Tag Archives: cheesecake

Mini basque cheesecake with homemade strawberry topping

During the holiday season, it is sometimes a challenge to stick to a diet when there is so much good food to have. Cheat days are nice, but then I had a thought of what can be done to still make a dish that is enjoyable year round without too much guilt. That’s when I decided to revisit the cheesecakes I’ve made in the past, but this time with less sugar. The basque cheesecake photos i have seen online inspired me to make my own sugar-free varient.

For this recipe you will need the following: cheesecake: 1 block Philadelphia light cream cheese, 1 1/2  cups plain Greek yogurt, 5 1/2 table spoons zero calorie sweetener of your choice, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon of cornstarch and 2 table spoons of vanilla extract all at room temperature. Strawberry spread: 1 pound of strawberries halved and hulled, 1/4 cup zero calorie sweetener, 3 tablespoons of corn starch, 2 tablespoons of water, and a healthy splash of lemon juice.

To start your cheesecake, you will need to preheat your oven to 480. While that’s warming up, start to mix the cream cheese until smooth. Once that happens, mix in your Greek yogurt, vanilla, cornstarch, and sugar and continue stirring. Once incorporated, add one egg and carefully mix into the batter at a time and mix until smooth. I’ve seen these prepared with mini ramekins, but I only had full size available to me as well as a stunning lack of parchment paper, so I had to improvise with lightly greased aluminum foil. Bake for 15 minutes on the top rack and let them chill in the fridge for 3 hours.

No parchment paper? No problem.

While the cheesecakes chill, let’s make our spread. Chop the strawberries into halves (or finer if desired) and set to the side. Add your cornstarch into a small cup and mix with the water to make a slurry to add to the strawberries. Get a small to medium sauce pan and mix in the strawberries, cornstarch slurry, lemon juice, and sweetener over medium heat. Stir and break down the strawberries with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula of your choice. Once mashed down, place the mix under a low simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly and remove from the heat as the spread will thicken up as it cools. I stored mine in a mason jar for safe keeping and chill in the fridge with the cheesecake.

Guilt free goodness right there

Once 3 hours have passed with the cheesecake in the fridge, remove them from the foil and onto a place and give it a generous spread of the strawberries.

A little messy getting out the foil

This was an excellent  and guilt free dessert, and with the Greek yogurt, it had a nice little dose of protein hidden in there. The spread can last for a week, and the cheesecakes can last 3 to 4 days. This is a healthy and delicious dessert that you and loved ones can enjoy anytime! Until the next time, dear readers, excelsior!

A holiday treat idea

The holidays are a wonderful time to spend with family and friends. This is a good time to eat all kinds of delicious dishes and for those who are fitness fanatics a cheat day or three for one’s diet. I have a simple holiday recipe that will be sure to leave a smile on your family’s faces: oreo cheesecake.

I made this once with just normal chocolate oreos but you can substitute with any oreo you want. This time I elected to use chocolate and golden oreos. I will list the ingredients I used: (for filling) 3 large eggs, 2 8 ounce blocks of plain cream cheese, 1 1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt, 2/3 cup of sugar, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, 1 table spoon of vanilla extract. (For crust) 1 3/4 cups of Oreos (any kind will do), 5 table spoons of melted butter, 1 tablespoon of sugar.

To start things off you want to make sure that the ingredients are all at room temperature to avoid a lumpy mess. Next, remove the frosting from the oreos and crush them and add the sugar and melted butter and mix. Once mixed bake this in the oven at 350 degrees for 9 minutes.

This was more tedious than it looked

While the crust is baking mix cream cheese, Greek yogurt, vanilla extract and lemon juice, sugar together in a large bowl. Add one egg at a time until the mixture is smooth, be careful to not over mix. (I will also add that I took an extra step and crushed up more oreos to mix into my filling for this so this was a bit of an experiment). By this time the crust should be done so remove from heat and reduce the oven temperature to 325.

It looks gross but it will taste good trust me.

There is an extra optional step depending on if there is topping or not (or depending on how much you care) of adding a one inch layer of water to a roasting pan. This gives your cheesecake a “water bath” to create a steamy environment to bake in to avoid cracking. (This is a step I normally skip because I never had cracking in my cheesecakes but I believe I should have done one this time)

Should have had a water bath

Once the crust is out of the oven, pour the filling into the pan and place into the oven for 45 to 55 minutes or until the filling is set and juggles in the middle like jello. Cut off the oven and Crack the oven door open slightly and let sit for an hour. Take any remaining oreos and break them into crumbles or halves and place over top before chilling for at least 8 hours.

The finished product, should have had a water bath but was delicious nonetheless.

The finished product was pretty good. I suspected I had a hint too much of lemon juice but it was different from my previous cheesecakes and a water bath could have been useful but it was a different take than last time I made cheesecake. It was still devoured by everyone for Thanksgiving so I will take that as a win. Until the next time dear readers, stay safe and healthy this holiday season. Excelsior!

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