When I first moved to Hawaii, I was amazed at the beautiful new fruits and flavors this tropical island had to offer.  Fruits and vegetables come in shapes, colors and textures that were beyond imagination and usually with impossible names to pronounce.  My favorite being lilikoi, the Hawaiian word for the exotic and native passionfruit.  Lilikoi is incredibly sweet yet tart at the same time and is usually made into butter, syrup or cheesecake.  As the fruit ripens it begins to shrivel up, but once you slice it open a beautiful and fragrant is revealed.  Lilikoi comes in both yellow and purple varieties and is about the size of a small lemon, although the yellow variety is generally larger.

One of the houses we lived at recently in Hawaii had a huge lilikoi tree!  As the beautiful fruit would come into bloom, I would always look forward to picking those exotic fruits, although Libby the dog sometimes got to them before I did!  We love making lilikoi drinks or even margaritas, as seen in our Fourth of July feast.  I usually make them without adding sweetener since lilikoi is so sweet by itself.

As someone who cannot eat much sugar, I always dream of the fabulous butters, goat cheeses, syrups, pancakes and cheesecakes that the Hawaiians create with lilikoi.  At coffee shops or farmers markets, I always want to purchase these beautiful pastries and creations, but I can’t handle the sugar.  So when I found lilikoi at the market, I knew it had to be transformed into a luscious cheesecake!  I wanted this cheesecake to be light and summery, not requiring much baking and I decided to keep the filling raw so that the lilikoi flavor could really shine through.

In keeping with the tropical flavors, I used macadamia nuts and coconut to make a grain and gluten free crust and topped the cheesecake with fluffy whipped cream and toasted coconut flakes.  This lilikoi cheesecake is grain, gluten and refined sugar free and makes a fabulous summer dessert.  The lilikoi layer is light and almost custard like, instead of a traditional rich cheesecake.  As you bite through the layers, you will go from a crunchy nut based crust to a fluffy sweet and creamy filling.  I hope you enjoy this incredible dessert as much as we did all week, savoring each tropical bite!

Grain, Gluten and Refined Sugar Free Lilikoi Cheesecake with Macadamia Nut Crust

Tropical lilikoi or passionfruit is used to sweeten this luscious and light cheesecake.  Made with a nut and coconut crust, this lilikoi cheesecake is grain, gluten and refined sugar free.

Ingredients

Grain Free Macadamia Nut Crust

• 1 cup macadamia nuts
• 1/2 cup cashews
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 3 tbsp raw honey
• 3 tbsp coconut oil

Lilikoi Cheesecake Filling

• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup full fat coconut milk, separated
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 1/4 cup fresh lilikoi juice, seeds removed
• 1 tbsp gelatin, grass-fed preferably

Garnish

• 8 oz heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut flakes, lightly toasted

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 in springform pan with coconut oil.
• Make the lilikoi juice by slicing fruit in half and use your hands to press the juice and seeds out of the skins.  Use a strainer to strain the seeds and set aside the juice.
• Using a food processor, pulse all crust ingredients together until the mixture is crumbly.  Be careful not to over blend into a nut butter.
• Spoon nut crus into the bottom of pan, using your fingers or a spatula to press into a smooth top.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the top of crust begins to turn golden brown.  Cool completely.
• While the crust is cooling, add half the coconut milk to a small sauce pan and sprinkle gelatin on top.  Set aside for 10 minutes to let the gelatin bloom.
• Slowly heat the coconut milk and gelatin mixture and stir until all the gelatin is dissolved.
• In a mixing bowl, blend together all cheesecake filling ingredients including the gelatin mixture.
• Pour on top of the cooled crust and refrigerate for a 6 hours.
• When ready to serve, use a hand blender to whip cream until soft peaks begin to form. Spread the whipping cream on top of the cheesecake and sprinkle with toasted coconut.
• Slice and serve.

This & That

• The lilikoi seeds are delicious with yogurt parfaits, but they are quite sweet and tangy, so a little goes a long way.
• The cheesecake can be made the day or night before serving as it holds up well in the refrigerator, just top with whipped cream when ready to serve.
• Lilikoi by itself is very sweet, so I only added a little bit of raw honey to this cheesecake.