is a food (for example, lemon or basil) then taking it internally is fine in small amounts. 🙂
And I agree with you, they are a great company, and one that I trust. I use many of their EO’s and love them!
Its_Gwen says
April 25, 2014 at 12:37 PMGreat to know, Rene! 🙂 I appreciate that their company encourages personal research and professional counsel on using eo’s internally.
Kaylyn says
May 14, 2014 at 9:59 PMGood idea! I blended all the ingredients in a blender and added a bit of heavy whipping cream. It WAS like ice cream.
Hayley says
April 1, 2014 at 12:11 AMThanks so much for sharing, Gwen! Made this for the first time today (only been doing THM for a couple of weeks) and totally loved it! Will become a dessert fave (and possibly a naughty brekky!) Thankyou again for all you do for us THM’s 🙂
Kaylyn says
May 14, 2014 at 9:56 PMThanks for sharing this recipe! I made it for dessert just now, using slightly less than 3/4 cup frozen strawberries and ~1 TBSP stewed rhubarb. I used 2 packets of Truvia for the sweetener, and it was delicious.
Its_Gwen says
May 18, 2014 at 12:47 AMOh, I LOVE rhubarb with strawberries!
Amanda S. says
August 6, 2014 at 12:57 PMCould I use pecans instead? Just raw, maybe I’ll warm them up in the oven and sprinkle some salt on them. Just making sure there’s not a reason most of their recipes have almonds and not other nuts? I looooove pecans!! Thanks!
Its_Gwen says
September 3, 2014 at 11:17 PMPecans would work nicely in this. 🙂 Toast them a bit for a good crunch factor, and maybe stir them in last. Almonds are just easy to come by for most of us. 🙂
Joan Marie says
December 8, 2014 at 9:53 PMSo this looks delicious, but I’m allergic to nuts. Any suggestions on what could be substituted to give some crunch, but remain on plan? Usually, I substitute sunflower seeds where nuts are included, but just don’t think that sounds at all appetizing….
Thanks!
Gwen says
December 12, 2014 at 11:43 PMCan you do coconut? Try it with toasted coconut! There’s a wonderful coconut crunch recipe here: https://gwens-nest.com/sugar-free-coconut-caramel-crunch/
Kim says
January 9, 2015 at 1:18 AMHi Gwen, I LOVE this recipe! I have only had it for dessert and I usually get three servings out of it. Can I really have the whole thing if I am eating it for breakfast?!?! A half of a cup of almonds and a 1/4 of a cup of cream cheese isn’t too much fat? Just curious, because, well, it’s my favorite! 🙂
Gwen says
January 12, 2015 at 12:22 PMYou can! I would probably not choose this every day, just because I like to switch things up and not stay so heavy with my S meals and snacks. I try not to use lots of almonds. I have this once or twice a month. 🙂
Liz says
March 31, 2015 at 12:16 PMHey Gwen, I was curious, if I wanted to make a huge batch, would I store it in the freezer, or in the fridge? Wouldn’t it lose the cold crunchiness? Thanks!
Gwen Brown says
March 31, 2015 at 4:29 PMI think it’s best made fresh. That way you get the creamy and icy and crunchy all together. If it’s pre-frozen, it would be more like a chunky popsicle. 🙂
shayla says
May 2, 2016 at 12:01 AMFantastic Dessert! I’m new to THM and can’t believe this decadent treat is something I can have! Absolutedly delicious!