Cheesecake Craving

Okay…I know I’ve said a million times that I don’t really believe that cravings for sweets are caused by pregnancy…but I do in this case..only because it’s so random! Yesterday, I was weirdly craving cheesecake.  I like cheesecake…but it’s not the dessert I’d usually pick. I’ll definitely eat it if it’s there (like most things)…but I’d choose plenty of other things before I’d choose cheesecake. Not yesterday!

I don’t know if it’s a textural thing or a cream cheese thing…maybe both? Luckily, I remembered a high protein cheesecake recipes that was featured on Janetha’s blog, Meals and Moves.  I checked out the recipe and figured I had enough to throw something similar together.

The main cheesecake part of her recipe is greek yogurt, cream cheese, and cottage cheese. I didn’t have cottage cheese so I just added a little more cream cheese and yogurt. Seemed to work out fine! I was also missing almond meal for the crust so I actually just used the ground up graham crackers and a little butter. She did mention instead of almond meal, you could use wheat germ so if you have that around, feel free to try it out!

I can’t describe to you how excited I was to try this..although a little part of me was scared since I didn’t follow the recipe to a T…but seriously, they turned out awesome. Totally hit the spot.

I ground up the graham crackers in my little mini blender but you could use anything you have: food processor, blender, fists?

Janetha lists out the exact amount of graham cracker you should use…which I started to try and figure out but then just decided to wing it. The thing that’s easy about the crust is, if you don’t have enough to coat your cupcake liners, just make a little more!

I eyeballed the graham crackers and once they were ground up, added 2 spoonfuls of melted butter. I use Brummel and Brown which is half yogurt and half vegetable oil so it’s a little lower in calories than your typical butter. Still smells amazing though.

I am so excited I have leftovers…just looking at these pictures. If these didn’t turn out well, we may have had to make a midnight run to the store to get a cheesecake.

I’m sure my crust didn’t come out quite as solid as Janetha’s (it was a little crumbly) but it still tasted good so that’s all that matters to me!  I had two cheesecakes naked…my husband had one and topped it off with whipped cream…can you tell?

Again..yum.

These little babies don’t have any sugar in them either. I used Stevia (Janetha used xylitol) and it tasted great. There is also a little applesauce in them so I’m sure that adds to the sweetness.

They’re high in protein due to the greek yogurt and vanilla protein powder. They’d be even higher too if they had cottage cheese mixed in like the original recipe.

Speaking of pregnancy, since I didn’t post my 25 week picture last week, here it is:

Gainin’ some serious poundage! 🙂

 

What’s your all time favorite dessert? Are you a cheesecake fan?