Shavuous Lighter Cheesecake

GramaNewYork

Thu, May 10 2007, 11:39 am

Didn't know which forum to post this under: Shavuous, Diet/Health or Dairy.

I recently borrowed a book called Comfort Food Makeovers by Elaine Magee from the library and tried the Black Forest Mini Cheesecakes. Magee's recipe cuts the fat down by about a quarter and also shaves off about 50 calories per serving.

I brought the cute little cheesecakes to work and my cheesecake-loving colleague who loves to cook and bake said that they were delicious. I also thought so.

So if you are looking for a lighter alternative for your cheesecake this Shavuous, you might want to try it.

Also keep in mind for your favorite cheesecake recipes that low-fat and fat-free cream cheese and sour cream works very well in cheesecake. My daughter and I have both substitued these very successfully in our respective favorite cheesecake recipes.

Basya

Thu, May 10 2007, 11:43 am

Would you mind posting the recipe please?

binah918

Fri, May 11 2007, 2:03 am

Last year I was worried bc I couldn't find mehadrin cream cheese in Israel. Everyone said that people just use gevina levana instead, but I wasn't so sure how it would turn out. In the end the cheese cakes were delish and SO SO much lighter that cream cheese cheese cakes. I don't know if you can get anything like gevina levana in the States...?

GramaNewYork

Fri, May 11 2007, 7:10 am

You can get gevina levana in some cities.

Basya, it's hard to believe, but the recipe is on the internet! Here it is and don't forget that cheesecake isn't good the first day and it's even better if you wait two days:

Shave calories from mini cheesecakes
By ELAINE MAGEE
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
12/24/2003 in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

I love to make mini cheesecakes and serve them at holiday parties.
Other than to use light cream cheese, how can I make them less
dangerous?

I lightened a recipe from Hershey's Kitchens, shaving 50 calories and
more than 8 grams of fat from each mini cheesecake. Yet they are
still beautiful and delicious.

The original recipe calls for using vanilla wafers as the bottom
crust. I used reduced-fat wafers.

The filling calls for cream cheese; I used light cream cheese. (If
you wish, substitute fat-free cream cheese for half of the amount.) I
halved the number of eggs, replacing the rest with egg substitute.

The topping of the cheesecake is made from sour cream, sugar and
vanilla; I used fat-free sour cream.

Write to Elaine Magee through her Web site,
www.recipedoctor.com. Personal responses cannot be provided.

Black Forest Mini Cheesecakes
Yield: 24 servings.

24 reduced-fat vanilla wafer cookies
2 (8-ounce) packages light cream cheese
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/4 cup egg substitute
2 cups (16 ounces) fat-free or light sour cream, divided
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 (21-ounce) can cherry pie filling, chilled

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line muffin cups with foil baking
cups. Place 1 vanilla wafer, flat side down, in each cup.

Beat cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth. Add 1 1/4 cups sugar,
cocoa powder and flour; blend well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, and egg
substitute, beating well after each addition. Stir in 1 cup sour
cream and almond extract. Fill each muffin cup almost full with
batter. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until set. Remove from oven; let
cool 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir together remaining 1 cup sour cream, remaining 2 tablespoons
sugar and vanilla in a small bowl until sugar is dissolved. Spread a
heaping teaspoon of the sour-cream topping on each mini cheesecake.
Let cool completely in pan on wire rack; refrigerate. Just before
serving, garnish with a cherry or two from the cherry pie filling.
Cover and refrigerate leftover cheesecakes.

PER SERVING: 148 calories; 4g fat (22 percent calories from fat);
2.5g saturated fat; 26mg cholesterol; 4g protein; 24g carbohydrate;
0.5g fiber; 126mg sodium.

bigmomma

Mon, May 14 2007, 9:01 am

I posted this question before-does anyone know what is meant by vanilla wafer cookies or choclate wafer cookies in cheese cake recipes?? Which Jewish brand makes them. I'm assuming they don't mean regular wafers or maybe they do. Anyone???

GramaNewYork

Mon, May 14 2007, 9:45 am

Bigmomma, I understood vanilla wafers to be those plain little round cookies. I bought a Jewish brand, but now I can't remember if it was Kemach or Paskez (they weren't reduced fat Sad

). I don't know what chocolate wafers are. They might be those layered waffle-imprinted rectangular cookies w/cream in between which seem innocent but are LOADED with fat.

Mevater

Mon, May 14 2007, 9:58 am

bigmomma wrote:

does anyone know what is meant by vanilla wafer cookies or choclate wafer cookies in cheese cake recipes?? Which Jewish brand makes them. I'm assuming they don't mean regular wafers or maybe they do. Anyone???

I'm not sure what "they" meant, but plain cookies work very well as a cheesecake base. Godiva's recipe calls for wafers, and they have a cust serv # on their website, but even they had no idea!

chen

Mon, May 14 2007, 12:09 pm

classic cheesecake crust is made from graham crackers crushed into crumbs (you can even buy graham cracker crumbs ready-made) blended with melted margarine. It can be used with virtually any cheesecake recipe. If you have no vanilla wafer cookies or graham crackers, any plain, dry, crumbly cookie like gingersnaps will do. The cream-filled wafers called "vafellim" are not what is meant.

I don't bother with a crust any more, as I find that people often eat just the filling and leave the crust.

chen

Mon, May 14 2007, 12:12 pm

GramaNewYork wrote:

They might be those layered waffle-imprinted rectangular cookies w/cream in between

absolutely not. Chocolate wafer cookies are just like vanilla wafers or gingersnaps, except chocolate flavor.

GramaNewYork

Mon, May 14 2007, 1:22 pm

I can't believe there's a junk-food trivia question that I got wrong!

Mmmmmmmm, junk food.

chen

Mon, May 14 2007, 2:00 pm

GramaNewYork wrote:

I can't believe there's a junk-food trivia question that I got wrong!