Dessert Makeover: Skinny Banana Cheesecake
PIN IT!I’ve never met a person who doesn’t like cheesecake, probably because such a person doesn’t exist. How could anyone hate a dessert that is creamy, cheesy, decadent and sweet? Although I never hated it, I used to avoid cheesecake like the plague for one, big reason.
- A piece of full fat, original cheesecake can have up to 800 calories and 20 grams of fat in ONE SLICE.
In order to burn off that many calories, you would need to do 2 hours of high impact aerobics, which isn’t easy. Heck, I can barely make it through one hour of body pump or Zumba and I’m in fairy good shape. I believe in indulgences and having splurges every once in a while, but an 800 calorie splurge is too much for me because I know the whole time I’d be thinking of how I was going to burn it off. Not really an indulgence then when it comes with such a hefty side of guilt, right? So instead of feeling bad with every bite, I concocted a low fat, low calorie cheesecake that knocks the socks off any regular cheesecake anyway. Meet my new favorite dessert, low fat banana cheesecake with caramelized bananas.
Seriously ya’ll, I probably tell you this everyday, but this is INCREDIBLE, amazing, SUPER FREAKIN’ FANTASTIC. Each bite is creamy with a hint of banana and cinnamon, and the crunch of the graham cracker crust offers just the right amount of contrasting texture. Plus, the brown sugar caramelized bananas on top are sinfully delicious and give you more of a banana flavor with every morsel. Oh, and um, guess how many calories and grams of fat are in one piece? Just guess…
Drull roll please….
220 calories and 11 grams of fat PER SERVING. Yep, per each decadently creamy and satisfying slice you get a fourth of the calories found in the original. Talk about the win-win. Oh, and I’m not sure if I mentioned this but it’s OUT OF THIS WORLD delicious. I mean, I used caps lock like 100 times already, that should be a big enough indicator that you need to make it now. Like yesterday this needed to be made and on your dessert table.
Side note: I cheated and used a store bought graham cracker crust. But before you call me lazy or a cheater, here’s my reasoning. Last week, I made a gorgeous homemade crust to go with another low fat cheesecake. I don’t know what happened or why, but the cheesecake was a TOTAL FLOP. The batter never hardened, it got all goopey and the flavor was bland and gross. I didn’t want to waste the rest of my graham crackers if this one failed too. I know, I know. Going forward, I’ll just stick with this recipe because I know it won’t go crazy on me.
- 1 graham cracker crust (either store bought or made)
- 2 8 ounce packages of low fat cream cheese
- 1/2 cup of low fat sour cream
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 egg whites
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 ripe banana, sliced
- 1/2 cup of brown sugar, divided
- 2 tablespoons of butter, softened
- Sprinkle of cinnamon & nutmeg
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. If your making your own crust, make it now. (Here’s a good recipe!)
- Combine the cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl and mix until completely blended. I found this an oppurtune time to whip out the sexy Kitchen Aid mixer we got as a wedding gift.
- Add the sour cream, egg and egg whites and mix well.
- Add mashed bananas, 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Mix well, careful not to over-mix. Mixture should be creamy, not bubbly.
- Pour batter carefully into the crust. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon and nutmeg and bake for one hour or until cake is firm to the touch.
- While cheesecake is baking, prepare the caramelized bananas. Heat up 1 tablespoon of butter in a sauce pan. Add brown sugar and heat until melted. Mix bananas and brown sugar mixture in a bowl and set aside.
- Once cheesecake is done, let cool completely before you remove foil (if you used store bought). Once cheesecake is cooled, serve with caramelized bananas & a dollop of whipped cream!
It’s going to be impossible for me to not eat the rest of this cheesecake today, it’s THAT good.
Please excuse me while I have a piece for lunch.
Nutritional information per slice: 220 calories, 11 grams of fat, 23 grams of carbohydrates and 5 grams of protein.
This cheesecake looks fantastic - it's hard to believe that it's low fat!!
- Maggie