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My mom says that maybe I should branch out and make something non-peppermint for those of you who don’t like my favorite Christmas flavor. (It was an admirable sentiment on her part, considering how much she liked this Peppermint Delight.) Tough luck – today is peppermint, and tomorrow is peppermint (in the form of some easy Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes that do not taste healthy. at all.), and Monday is an entire roundup of peppermint recipes from me and my blogging buddies! After that, I’ll move on. I promise.
This yummy dessert is versatile. It can be an easy two-step no-bake peppermint cheesecake…or you can get all fancy and whisk up some cream real quick and make a peppermint delight by topping it with whipped cream, chopped sugar-free peppermints, and 85% dark chocolate shavings. Either way is amazing. With the addition of a whipped cream layer, it’s a richer dessert than I normally make, but hey, it’s Christmas. Merry Christmas, everybody. 😉
To be dreadfully honest, I prefer my peppermint cheesecake to be baked. (Hey – I have a recipe for that! Who knew?) However, as you may have noticed recently, I’ve started dabbling with no-bake cheesecakes because they’re not as scary for the inexperienced baker or the person who’s super busy. There are recipes for plain and Frosted Lime no-bake cheesecakes in my new cookbook, and I posted a No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake to my blog this fall.
I rarely use almond flour because a) it’s outrageously expensive, and b) many of my readers have nut allergies, but almond flour is my favorite flour for no-bake crusts. Never fear! If you have a nut allergy, try adding some cocoa powder to the nut-free crust from this No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake, then substitute carton (not canned) coconut milk for the almond milk in this Peppermint Delight recipe, and you’re good to go!
What do you think? Should peppermint cheesecake be baked, or are you willing to try an alternative? Let me know in the comments below!
As always, check out the Notes section of the recipe for extra info. Check out the links in and below the recipe to see the products I use and recommend. Some of the links included in the recipe and blog post are affiliate links, which means that if you make purchases through these links, I make a small commission to help defray the costs of running this blog (at no extra charge to you). Thanks for your help!
You may also enjoy:
- Starting THM
- my recipe index
- my recipes grouped by fuel type, allergy info, and theme
- Christmas-themed recipes
- all my peppermint recipes
- 1 c. almond flour
- 3 T. cocoa powder
- 2 tsp. THM Super Sweet Blend
- -
- 3 T. salted butter, melted
- 2 8-oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened*
- 2 T. THM Gentle Sweet (or more, to taste)
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ - ¾ tsp. Watkins Peppermint Extract
- 3/16 tsp. (6 doonks) THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder
- 4 drops red food coloring (optional)
- -
- ¾ c. heavy whipping cream
- ½ c. unsweetened almond milk
- -
- 2 T. very hot tap water
- 1 T. Knox gelatin**
- Homemade sweetened whipped cream
- Chopped sugar-free peppermints
- Grated 85% dark chocolate
- For the crust, whisk the dry ingredients. Add the melted butter and mix with a hand mixer. Press the crust mixture into a greased 8"x8" pan and set aside.
- For the peppermint filling, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sweeteners, vanilla, food coloring, and ½ tsp. peppermint extract. Beat until smooth. Taste and add more Gentle Sweet and/or an additional ¼ tsp. peppermint extract if desired. Add the cream and almond milk while beating and beat until smooth and thick.
- Whisk the gelatin into the hot water to dissolve and immediately add it to the peppermint filling. Start beating the filling immediately so the gelatin doesn't clump. Beat until smooth. Pour the filling over the crust, then cover and refrigerate overnight to firm up.
- You can either eat this as a no-bake peppermint cheesecake, or you can top it with whipped cream and garnish with chopped sugar-free peppermints and dark chocolate for a decadent peppermint delight.
**If using a beef gelatin such as THM Just Gelatin or Great Lakes brand, add an extra ¾ tsp. I find that Knox gelatin dissolves a bit better, so I prefer it for this recipe.
To make this recipe nut free, you could try adding 2-3 T. cocoa powder to the crust recipe from my No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake and replace the unsweetened almond milk with carton (not canned) coconut milk. Most people with nut allergies can handle coconut products, but check with your doctor first to make sure.
Suggested products:
- Almond Flour (iHerb)
- THM Super Sweet Blend
- THM Gentle Sweet
- Watkin’s Pure Peppermint Extract
- THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder
- Knox plain bulk gelatin
- Xylitol-Sweetened Peppermints
Hi Brianna, this sounds so yummy. I too love peppermint. Have you ever tried toasting your almond flour before using in a no-bake crust? I think it elevates the flavor.
No, I haven’t!
Nutrition information?
I don’t have that calculated for that recipe yet, I’m sorry. You could try a site like MyFitnessPal. I’ve calculated nutrition for my newer recipes and hope to someday have time to add it to the older recipes too.
I don’t see any infor for how many carbs , etc
It looks amazing but I am counting my carbs and I need this info
Thanks
I’m sorry; I don’t have nutrition info calculated for my older recipes, but MyFitnessPal is a super easy way to find nutrition facts! If you sign up for an account, under the Recipes tab there’s a place where you can just add the link to a recipe and it will pull up the ingredients for you to confirm, then generate the nutritional info! 🙂
I just made this and it was creamy going into the dish, will it firm up? This is my first time working with gelatin in a recipe. 😀 Thank you for making peppermint desserts! I love them! After I eat this one, I am trying the cupcakes.
It should firm up just fine! That’s what the gelatin does. 🙂
This is yummy! I just made this today, and tested a little piece:) The only things I changed were: I doubled the amount of Super Sweet in the crust, I used THM Gluccie instead of Knox ( I just added more like you suggested), and I used green food coloring because I didn’t have red, haha. The cream and milk lighten up the heaviness of the cream cheese and make it fluffy. This is definitely a recipe I will make again. BY THE WAY I received you cookbook, LOVE the layout!
Woohoo! So glad you like the delight *and* the cookbook! (PS – I’m guessing you used THM Just Gelatin, not gluccie, right?)
oops yes THM Gelatin
If I wanted to use Peppermint essential oil in place of Watkins peppermint extract, how much would you suggest?
I’m afraid I don’t have much experience in cooking with essential oils, so I really don’t know! I know they’re super strong, so I’d start with a drop or two, taste, and adjust.
Any ideas how to make this dairy free?
I’m afraid I’m not very familiar with substituting for dairy, and this dessert contains so much that I really wouldn’t know where to start. I’m sorry!
I don’t have any Gentle Sweet on hand. Is there another sweetener I could substitute? Thank you so much for all the yummy recipes.
You can substitute your favorite low-glycemic sweetener to taste. 🙂 I don’t recommend using all stevia in this recipe because I’ve found that it doesn’t pair the best with peppermint and chocolate. I recommend something not so concentrated, so xylitol, Truvia, or Pyure would be good options. You can use this sweetener conversion chart to help you in converting among different sweeteners: http://www.trimhealthymama.com/main-home/sweetener-conversion-chart/
Could you use half and half in place of heavy cream?
I’m afraid it wouldn’t set up correctly (the cream whips up stiff, but the half and half won’t). 🙁
Okay. Thanks. 🙂
But since you call for almond milk and cream together in almost equal amounts, added at the same time, would it work to sub half and half for *both*? I mean, you’re essentially making lower-carb half & half there. Or is the heavy cream supposed to be whipped when you put it in?
Also, when you’re suggesting a way to make a nut-free crust for this, your link says No-Bake Peppermint Cheesecake, rather than Pumpkin 🙂
To my knowledge, it’s still different since I don’t think half-and-half has the ability to thicken as it is whipped (never tried it though, so I could be wrong!). The heavy cream in this recipe is not whipped before you add it, but it does thicken when the entire recipe is mixed and helps thicken the delight. I can’t recommend substituting half-and-half for the cream and almond milk, but if you want to experiment, feel free!
And thanks for letting me know about the typo!
why do you recommend carton (not canned) coconut milk? is there a difference between the two?
When I say “carton coconut milk”, I’m referring to the kind that has nutritional info similar to almond milk (very minimal fat). This can be used in any fuel setting for THM. Canned coconut milk is much higher in fat and much thicker, so it can’t always be interchanged for almond milk, a) because it may change the THM fuel type, and b) because it’s so different in texture. You probably could interchange the two in a lot of recipes with minimal disasters, but carton coconut milk is safer since it’s very similar to carton almond milk. 🙂
This looks so delish… I love peppermint but I haven’t tried any of it yet… I sent you an email but not sure if you received it…
Hi Rachel! I sent you an email, so hopefully you’ll get it. 🙂