Mini Cheesecakes (light)

I volunteered to make dessert for Sunday dinner when we were celebrating both Mother's Day and my brother's birthday.  I had a request to make Pennsylvania Dutch Lutheran Crumb Cake, aka "PDLCC" (probably a future "Favorites Friday" recipe), but I knew it was probably loaded with calories so I also wanted to have a lighter dessert option.  Most of our family loves cheesecake, and I have been eying some mini cheesecake recipes on Pinterest for quite a while now.  I found this particular recipe on Skinnytaste, which focuses on lighter "skinny" versions of recipes.

Mini Cheesecakes

Makes 12

Ingredients

• 12 reduced fat vanilla wafers
• 8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 C sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 6 oz vanilla greek yogurt
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 T all-purpose flour
• Sliced strawberries or other fruit for garnishing

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Line cupcake tin with liners.  Place a vanilla wafer at the bottom of each liner.
3. Gently beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth in a mixer.  Gradually beat in yogurt, egg whites, and flour.  Do not over beat.  Pour into cupcake liners, filling about halfway.
4. Bake 20-25 minutes or until center is almost set.
5. Cool to room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

With a candle for the birthday boy

The Verdict

Very good!  And it actually tasted like real cheesecake, and not some icky fake cheesecake imposter.  Hard to believe these came in at just under 100 calories each!  The vanilla wafers as the crust was perfect.  Don't let them sit for more than a day in the fridge, though, or the wafers get soggy.  In the future, the cups could probably be filled a little more, since cheesecake doesn't rise very much.  This is a cheesecake recipe I will make again, when I want to indulge without the guilt of normal cheesecake calories.