Greek Strawberry Cheesecake Bars {GF, Low Cal}

Greek Strawberry Cheesecake Bars are a low calorie version of classic cheesecake. Made gluten free with Greek cream cheese and than the original for a healthier dessert! Gluten Free + Low Calorie

If you're a cheesecake lover, then your world is about to be rocked with this lightened up Greek Strawberry Cheesecake!

I love, love, love a good cheesecake. My friends and I would find any excuse to go to Cheesecake Factory so we could share three or four slices. That was until I started eating healthy and started realized how much I was over eating and stopped indulging in so many sugary foods. That was a blessing in disguise because what I didn't realize at that time is that I'm actually lactose intolerant.

Lactose intolerance means a person doesn't have the lactase enzyme in their body to break down lactose. Somehow until my recent medical battles, I didn't put it together that this was one of the many things going on with me. What can I say? Sometimes I'm slow and well, the education system doesn't educate the average person in the basics of nutrition enough to take care of themselves.

What does this mean to you? It means if you're lactose intolerant like me, chances are pretty high you'll be able to tolerate this Greek Strawberry Cheesecake because it's made with Greek yogurt cream cheese. YAY!!!!

How is this possible?

All dairy products contain milk sugar lactose but some dairy products like Greek yogurt are heavily strained which removes a lot of the sugar lactose from it making it a whole lot easier for lactose intolerant people to digest. That straining process is what makes Greek yogurt extra thick and real creamy. That's why I use it in so many of my recipes. I don't know about you, but I'm not gonna complain about that!

Nutrition school is paying off!

So like I was saying, I used Greek yogurt cream cheese for this cheesecake. I found it next to the regular cream cheese, but if you can't find it either regular or lactose free cream cheese would work in this recipe just fine.

The real kicker though is this Greek Strawberry Cheesecake has half the calories of regular cheesecake. Say WHATAHATHATHT?!?!?

Uh-huh! Uh-huh! 

Besides using Greek yogurt, I used liquid stevia in the "cheese" part which has NO CALORIES, but makes it light and sweet just the way you would expect it to taste. For the crust, I used Truvia brown baking blend. Have you tried it? It rocks! Tastes just like brown sugar for a lot less calories. Coconut sugar would work too if you're into that kind of thing.

Greek Strawberry Cheesecake Bars

Megan Olson

Greek Strawberry Cheesecake Bars are a light version of classic cheesecake. Made gluten free with Greek cream cheese & than the original for a healthier dessert! Gluten Free + Low Calorie

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Cool Time 2 hours hrs

Total Time 2 hours hrs 50 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 12 bars

Calories 192 kcal

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 3/4 cup coconut sugar
• ▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 1/2 cup coconut oil
• ▢ 1/4 cup applesauce unsweetened
• ▢ 1/8 cup maple syrup
• ▢ 2 large egg whites
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 cup Gluten Free Baking Flour
• ▢ 5 ounces Greek cream cheese
• ▢ 2-3 teaspoons liquid stevia
• ▢ 1/3 cup sugar free strawberry preserves

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare a square 8-inch by 8-inch baking dish with parchment paper placing it horizontal & vertical hanging over the sides of the dish for easy removal.
• Using a hand mixer, beat the eggs whites together in a large bowl until fluffy peaked. Then add the the sugar, vanilla, applesauce, maple syrup and coconut oil to the eggs and beat until combined.
• To the batter, fold in the salt and flour. Do not over combine. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking dish and smooth with a spatula or back of a spoon.
• Place in the oven and bake at 350 F for 30 minutes until the edges are brown.
  
• While the crust is baking, add the cream cheese and stevia to a bowl and whisk together very well.
• After you remove the crust from the oven, spread the cream cheese evenly over it. It should spread easily as the crust is warm.
• Next add the strawberry preserves to the top, placing random dollops of it all over. Then using a toothpick swirl the preserves into the cream cheese.
• Place in the freezer to set 3-6 hours, overnight is best. When you're ready to eat, simply lift the parchment paper up to remove the bars from the dish and slice into 12 squares.

Notes

• I don't like things very sweet, but if you would like to make them sweeter add more stevia.
• My Amazon shop has more products similar to those used for this recipe and that I recommend to my nutrition clients.

Nutrition

Serving: 1barCalories: 192kcalCarbohydrates: 23gProtein: 2gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 6mgSodium: 133mgPotassium: 53mgFiber: 1gSugar: 12gVitamin A: 65IUCalcium: 28mgIron: 0.4mg

Tried this Recipe? Let me know!Let us know how it was!

What I Used In The Recipe

It does take a bit of elbow grease to make these tasty treats, but well worth it!

So now that you know my big bad secret for making a Greek Strawberry Cheesecake with less calories and just as delicious, do you wanna know my secret for not eating it all at once?

Share it with friends! And because you are all my friends, I'm sharing it with you. Hehe!

About Megan

Megan is a certified nutrition practitioner, author, freelance food photographer and fitness instructor living in Phoenix, Arizona. On her blog, Skinny Fitalicious she shares EASY, gluten free recipes for weight loss. Follow Megan on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates.