During the month of December we are faced with decidant holiday treats on a weekly basis. Whether that be in your office, out at holiday parties or baking treats for loved ones in your very own kitchen. This week I decided to test a recipe from Cooking Lights December issue. These chocolatey creamy bars only have 164 calories per square! Not a bad choice I must say when you're craving something sweet this holiday season. Your friends and family are sure to enjoy these little treats!
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup finely ground toasted almonds
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled
- Baking spray
- 6 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
- 4 ounces fat-free cream cheese, softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt, I used Chobani
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Dash of salt
- 1 large egg
- 3 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 tbsp 2% milk
- 2 tbsp almonds, chopped
Serves: 16
1)Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roast almonds on an ungreased cookie sheet for approx 10-15 minutes. Gently spoon out 3/4 cup of flour and level off with knife.
2) Finely chop toasted walnuts . Combine flour, 1/4 cup of chopped toasted almonds and salt in a medium size bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or with two knives using a fork and knife cutting motion ( pretend your cutting up steak). I used my Grandmother's old pastry blender that is half broken 🙂
3) Line greased 8x8 pan with parchment paper. Spray cooking spray onto parchment paper. Transfer flour mixture into pan. Lightly press down to form crust of bars. Bake crust in oven for approx. 30 minutes. Cool crust completely on a wire rack.
4) In mixer combine cream cheeses until smooth. Add sugar, yogurt, vanilla and a dash of salt and beat on low till combined. Add in egg and beat till combined.
5) Pour cream cheese mixture onto cooled crust.
6) Melt chocolate in microwave for approx. 30 seconds with milk. Don't over cook chocolate as I did 😉 Dollop chocolate into cheesecake batter. Swirl chocolate into batter with a knife. Don't over combine.
7)Reduce oven temp to 325 degrees. Bake for approx. 25 minutes until cheesecake is almost set. Remove from oven and cool completely. Refrigerate covered cheesecake bars for 8+ hours or overnight. Cut into 16 square bars.
Approx. 164 calories and 8 grams of fat per bar
Cheesecake Factory - 1 slice of plain cheesecake- 450 calories, 28 grams of fat
Starbucks Cheesecake Brownie- 300 calories, 18 grams of fat
Recipe adapted from : http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-almond-cheesecake-bars-50400000131774/
Refridgerate in tupperware when not shoveling them into your mouth 🙂
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from Eat Fit Not Fat and bogmanners.com!
This recipe looks like …. HEAVEN! Amazing, thanks for writing this post.
The photos along the way really help too. We may even attempt to make this.
(Hopefully won’t burn down the kitchen in an attempt!).
My Virtual Mission.
I now have a convection oven in my possession which is now very possible to bake things and this shall be one of the first things I do bake… Thank you for sharing! 🙂