Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake (Reduced Fat)
Submitted by kassie
Lighter chocolate caramel cheesecake built on a crispy rice cereal crust with nonfat cream cheese, fat-free sour cream, and egg whites. A gooey caramel layer and chocolate-walnut crumble keep things indulgent without the guilt.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
1 hrsCOOK
1 hrsREADY
2 hrsHere’s the deal: you want cheesecake, you want caramel, you want chocolate, but you don’t want to blow your whole week on one slice.
This reduced-fat version swaps in nonfat cream cheese, fat-free sour cream, and egg whites for the filling, then builds a crunchy crust from crispy rice cereal, brown sugar, and just a touch of margarine.
A layer of fat-free caramel syrup goes down before the filling, and chocolate cookie crumbs with walnuts scatter across the top for texture.
The lemon zest in the filling is a subtle move that brightens everything up and keeps it from tasting one-note sweet.
Kitchen Tips
- Press the cereal crust firmly and evenly. Loose spots crumble when you try to slice, and nobody wants a cheesecake avalanche.
- Let the cheesecake cool at room temperature for a full hour, then refrigerate at least 4 hours before cutting. Cold cheesecake slices clean; warm cheesecake doesn’t.
- Fat-free cream cheese can be grainy if overbeaten. Mix just until smooth and stop there.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 350℉ (180℃).
Prepare a 9 inch pie pan with cooking spray; set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine walnuts and chocolate crumbs; set aside.
Place crispy rice cereal, brown sugar, and margarine into food processor bowl.
Using metal blade, process until mixture is fine crumbs.
Press in bottom and 1inch; up sides of prepared pan.
Bake for 8 minutes.
Spread caramel topping evenly over bottom of crust.
Set aside 2 tablespoons of the chocolate-walnut mixture and sprinkle remainder over topping; set aside.
In another mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, granulated sugar, salt, egg whites, lemon peel, vanilla extract, and sour cream.
Spread mixture over prepared crust.
Bake for 45 minutes or until center is set and cheesecake starts to crack around edges.
Remove from oven and cool 1 hour.
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