Healthy Cheesecake Bites
I love making these rich healthy cheesecake bites with cream cheese, ricotta, and orange zest. They are velvety smooth, creamy, and perfect when I want a low sugar dessert for any occasion. I can have them ready in about 35 minutes, then I chill them before serving.
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 106.9kcal
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1/2 cup finely crushed graham crackers about 7 graham crackers
- 2 Tbsp butter melted
For the filling:
- 8 oz low-fat cream cheese
- 1/4 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 orange zested
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F, and line a muffin tin with liners. Combine crushed graham crackers and melted butter in a small bowl.
- Tightly pack 1 tsp of the graham cracker mixture into the bottom of each muffin cup, and press down firmly (this will be the crust).
- Combine the ricotta cheese, cream cheese, sugar, orange zest, and egg in a food processor, and blend until smooth. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can do this in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer.)
- Put about 2 Tbsp of the cheesecake mixture in each muffin cup (it should fill the cupcake liners about halfway).
- Bake for 15-20 minutes (up to 25 min depending on your oven) or until the center is almost set (you can put a toothpick in the center of one mini cheesecake and see if it comes out almost completely clean to test this).
- Cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.
- Garnish with fresh berries or your favorite toppings.
Notes
- My #1 Secret Tip for this recipe is to use melted butter when I make the crust. I mix the crushed graham crackers with the melted butter until every crumb looks coated, then I press it down firmly in each liner. If I skip the butter or use too little, the crust stays dry and falls apart when I peel the liner off. Using melted butter keeps the crust together, so each cheesecake bite has that clean crust layer on the bottom.
- Mix just enough: I blend the filling ingredients just until the batter is smooth. I do not overmix since too much air can make the cheesecake bites rise and then collapse as they cool.
- Do not overbake: I make sure not to overbake the cheesecakes, or they end up dry and lose that creamy, rich texture.
- Ricotta swap: If I do not have ricotta on hand, I sometimes use sour cream or mascarpone cheese instead.
Nutrition
Serving: 1mini cheesecake | Calories: 106.9kcal | Carbohydrates: 8.6g | Protein: 3.5g | Fat: 6.6g | Saturated Fat: 3.8g | Sodium: 88.4mg | Fiber: 0.1g | Sugar: 5.3g