I was watching Paula Deen the other day and her son was on her show and made stuffed strawberries with cream cheese and powdered sugar. I made them, too, as a gluten free sugar-free recipe! I can’t think of anything that I would enjoy more on a hot summer day, and did! I had so much fun testing this recipe using different sweeteners. I didn’t care for them with agave but enjoyed them with powdered sugar and stevia. Surprisingly, I liked these strawberries better with stevia. I hope you enjoy these, too!
This recipe may be found in my upcoming cookbook, Carla’s 125 Gluten-Free Recipes, coming 2016.
You'll never know these cheese cakes filled strawberries are sugar-free!
Ingredients:
- 2 ounces gluten-free cream cheese, softened
- 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon powdered stevia (depending upon which brand you use)
- 1 drop pure vanilla extract (optional)
- 16 ounces/1 basket fresh strawberries
- Chocolate Ganache
- Gluten Free Graham Crackers, crumbled
- Chopped nuts
- Chopped chocolate
- Gluten-free granola
- Brown sugar, cinnamon and butter
Instructions:
- Cream all of the ingredients together with a sturdy metal utensil.
- Cut the ends off of the strawberries (at the stem) to allow them to stand up straight.
- Place stem-side down and cut into each strawberry about half to two-thirds of the way down, making a cross.
- Using a pastry bag, or resealable sandwich bag, with a very small corner cut off, squeeze the cream cheese into the middle of the cross area.
- Drizzle with ganache, or top with your favorite topping of choice.
- Arrange nicely on a platter, garnish with fresh mint, if desired, and serve.
Tips
Variation:
When you are not entertaining, you may choose to use the filling as a dip. It’s faster with the same benefits. Just omit toppings.
Facebook Comment – Feb. 10, 2015,
“My daughter and I made these, now the kids and hubby want them all the time! She suggested chocolate dipped AND cheesecake stuffed for Valentine’s Day.”
~B.J.
These look so good. I am gonna try them with just a bit of all-fruit jam for a little sweetness instead of the Stevia or another sub-sweetener. Any suggestions on how much I should/could use??
Hi Sherri,
That’s a great idea! It will add a bit of color, as well. However, it will make the filling runny compared to using a dry sweetener. I’d add a very little and see how the texture goes and see if it is sweet enough for you. Let us all know if it works out and how much you end up using.
Carla
I will. I originally thought it might be a bit runny, too, but on second look at my jar of strawberry, I’m thinking it’s pretty thick, so we’ll see. I’m trying it Saturday for a tea party I am having for the ladies at church. Can’t wait to see if they will like them!!
Oh good! As long as it’s thick, there shouldn’t be any problem. Are you going to top them with anything: chocolate? nuts?
Carla
I am thinking some chopped almonds. I unveil them tomorrow, so I’ll let you know how everyone liked them!! :-)
OK I had my tea party this morning and I told the ladies I had been writing to you and that I needed to report to you about what they thought of the strawberries and one said, “Tell her they were the hit of the party.” So, there you have it. I used red raspberry all-fruit and it made a beautiful color and sprinkled almonds on top and everyone loved them. THANK YOU!!!!
Sherri,
That’s awesome! Thanks for taking the time to report back. Thank your friend, as well.
Carla
Wow these look incredible.. have a 4th party to go to tomorrow so these will be my share… Thanks for posting.. :)
I recently made a sf crustless cheesecake with Lifeway (brand) fat free farmer cheese that was amazing. I will definitely be using it rather than cream cheese from now on because the calories are so low (which means I get to eat more lol!). And it doesn’t have any funky chemicals like fat free cream cheese. I can’t wait to use it for stuffing strawberries-awesome concept!
Wow, Danielle, what a great tip! I just checked out the ingredients of Lifeway fat free cheese and there’s only one: cultured soft cheese. That’s fantastic! Thanks for sharing, and enjoy this recipe!
Those look so delicious! I made a GF pie crust a month or so ago that tasted divine, but crumbled far too easily – I am thinking that sprinkled on top would be really delicious too.
Can barely wait to try these. :) Thank you for sharing.
Can’t wait to try and looks so easy and yummy!
This looks amazing!
If you use stevia you’ll be surprised how great it tastes! I use one of the stevia brands that has less of a blend/filler and it does not taste bitter at all! I love these! Can’t make them often, though! The scale would kill me! :-) I hope you enjoy! Thanks for leaving a comment!