Do you ever crave cheesecake?! This happens to be one of our little bat’s favourite desserts, however, a mix of cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar with a base of biscuits is a massive no, no if we want to stay healthy! So here we have our first ever attempt for this classic and amazing dessert with the fats of Greek yoghurt and a little cheeselet, (If you can’t find a cheeslet, we will try another recipe with cottage cheese later on, so stay tuned). We will replace the eggs and butter with banana and avocado (just like we did in our Wannabe Chocolate Cake and Raisin Cookie Dough Cake) and add some sweetness (and Vitamin C) with mango. So let’s see how this healthy recipe goes (and hope for the best when we will remove our cake tray)!
Ingredients
- Oats
- Almonds
- Honey
- Milk
- Banana
- Avocado
- Cheeselet
- Mango (can be replaced)
- Greek Yogurt
- Aniseeds
Method
We will start off by blending the oats and the almonds (the more almonds the more crunch you will have), this time we want a breadcrumb consistency, not flour, so do not over blend. In another bowl, blend some of the banana and some of the avocado into a paste, add the honey and some milk, and mix well. Now stir in the two mixes and you should end up with a rough, dough-like consistency. Set aside and let the oats soak in the moisture in the mixture.
Now for the ‘cheese’ part of our cake, we need to blend well the mango, aniseeds, and the cheeslet (the cheeslet will give us that cheesy flavour) with the rest of the banana and avocado (use most of the avocado in the crust and most of the banana here, however, if you want to avoid one of them, you can simply replace with each other, they are different but both will give us more or less the texture we need, just add more honey if you replace the banana with the avocado). Then whisk in the honey and the greek yoghurt (or a thick yoghurt of your choice, however, the thicker the better all will set and the less cooking you will need).
Before continuing with the ‘cheese’ mixture, go take a look at the crust. Add a little more milk if it’s too dry and press into the bottom of your tray creating a thin layer. Cover with some baking paper (on all sides) and bake for about 15 mins.
In the meantime, we’re going to heat the other mixture on low heat. It will loosen up and then starts to thicken again as the water evaporates. This will allow our mixture to set better once cold. Now, all we need to do is pour the warm cream into the tray and let it cool down. Once cold refrigerate at least overnight. I personally enjoyed it more after two nights in the fridge, flavorwise it tasted better. Serve and enjoy your healthy treat!
Variations
Of course, you can decorate the surface with some fruit or cover with some jelly or jam or even dust with chocolate powder or even matcha powder if you like the exotic taste, as always, that is totally up to you! A nice drizzle of honey could also look tasty and add to the sweetness or simply create a light pattern in the cream if you are artistic enough! I decided to add a few calories and go with a light whipped cream and some cherries, the extra cream and sugar, of course, made it even more delicious! Just be careful not to overdo it and ruin our very healthy dessert with an extra heavy topping!
To be honest, the banana drowns all the flavours, so I will not be paring this recipe with mango again anytime soon. I would probably go for melon or cantaloupe next time, which is just as good a source of Vitamin C, also sweet, and slightly watery (since they are way more available in our country, mango is hard to come by and more expensive here). That being said, the banoffee flavour was great and the consistency was perfect, it’s just that originally I was going for a mango cheesecake! If you’re not a fan of bananas you may want to try our Healthy Peach Cheesecake instead!
However, if you will be having some guests maybe you would want to serve individual portions in glasses or add some gelatin, (which apparently does have its own health benefits!!) just to make sure it will hold. Using small shot glasses will also make it ideal for parties! If you want to try other flavours maybe add some cottage cheese and more avocado instead of the banana since its flavour is overpowering, or if the fruit has the same consistency as bananas you can simply switch it. Don’t forget to add more honey if the fruit is less sweet and you want your cheesecake to have that sweetness!! However, since none of the ingredients needs cooking you can always give it a taste as you go along and add accordingly, so it should be simple enough to nail taste-wise! Hope you give this healthy cheesecake version a try, it’s a great and refreshing dessert with so little fats! Let us know what you think, we would love to hear from you!