Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Slightly tangy, sweet, and chocolaty. Texture: Rich, creamy, smooth, and crunchy. Yum! Ease: Very easy, the hardest part is waiting for these to chill before eating! Appearance: I love the contrast of the creamy cheesecake and dark chocolate swirls. Pros: Have cheesecake without all the fat, calories, and guilt! Cons: None! Would I make this again? Absolutely, and there’s so many flavor options!This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
I’m keeping the new year train rolling with another sweet recipe that’s been made into more of an everyday fare with far less indulgence. These Skinny Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Bars have about half the amount of calories than your average piece of cheesecake with the same tangy sweetness, creamy luscious texture, and crunchy crust. For me, eating healthy does not mean depriving myself of the things I love because in the end that always does more harm than good. If you’re like me, it’s important to have things you can enjoy to satisfy your cravings without blowing your whole healthy eating routine. That’s exactly why I created this recipe!
It utilizes ingredients like 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, nonfat yogurt, an egg white, coconut oil, and far less sugar. Flour is added to the batter to help the bars firm up since we’re slashing the fat from this recipe. I love the chocolate swirl and think it adds flavor without adding too many extra calories, but feel free to make plain cheesecake bars or add in whatever flavorings you want (lemon is my other favorite).
I’ve dramatically cut back on the sugar which makes these much less guilty, but a bit more tangy in flavor. If you like your sweets to be very sweet, you may want to add in another 2 tablespoons to a 1/4 cup sugar. By the way, as far as the calorie count goes, this may vary depending on the brand of ingredients you use. I’d also like to disclaim that I am not a nutritionist and simply did some math along with some online calorie counter tools to calculate this number. I can’t guarantee it’s accuracy but either way, this recipe is definitely much lighter than your average cheesecake.
If you make these Skinny Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Bars, be sure to take a picture and tag it #handletheheat on Instagram. I love seeing your photos!
Skinny Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 6 whole graham crackers
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
Filling:
- 1 (8-ounce) package 1/3-less fat cream cheese, at room temperature
- 6 ounces nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg plus 1 egg white
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
Instructions
For the crust:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch square baking dish with foil, leaving an overhang.
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the graham crackers until finely ground. Add the oil and pulse until moistened. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake until lightly browned and set, about 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool and reduce the oven temperature to 300°F.
For the filling:
- Place the cream cheese and yogurt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until smooth (you can also use an electric mixer). Add the sugar, egg and egg white, flour, and salt and pulse until well combined and smooth.
- Remove 1/2 cup of the batter into a small bowl. Stir in the melted chocolate.
- Pour the remaining batter into the prepared pan. Top with spoonfuls of the chocolate batter and swirl with a skewer. Bake until the cheesecake is set but still slightly jiggly in the center, about 35 minutes. Do no overbake.
- Allow to cool completely before chilling for at least 3 hours. Cut into 16 bars and serve. Bars can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for 2 months (thaw overnight).
Can I use fat free cream cheese? This sounds amazing!
The swirl on these brownies makes them so pretty! They’d definitely be the first to go at a potluck. I love that you made them lower in guilt too:)
Oh my gosh just what I need and love. Cream cheese and chocolate. Can I replace the Graham crackers with rye crackers
I’ve never tried that but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work!
Mmmm those look fabulous! Awesome that they are lightened-up, then you can have two, eh? 🙂