Healthier Individual “Show Your Love” Sugar Cookie Protein Cheesecakes

Looking for a healthier cheesecake to make for someone you love? (Don’t forget about yourself, of course!) These healthier sugar cookie protein cheesecakes are individual servings that are each significantly lower in carbs and fat and significantly higher in protein than your average slice. So you have have your cheesecake and eat it too 🙂

Well good morning! Just popping in to give you another healthier protein cheesecake and to check in to see how you are feeling after yesterday’s Super Bowl. I would suspect that the day after the Super Bowl one might possibly feel bloated…or hungover from a day of eating appetizers and drinking beer with friends at a Super Bowl party the day before. As we all know, we live in a very different world than the one when the last Super Bowl was played. So, I’m curious as to how people are feeling today and whether, or not it is different than normal.

I can’t imagine there were as many parties and social get-togethers and quite possibility the amount of people who even watch the Super Bowl may be down. Did you have a party with your household to celebrate? Did you still make the typical apps and foodstuffs that you typically see at such an event even if there was not the usual party? I’m curious to see! I spent my day making lots of goodies (including cheesecakes!), but I did not watch the game. To be honest, I mostly watch the game for the ads and the half time show and have been told that many companies pulled out this year and may not be as good as usual. Therefore, I shall spend my time doing (and probably watching ) other things to make more use of my time. I’ll try to do a search on the top Super Bowl ads sometime this week to see what I missed!

Whatever you did, I hope you did it responsibly! I cannot believe that we are still in this pandemic (wishful thinking early on) and if we cannot put a lid on it, we may be dealing with it for at least the next 7 years. OMG I cannot. I am happy to report that I am fully vaccinated, and will continue to wear a mask to do my part until I am told I safely don’t have to. TBH I HATE wearing masks. As someone with terribly dry eyes it’s been a painful year and it also makes my job really hard to get a good exam with my patients fogging up my lenses!

However, for the good of everyone I will continue to do what will be the most helpful to end this pandemic. Last year was a terribly long year and quite draining to be in medicine. Therefore, I am hopeful that we will get this vaccine rolled out to everyone as soon as possible and that people continue to help do their part while we work as a team to try and get back to normal.

As a side note, has anyone watched this Netflix “mockumentary”? Really, it’s the only thing you can do with a year like 2020. Pure ridiculousness, but if you need a good laugh (like many of us do) you may want to give this one a try!

In the meantime, since it will probably be a little bit more time since we get to be more normal, you might be looking for ideas to celebrate Valentine’s Day at home with your loved one(s?) this year instead of going out. If that is the case, why not make these super simple and much healthier individual show your love sugar cookie protein cheesecakes! (OK, not going to lie I had a hard time naming these, but they are delicious and reminded me of soft baked sugar cookies and others taste tested them and were a huge hit! Therefore, I went with this name lol). Make them the day before (or more!) to give them time to cool and freeze. They are meant to be stored in the freezer and eaten after only a minute, or two of thawing. Trust me, you’ll be glad you made a full tray so that you have plenty of leftovers! (These would also be great to take to a work party, if those are happening?).

If you need a step by step feel free to check out my individual chocolate protein cheesecake recipe that has a step by step guide with photos! Don’t have time to chill and freeze? Here are a few quicker no bake frozen protein “cheesecake” recipe that only take a few minutes to make and a short time to freeze! These include an original chocolate protein cheesecake, a chocolate chip protein cheesecake and a chocolate covered strawberry protein cheesecake recipe. (They also make fantastic snacks!)

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Healthier Individual “Show Your Love” Sugar Cookie Protein Cheesecakes

Easy single serving sugar cookie protein cheesecakes

Course Dessert

Keyword 10 ingredients or less, almond extract, cookies and cream, cream cheese, easy, graham cracker, healthy dessert, low carb, plain yogurt, protein powder, pumpkin, red food coloring, sugar substitute, Valentines Day, xylitol

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Servings 12 individual cheesecakes

Author AZ@…And A Dash of Cinnamon

Ingredients

For the Crust

• 1 sleeve graham crackers  crush gently in package prior to opening
• 3 T water

For the Cheesecake

• 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
• 1 cup pure pumpkin puree
• 1 cup plain yogurt (can use greek)
• 1 t almond extract
• 1/4 cup erythritol (or another sugar sub)
• ~90-100  g cookies and cream (or vanilla) protein powder (likely 2-3 based on scoop size)
• red food coloring

Instructions

For the Crust

1. Grind the graham crackers in your food processor finely

2. Add the water and then re-process. Stop and scrap at least once down the sides while combining if needed. It should be clumpy.

3. Line your cupcake pan with liners

4. Divide out your crust between the liners prior to smushing. This will help make each crust equal

5. This step is the most tedious. Smush down the crust as tightly as you can. I use my finger to really get into all of the edges.

6. Set aside to make your cheesecake filling.

For the Cheesecake

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (I usually do this once I am ready to put the cheesecake filling into the liners)

2. Take your cream cheese that has been brought to room temperature and blend until smooth in your food processor

3. Then add in the yogurt and pumpkin puree and blend until smooth. Scrap down the sides as needed.

4. Add in your protein powder, and erythritol and blend until smooth. Scrap down the sides as needed to make sure everything is combined.

5. Add in your almond extract and several drops of red food coloring and process. Adjust the color to your desired red, as needed.

6. Divide the cheesecake filling between the 12 cupcake liners and smooth the top. (I just use the same spatula that I was using to scrap the sides with for less clean up)

7. Place filled cupcake pan in another pan that has enough water in it to cover the bottom of the cupcake pan. Place the combined pans in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.

8. Remove the cupcake pan from the water pan and let it cool on the stove top (Do not touch the tops, they will be jiggly and underdone)

9. Once cool, transfer to the fridge.

10. Once chilled, transfer to the freezer until cheesecakes are firm.

11. Once frozen, pull them out and either place in an airtight container back into the freezer, or immediately peel and eat! (You may have to let them thaw for a minute or two to easily get the wrapper off!)

I link up with Deborah and Sarah’s, and  the fit foodie mama’s Meatless Monday, What’s for Dinner

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