Cheat...In the Most Delicious Way

Thanksgiving is already next week. If you're like me, your stomach has its own countdown.

If also like me you consume a weeks worth of calories in a half hour on this glorious holiday, try this on for size as a dessert. The Recipe Girl has whipped up a low-fat Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe with only 280 calories a serving. Uhh, score. 

LOW FAT PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

CRUST:

56 reduced-fat vanilla wafers (about 8 ounces)

1 Tbsp butter, melted

FILLING:

3 (8 ounce packages) fat-free cream cheese, softened

2 (8 ounce packages) 1/3 less-fat cream cheese, softened

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup brown sugar, packed

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp ground nutmeg

3/4 tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp salt

dash of allspice

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

1 (15 ounce) can unsweetened pumpkin puree

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.

2. Prepare crust: Place cookies in a food processor; pulse until finely ground. Add butter; pulse 10 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. Firmly press mixture into bottom of a 9″ springform pan coated with cooking spray. Bake for 10 minutes; cool on wire rack.

3. Reduce oven temperature to 325° F.

4. Prepare filling: Beat cream cheeses with mixer at high speed until smooth. Add granulated sugar and next 8 ingredients (granulated sugar through vanilla), beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin; beat well.

5. Pour filling into prepared crust; bake at 325° for 1½ hours or until almost set. (Cheesecake is done when the center barely jiggles when pan is touched).

6. Remove cheesecake from oven; run a knife around the outside edge. Cool to room temperature; cover and chill at least 8 hours.

Servings: 16

Cooking Tips

*If you don’t have access to a food processor, place cookies in a large zip bag & bang away at them until they turn into fine crumbs. Scrape them into a bowl and stir in melted butter.

*If adapting this recipe to be gluten free, use a gluten-free cookie in place of the vanilla wafers, and use a GF flour blend in place of the all-purpose flour. Adapting to GF will change nutritional information and WW points listed below.

*Cheesecakes are best when they’re made ahead of time. You can prepare this one up to three days before the party; just cover and chill it until time to serve.