Healthy Crustless Meyer Lemon Cheesecake

Who doesn’t love cheesecake… seriously. 

Yep, we all love cheesecake. Unfortunately it’s a one-sided relationship.

I have sad news.

Cheesecake doesn’t love us.

Nope, not the usual run-of-the-mill cheesecake. THAT cheesecake sits there pretty on a plate in all it’s fatty, sugary, enormously high calorie glory and smiles a malicious little smile as we take each bite of it’s sweet derrière.

Because we all know, even that cheesecake knows, it aint’ good for us.

But guess what!! – this Crustless Meyer Lemon Cheesecake… is different!

This one LOVES you!

With each bite not only do you get rich, delicious, creamy, sweet flavor, but you also get 20g of protein, 7g of unrefined sugars, and only 2 little grams of healthy fats – in a cheeky little 135 calorie slice!

YUP. One hundred and thirty five calories.

Okay, so I know your asking yourself “how in the world is that possible?!”. 

I’ll tell you!

Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, whole eggs, honey, stevia, and MEYER lemon deliciousness! 

That’s how! 

No full-fat cream cheese, no refined white sugar, no butter, no graham crackers, and NO 500 calorie slices!

Actually you could technically cut yourself a 500 calorie slice of this Meyer Lemon cheesecake, but that slice would be 60% of the entire cake… and well, that’s just a little greedy… because you have to share this healthy goodness!!!

So… been havin’ the cheesecake craving lately?

Whip up a batch of this one and rest in the fact that Mr. Crustless Meyer Lemon Cheesecake loves you. 🙂

5.0 from 1 reviews

Healthy Crustless Meyer Lemon Cheesecake (GF!) & NITK Behind-The-Scenes

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

55 mins

 

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 2 cups dry curd cottage cheese
• ½ cup plain 0% Greek Yogurt
• zest of 1 meyer lemon, divided
• juice of 1 whole meyer lemon
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon pure lemon extract (optional, for extra lemony flavor)
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon baking stevia (OR 2 tablespoons pure honey)
• 2 tablespoons pure honey
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ cup berries of choice (optional, but will bring a little more moisture to the cake - this was an afterthought!)

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a blender or food processor pulse all ingredients (only ½ of the lemon zest) until as smooth as possible.
3. Pour filling into a lightly greased cake pan (line the bottom with parchment paper to prevent sticking)
4. Bake for 45 minutes, remove from oven and cool to room temperature on a cooling rack.
5. Top with warmed (20 sec in the microwave) then mashed blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries, and remaining lemon zest to garnish!
6. Enjoy!

Notes

I originally made this cheesecake without the berry topping, but feel that because of the low fat content of the cheescake, the texture is a tad dry and the berries bring in just a little needed moisture!

Nutritional Information

Serving size: 1 slice Calories: 135 kcal Fat: 2g Carbohydrates: 9g Sugar: 7g Protein: 20g

3.5.3251

I’ve always found it interesting to see how other bloggers make the magic happen. It’s neat to see how everyone has their food photography set up!

I dream one day to have a whole room in my house dedicated to blogging food photography with a tripod, a super nice camera, lighting, backdrops, and shelves loaded with props – but at the moment, this will do!

I have a little rustic table that I picked up from the antique mall a couple years ago. I just loved the wood top, and so I bought it and painted the legs white. This little table sits at the top of our staircase going to the upper floor of our place. Right at that landing is a little window that brings in the perfect natural lighting.

What I’ve learnt from reading countless food photography articles is that natural lighting is key to great pictures.

To bounce the lighting and avoid harsh shadows I use none other than a big white binder.

Lol, for real.

I have it in the plans to make an actual cardboard reflector but for now this does the trick.

So there you have it, the little corner in my house where all the Nutritionist in the Kitch photography happens. I am still SO new at photography in general, but I feel I have grown a lot even in the last year. I can’t wait to see what my food pics will look like in 2 or 3 years from now when I have more equipment and better knowledge of the whole thing!

After I took the pictures of this yummy Meyer Lemon Cheesecake, I brought the plate over to my hubby who was still snoring away and surprised him with a little ‘breakfast in bed’.

Or shall I say ‘cheesecake-that’s-so-healthy-you-could-eat-it-for-breakfast-in-bed’.

He was a happy camper to say the least!

Have a wonderful week!

Christal

Nutritionist in the Kitch