Skinny Vanilla Bean Cheesecake | Renee's Kitchen Adventures

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Skinny Vanilla Bean Cheesecake

Cheesecake!!! 
 Who doesn't LOVE cheesecake?  I love cheesecake, but I sure don't love all the fat and calories that come along with it!  That's why I am SO VERY EXCITED to share this recipe for Skinny Vanilla Bean Cheesecake!  Vanilla bean paste, reduced fat cream cheese and fat free Greek yogurt make the most amazing lower calorie cheesecake you will ever taste. 

Skinny Vanilla Bean Cheesecake | Renee's Kitchen Adventures So rich tasting and creamy you will swear it's a full fat version!



This cheesecake is so full of flavor and so creamy, you will swear it's the real deal!  Skinny Vanilla Bean Cheesecake is my contribution to fellow blogger, Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla's (way more than...) #FifteenCheesecakes blog hop to celebrate her 15th wedding anniversary! Camilla served cheesecake, instead of the traditional wedding cake, at her wedding!  How fun is that?  


#fifteencheesecakes Celebrating 15 years of marriage!


Skinny Vanilla Bean Cheesecake | Renee's Kitchen Adventures So rich tasting and creamy you will swear it's a full fat version!

The inspiration for this recipe came from Allrecipes. The original recipe was written using full fat ingredients for a traditional cheesecake.  It took me three tries playing around with lower fat and calorie ingredients before it came out just right.  It was totally worth the trials though, because the third time really was the charm.

Skinny Vanilla Bean Cheesecake | Renee's Kitchen Adventures So rich tasting and creamy you will swear it's a full fat version!

The top of my cake cracked just a little.  The key to not having the top of the cake crack is in the mixing.  Avoid over mixing for a smooth top.  As you can see, I over mixed mine just a bit.  But no worries, if you do get cracks like I did, just cover them up with fruit or whipped topping!  The cracks won't hurt the taste at all.

Skinny Vanilla Bean Cheesecake | Renee's Kitchen Adventures So rich tasting and creamy you will swear it's a full fat version!

This recipe is really super easy to make.  Cheesecakes always seems so hard to pull off, but this one isn't one of "those" recipes.  It's a classic taste made easy!
Make sure you check out all the other bloggers cheesecake creations in the links below too!

Skinny Vanilla Bean Cheesecake

Renee's Kitchen Adventures
Adapted from Allrecipes 
Skinny Vanilla Bean Cheesecake
Rich tasting lower fat and calorie cheesecake that is so creamy and smooth, you will swear it was the real deal!

Ingredients

  • For graham cracker crust:
  • 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
  • 1 TBS granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • pinch of kosher salt
  • For the cheesecake:
  • 2 - 8 oz. packages of reduced fat cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp. vanilla bean paste
  • 3 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 cups non-fat, plain Greek yogurt

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut a circle of parchment to fit in the bottom of a 9" springform pan. Place parchment circle in bottom and spray pan with cooking spray on parchment and up sides. (the parchment will allow you to remove the cake from the pan and place on a serving patter)
  2. In small bowl, combine the crust ingredients with a fork. Pour into prepared pan, and press down into pan. If you like a crispier crust, bake for 5-7 minutes and allow to cool. If you don't mind a softer crust, you can skip pre-baking it.
  3. In large bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla bean paste until combined. Add in the eggs and mix until JUST COMBINED. Do not over mix! Fold in the Greek yogurt until just combined. Pour onto crust in pan. Smooth out the top with a spatula.
  4. Bake for 30 minutes and then turn oven off. Do not open oven door. Allow cake to sit in oven for another 30 minutes. Cheesecake should be set, but not firm in the middle. Remove cake to wire rack and allow it to cool to room temperature.
  5. Put cake in refrigerator and chill for at least 8 hours or overnight. Serve with fruit or whipped topping and store leftovers in refrigerator.
Yield: 16 servings
Prep Time: 00 hrs. 15 mins.
Cook time: 01 hrs. 00 mins.
Total time: 1 hrs. 15 mins.
Tags: cheesecake, #fifteencheesecakes, dessert, vanilla, vanilla bean

Servings - 16   Serving Size - 1/16th of cheesecake   Points Plus per Serving - 5 Points+
Calories - 190.6,   Total Fat - 9.6g,   Carb. - 23.3g,   Protein - 6.5g,   Fiber - 3.2g

Printable Recipe 



Here's what everyone brought to the cheesecake table, listed in alphabetical order. Enjoy!

BerryCheesecake Bars by Baking and Creating with Avril

CherryCheesecake Bites by Cookaholic Wife

ChocolateCaramel Cheesecake by Dancing Veggies

ChocolateCheesecake by My Hobbie Lobbie

Chocolate Topped Peppermint Cheesecake by Amy's Cooking Adventures

CremeBrulee Cheesecake Bars by Tara's Multicultural Table

Easter Basket Mini Cheesecakes by Little Bit of Everything

Everyday Cheesecake by Things I Make (for Dinner)

IrishCream Cheesecake by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Layered Cinnamon Streusel Cheesecake Cake by Famished Fish, Finicky Shark

LowfatBlackberry Cheesecake by A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures

Matcha-Yuzu Cheesecake with a Meyer Lemon Glaze by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

MiniChurro Caramel Cheesecake by Cheese Curd In Paradise

Mini Maple Pecan Cheesecakes by Join Us, Pull up a Chair

Mudslide Cheesecake by Sew You Think You Can Cook

NeapolitanCheesecake by PicNic

No Bake Marshmallow Cheesecake by Affair from the Heart

No-BakePumpkin Cheesecake by Angels Homestead

Samoa's cheesecake by Goodie Godmother

Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars by The Savvy Kitchen

Sopapilla Puff Pastry Cheesecake by Pink Cake Plate

SkinnyVanilla Bean Cheesecake by Renee's Kitchen Adventures

Like what you see?  Follow RKA on all these social networks!!

35 comments:

  1. My husband and I are both drooling over this! I can't wait to make it! Even though it takes a while I'm sure the end results will be amazing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. haha....glad it's drool worthy! yeah, you have to plan a little, but most of the time is chill time!

      Delete
  2. This looks soo luscious! I love the Greek yogurt idea...yum!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Skinny and cheesecake are not two words I normally think of that go together. But yours looks amazing. Thank you for playing along with my #fifteencheesecakes event.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yum! I'll have to try this skinny version out~

    ReplyDelete
  5. Replies
    1. Not exactly guilt free but definitely less guilt! haha

      Delete
  6. where do I get vanilla bean paste?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi! I used Nielson-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste that you can find in some grocery stores and in most kitchen stores like Sur la Table or Williams Sonoma. But if you cannot find the vanilla bean paste, you can use 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract in it's place or you can buy a vanilla bean, split it in half and scrape the inside pulp out with the back side of a knife and add that plus 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract. Hope this helps!

      Delete
  7. Love love love this recipe! Greek yogurt is brilliant.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Greek yogurt stands in for sour cream perfectly!!

      Delete
  8. I love cheesecake -- it's one of my favorite desserts! This looks so yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh my goodness, I need some of this cheesecake right away! Yum!

    ReplyDelete
  10. This looks so creamy and delicious! LOVE that you used Greek yogurt in this recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Skinny Vanilla Bean Cheesecake looks wonderful, and I am officially making this ASAP

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is perfect looking! I have to make it! YUM!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Cheesecake!!! I love it so much. I can't wait to try this version now too.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Your cheesecake looks wonderful. I love that it's skinny!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Now there's no excuse to not make n enjoy some cheesecake. Love the skinny version!!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. So creamy..doesn't look like it's skinny!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Cheesecake is the perfect way to celebrate a wedding anniversary! ;) And this cheesecake looks amazing! I can't believe it is skinny.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Such a great recipe Renee!! I am definitely going to give this one a try - it looks so beautifully creamy!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Skinny cheesecake? I'm there. Can't wait to give this one a try. I'm never a big fan of low fat cream cheese but this looks amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Beautiful photos! Love the flecks of vanilla scattered throughout.

    ReplyDelete
  21. You can never go wrong with a good vanilla. Especially when you make it "skinny"!

    ReplyDelete
  22. It's hard sometimes turning a recipe into a healthier version, but it looks like yours was a success. So creamy! I bet the magic ingredient was the vanilla bean paste.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting! Share what's on your mind and make my day! Make this recipe? I'd love to hear how it turned out for you! Share on social media with #RKArecipes

>