Baked honey cheesecake with chocolate-hazelnut crust

By Mardi Michels, Eat. live. travel. write.

I love baked cheesecake, it’s one of my favourite desserts. But because cheesecake is calorie heavy, I’m always looking for ways to lighten them up. So for this, my last post for Liberté, I thought I’d experiment with their Honey Greek Yogurt 0% to see if I could keep the same great taste while shaving off some calories.

Honey and chocolate is a classic combination, and I wanted to incorporate both flavours into a cheesecake without making it overly sweet. I decided to use chocolate in the crust instead of swirling it in the actual cheesecake mix, which made for a pleasing contrast of sweet crust and a slightly tart filling.

Unfortunately, the thin chocolate topping cracked a little after the cake had cooled, but this was quickly remedied with a dusting of finely grated chocolate. Next time, I’ll cool it in the oven, switched off with the door open, so it’s not so much of a shock to the mix.

Also, I like to have my own personal dessert, which is why I made individual portions, but this cheesecake can be prepared in any size you wish.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 35 minutes

Total time: 45 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups chocolate graham cracker cookies
• 1/3 cup raw hazelnuts (unsalted)
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 250 glight cream cheese (at room temperature)
• 200 g Liberté Honey Greek Yogurt 0%
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 tablespoons honey
• 2 eggs
• Finely grated semi-sweet chocolate, to garnish

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350˚F.
2. If your mini springform pans are not non-stick, lightly grease them.
3. Pulse the cookies and hazelnuts in a food processor to your desired texture. For this recipe, you may prefer a finer crumb.
4. Transfer the crumb mix to a separate bowl and add melted butter, mixing until well combined.
5. Distribute the mixture evenly in the pans, pressing down with your fingers until it is firmly packed in.
6. Bake for 10 minutes then remove from the oven and chill whilst you prepare the filling.
7. Lower oven temperature to 300˚F.
8. Using an electric hand mixer, combine cream cheese, yogurt, sugar and honey until mixture is smooth and creamy.
9. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
10. Pour the filling mix into the prepared pans over the crust.
11. Tap the pans firmly on countertop to make sure the filling is distributed evenly over the surface of the crust.
12. Bake for 35 minutes. The top of the cheesecake will still be a little wobbly.
13. Turn the oven off and open the door. Leave the pans in the oven for around 5 minutes, then remove from oven and allow them to cool to room temperature.
14. Refrigerate, removing from fridge about 10-15 minutes before you serve them.
15. Serve with a dusting of finely grated chocolate.

Mardi Michels is a full-time elementary school French teacher in Toronto. She blogs at eat. live. travel. write.where she chronicles her culinary adventures near and far.