Lightened Mini Cheesecakes for Two

Happy Sunday everyone!  How was the weekend?  My parents came to town for the Ohio State game so we did an indoor tailgate and enjoyed some local eats (more on that in another post).  With the big turkey day feast upon us this week, I thought I'd share a lightened dessert that doesn't make you feel as guilty while indulging.

Momma and I posing with Brutus at Ohio Union!

Chris is a big fan of cheesecake, I'm not so much (I have major food issues with calling something cake that isn't actually cake).  But for his birthday last month I wanted to do a nice dessert for him without falling too far off our dieting wagon.  I found this cheesecakes for two recipe on Pinterest and decided this would be just right! I even thought since it was lightened up that maybe I'd turn over a new leaf with my cheesecake feelings.  That wasn't really the case but Chris really liked these so here goes.

Lightened Cheesecakes for Two
(This makes two four inch round cheesecakes)

 Ingredients:
- 4 oz. (half of an 8 oz block) reduced fat cream cheese, softened
- 1 container plain Greek yogurt
- 1/4 c. plus 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 tsp. vanilla
- 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
- 2 Tbsp. butter, melted

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Spray the insides of your springform pans or ramekins with cooking spray, then wrap the bottom of your springform pans with foil so there's no spills.
- Mix together graham cracker crumbs, 1 Tbsp sugar and melted butter.
- Divide the graham cracker mixture among the pans, press it into the bottom and slightly up the sides of the pans.

- Put pans on a baking sheet, bake for 8 minutes.
- While crusts are baking, mix together cream cheese, Greek yogurt and sugar until creamy.  Beat in the egg and vanilla.

- When crusts are done, allow to cool for 10ish minutes.
- Pour cheesecake filling into each pan and bake on baking sheet for 40 to 45 minutes until centers are set.

- Let the cheesecakes cool about 20 minutes then pop off the sides of the pan, remove the bottom of the pan and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator overnight (or at least 2 hours).  I actually froze these because I was making them a few days ahead.

- When you are ready to serve, take cheesecakes from the fridge and garnish however you like.  You could use shave chocolate, cut up fresh fruit, a couple spoonfuls of preserves, etc.  Chris likes his plain so we left the garnishes off, I thought some shaved dark chocolate would be nice.
- Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Chris!

Like I said before Chris liked these, I decided to stick with my previously mentioned cheesecake distrust issues.

Next up, some Local Foodie Moments!  Have a great (short) work week!

Cheers!
Steph