Gluten-free Snickers cheesecake
Today I have a recipe for a gluten-free Snickers cheesecake for you! And I know you are probably thinking right now “uhm Karlijn, Snickers are not low FODMAP!” That’s true because Snickers contain lactose. But I write this blog in collaboration with LactoJoy and with the pills from LactoJoy you CAN enjoy this cheesecake!
LactoJoy is a German brand that makes lactase pills. Lactase pills help people with a lactose intolerance to digest lactose. When you have a lactose intolerance, you don’t produce enough of the enzym lactase. Because of that milk sugar can only be partially digested and this gives problems. Lactase pills contain the enzym lactase. If you take a pill together with a meal that contains lactose, the lactase in the pill ensures that the lactose is broken down and digested. Like this, you can eat something with lactose without troubles!
LactoJoy asked me “Karlijn, if you could eat everything with lactose. What would you make?” My first thought was a Snickers cheesecake. Cheesecake is my favourite cake ever and I am crazy about Snickers (the combination of peanuts and chocolate is just perfect!). This cheesecake recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction had been on my list for a long time. And if I could eat that cake with a lactase pill, that would be amazing! I adapted the recipe a little, turned it into a gluten-free Snickers cheesecake and lowered the amount of lactose in it.
I have been a fan of lactase pills for years. Especially when I want to eat a dessert in a restaurant or drink a cappuccino somewhere, it is perfect. LactoJoy is one of my favourite brands. Their pills are the strongest I have found until now, 14.500 FCC (click here to read more about what FCC’s are). Most lactase pills in the Netherlands contain around 2.300 – 4.500 FCC and for me that is not strong enough. I often have to take 3 pills at a time to eat a piece of cake with lactose without problems. That is a hassle and also expensive. When I use LactoJoy, I usually only need half a pill and they work perfectly (click here for an extensive review of LactoJoy that I wrote earlier).
And I have good news: you can try the LactoJoy pills for free now! Through this link you can order a free sample package. If you are enthusiastic about the pills and you want to order them yourself, you can do this through their website (this goes via the German version of Amazon)
I can definitely recommend to test the pills! For many people lactase pills work really well and that gives you a lot more options. Such as having a piece of this cheesecake 😉
So, I made a Snickers cheesecake. An ultimate sinner Snickers cheesecake. A cheesecake with a gluten-free Oreo bottom. A peanut butter cheesecake layer and a chocolate cheesecake layer. Topped with salted caramel sauce and pieces of Snickers. I start to drool again when I am writing this. It is a heavy cake, but it is so so good. If you like chocolate and peanut butter, this is YOUR cake. And if you combine it with a lactase pill, you can enjoy it without problems as a FODMAPper.
You can make this cheesecake in two ways:
- Version 1: Use a lactose-free version of all the ingredients that contain lactose (such as the cream cheese). The Snickers will be the only ingredient containing lactose then. Take half a LactoJoy pill when you eat a piece of cake and you can enjoy it without problems. This is the best option if you are quite sensitive to lactose.
- Version 2:Â Use the normal version of all ingredients that contain lactose. The cake will contain quite a lot of lactose. Take an entire LactoJoy pill when eating a piece of the cake and you can also enjoy it without problems.
Note: it is important to test your own tolerance level. For some people half a pill with a piece of cake is enough, while others might need to take an entire pill. I suggest trying this recipe after the elimination phase. Then you can take your time to test how lactase pills work for you. Have a maximum of 1 piece of cake at a time. Because the cake is quite heavy and contains a lot of sugar, larger quantities can give problems.
Time to share the recipe with you!
What do you need (for 12 pieces)
This recipe is adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction. All credits for this amazing recipe go to her. I adapted the recipe slightly to make it gluten-free and almost lactose-free.Â
For the bottom
- 18 gluten-free (and low FODMAP) Oreo’s
- 60 g (1/4 cup) butter, melted
- 4 mini Snickers (make sure you use the original brand, other brands might contain sneaky FODMAPs)
- A 25 cm cake tin (10 inch)
For the cheesecake
- 850 g (30 ounces) lactose-free cream cheese, at room temperature
- 200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 125 g (1/3 cup) smooth peanut butter (don’t use natural peanut butter, this is too thin)
- 110 g (4 ounces) dark chocolate, melted
For the topping
- 200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 90 g (6 tbsp) butter
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) heavy cream
- 1 tsp salt
How to make the gluten-free Snickers cheesecake
- Start with melting the chocolate. It needs to cool down a bit, so it is best to start with this. You can melt the chocolate au-bain marie or melt it in the microwave. Just heat it in short bursts of 30 seconds until the chocolate has completely melted.
- The bottom. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350F). Put the Oreo’s into a foodprocessor and pulse until you have fine crumbs. Melt the butter in the microwave in bursts of 30 seconds or in a pan on low heat. Pour the butter on top of the Oreo crumbs and stir together. Cover the baking tin with baking parchment and press the Oreo crumbs into the bottom with the back of a spoon. Bake the bottom in the oven for 10 minutes. Chop the 4 Snickers in pieces and divide them over the warm bottom after baking.
- The filling. Mix the cream cheese together with the sugar using a mixer. Mix until soft and creamy, for about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and then the eggs, one by one. Mix every time you add an egg. Don’t overmix after you have added the eggs.
- Divide the batter in half. Beat the peanut butter into half of the mixture and the melted chocolate into the other half.
- Divide the two batters over the bottom of the cheesecake. This doesn’t have to be done in a fancy way. Use a knife to swirl the two flavours together.
- Bake the cheesecake for 55-70 minutes in the oven until the center is almost set*. Turn the oven off and open the door slightly. Leave the cheesecake in the oven for 1 hour. Then remove it from the oven and leave to cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or (even better) overnight.
- The salted caramel sauce. Put the sugar into a pan on medium heat. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon. In the beginning this is a bit strange because you are stirring in a pan with sugar, but you have to be patient. After a while the sugar will form clumps and melt into a thick brown liquid. Make sure to continue to stir. Otherwise the sugar might burn.
- Once the sugar is completely melted, immediately add the butter. Be careful because the mixture will bubble.
- Stir the butter into the caramel until it has melted completely. You can best use a whisk to stir.
- Carefully pour the cream into the caramel. The mixture will start to bubble again because the cream is colder than the caramel.
- Leave the caramel to simmer for 1 minute and then turn off the heat. Stir 1 tl of sea salt into the caramel. Leave the salted caramel to cool down completely.
- Top the cheesecake with salted caramel sauce, chopped Snickers and optionally some chopped peanuts.
*Sally’s uses a water bath in her recipe. She wraps the baking tin in aluminium foil and puts the baking tin into a large roasting pan with a 1-inch layer of water. This can help to avoid cracks in the cheesecake. I find this too much of a hassle, so I skipped the water bath.
Enjoy!
Will you let me know if you make the gluten-free snickers cheesecake? I would love it if you would share your creations with me using the hashtag #karlijnskitchen on Instagram or by tagging me at @karlijnskitchen.
The first piece never comes out perfectly 😛 Are there more people with this issue?
PrintSnickers cheesecake
- Total Time: 1 hour 55 mins
- Servings: 12 1x
Description
A recipe for a gluten-free Snickers cheesecake. And if you take a lactase pill this heavenly cheesecake is also ok for people who eat low FODMAP or have a lactose-intolerance. A bottom of gluten-free Oreo’s, chocolate and peanut butter cheesecake and salted caramel sauce. It doesn’t get any better!
Ingredients
For the bottom
- 18 gluten-free (and low FODMAP) Oreo’s
- 60 g (1/4 cup) butter, melted
- 4 mini Snickers (make sure you use the original brand, other brands might contain sneaky FODMAPs)
- A 25 cm cake tin (10 inch)
For the cheesecake
- 850 g (30 ounces) lactose-free cream cheese, at room temperature
- 200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 125 g (1/3 cup) smooth peanut butter (don’t use natural peanut butter, this is too thin)
- 110 g (4 ounces) dark chocolate, melted
For the topping
- 200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 90 g (6 tbsp) butter
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) heavy cream
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Start with melting the chocolate. It needs to cool down a bit, so it is best to start with this. You can melt the chocolate au-bain marie or melt it in the microwave. Just heat it in short bursts of 30 seconds until the chocolate has completely melted.
- The bottom. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350F). Put the Oreo’s into a foodprocessor and pulse until you have fine crumbs. Melt the butter in the microwave in bursts of 30 seconds or in a pan on low heat. Pour the butter on top of the Oreo crumbs and stir together. Cover the baking tin with baking parchment and press the Oreo crumbs into the bottom with the back of a spoon. Bake the bottom in the oven for 10 minutes. Chop the 4 Snickers in pieces and divide them over the warm bottom after baking.
- The filling. Mix the cream cheese together with the sugar using a mixer. Mix until soft and creamy, for about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and then the eggs, one by one. Mix every time you add an egg. Don’t overmix after you have added the eggs.
- Divide the batter in half. Beat the peanut butter into half of the mixture and the melted chocolate into the other half.
- Divide the two batters over the bottom of the cheesecake. This doesn’t have to be done in a fancy way. Use a knife to swirl the two flavours together.
- Bake the cheesecake for 55-70 minutes in the oven until the center is almost set*. Turn the oven off and open the door slightly. Leave the cheesecake in the oven for 1 hour. Then remove it from the oven and leave to cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or (even better) overnight.
- The salted caramel sauce. Put the sugar into a pan on medium heat. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon. In the beginning this is a bit strange because you are stirring in a pan with sugar, but you have to be patient. After a while the sugar will form clumps and melt into a thick brown liquid. Make sure to continue to stir. Otherwise the sugar might burn.
- Once the sugar is completely melted, immediately add the butter. Be careful because the mixture will bubble.
- Stir the butter into the caramel until it has melted completely. You can best use a whisk to stir.
- Carefully pour the cream into the caramel. The mixture will start to bubble again because the cream is colder than the caramel.
- Leave the caramel to simmer for 1 minute and then turn off the heat. Stir 1 tl of sea salt into the caramel. Leave the salted caramel to cool down completely.
- Top the cheesecake with salted caramel sauce, chopped Snickers and optionally some chopped peanuts.
Notes
*Sally’s uses a water bath in her recipe. She wraps the baking tin in aluminium foil and puts the baking tin into a large roasting pan with a 1-inch layer of water. This can help to avoid cracks in the cheesecake. I find this too much of a hassle, so I skipped the water bath.
- Prep Time: 45 mins
- Cook Time: 70 mins