An easy, healthy recipe with NO refined sugar!
Every afternoon before the sun sinks too low, I lace up my old raspberry red running shoes and slip my keys into my pocket. I turn left at the end of the driveway, sticking to the sidewalk until it stops at the end of the street, before cutting straight through the park, past the playground, and popping out at another street on the other side. I continue strolling along until the bike path appears, turning right to loop back around and pause at the mailbox to collect the Safeway circular, Comcast bills, and free catalogs addressed to our house’s previous tenants.
Some might say I’m a creature of habit.
I usually dial my mom to talk while I walk. With my only other conversation companion during the day being a 15-pound Chihuahua, my extreme introverted self takes a vacation during those phone calls, and I babble on for nearly 20 minutes straight about the science of instant oats, my “penguin”-perfect date night, and setting aside enough “me” time for a lively sports-watching dinner, all while Mom’s patient ears turn numb.
But on the rare occasion where I feel particularly brave, I break out of my comfortable routine and turn right instead of left, tracing a route towards the other side of town that takes me past one of my favorite family’s houses, where I drop off containers of cookies, cake, and monkey bread. We chat in their kitchen, quickly losing track of time as we laugh, and I always leave feeling like a real person again. Not just one who talks to dogs.
Just like my predictable afternoon walking routine, I established one for breakfast too: I always start my day with a banana. I store my stash on the countertop next to the sink, replenishing it with a trip to TJ’s whenever it dwindles down to 3. (TJ’s normally stocks very green bananas…) As the perfectly tasty nutritious treat, I never thought I’d deviate from it…
Until a crazy idea flashed through my brain during my morning run. What about a banana cheesecake… For breakfast?
Modeled off my other breakfast cheesecakes, these individual-sized Banana Breakfast Cheesecakes are smooth and creamy—and still secretly skinny! Packed with protein and bursting with banana flavor, they’re naturally sweetened and contain NO refined sugar. With less than 200 calories, these luscious treats are the perfect healthy, guilt-free way to start your day!
The easy crust consists of just two ingredients: instant oats and unsweetened applesauce. Do not substitute regular old-fashioned oats; they’re thicker and cannot absorb liquid as quickly, which results in a tough crust. But good news: you can make your own instant oats! Add the same amount of old-fashioned oats (or gluten-free oats, if preferred) to a food processor and pulse 5-8 times until coarse. So simple!
I added ¼ cup of mashed banana to the creamy cheesecake filling. The banana actually plays 3 roles: (a) flavor {obviously!}, (b) binder {instead of an egg—so you can lick the spatula!}, and (c) sweetener. Brown speckly bananas contain more natural sugar than their green or plain yellow counterparts, so pick the spottiest one you can find! To round out the sweetness, I added a touch of honey too.
These low fat cheesecakes also require a little cornstarch. The cornstarch helps the filling thicken and set; without it, the cheesecakes would be too liquidy. Although many recipes call for flour, I opted for cornstarch instead to keep these cheesecakes gluten-free.
Bake the skinny cheesecakes for 19-22 minutes—no more! The centers should still jiggle a bit when you gently wiggle the pan. Because we leave the treats in the muffin cups, the warm pan continues to cook the centers as they cool; baking them longer would result in tough gummy cheesecakes. Nobody likes the taste of those!
Loaded with fruity flavor and a whopping 13.6 grams of protein, these creamy Banana Breakfast Cheesecakes still taste like a sinfully sweet treat. Each smooth bite easily slides down your throat, and their luxurious texture fooled my taste testers. Nobody believed they were a skinny, low fat morning meal!
After licking the fork (and plate) clean, I immediately started reevaluating my precious banana stash… So if you’re anything like me, get out of your breakfast rut and bake these for a healthy treat to start your day!
| Banana Breakfast Cheesecakes | | Print |
- ¼ cup instant (quick-cooking) oats
- 2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
- 6 oz fat-free cream cheese, softened
- 1 tbsp honey
- ¼ cup mashed banana
- ½ tsp cornstarch
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- Preheat the oven to 300°F, and lightly coat 2 jumbo-sized muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, stir together the oats and applesauce. Divide the mixture in half, and press into the bottoms of the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 300°F for 8 minutes. Cool in the pan.
- In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and honey until smooth. Mix in the banana, cornstarch, and vanilla. Spread the filling on top of the cool crusts. Bake at 300°F for 19-22 minutes, or until the centers still jiggle slightly when the pan is gently shaken. Cool to room temperature in the pan before covering with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.
{gluten-free, low fat, low calorie, high protein}
I’m a little late to the game here I guess, but these are genious! Will definitely try these out 🙂
Thanks Daniela; I’m excited to hear what you think! And it’s never too late to jump on the “healthy desserts for breakfast” train. It’s my favorite time of the day! 😉
So, your blog is my new favorite thing. And this recipe is the one that sealed the deal for me! Sweet breakfast things that are also healthy? Thank you Jesus. I don’t have a jumbo muffin tin, so I just make twice as many in my regular muffin tin and it’s pretty spectacular. No adjustment needed for the cooking time, I’ve found, but I use the low-end of the range you give. And thank you thank you thank you for including the nutrition information. For those of us calorie-counting, it’s a godsend 🙂 Can’t wait to try the funfetti oatmeal next!
Anne, your sweet comment really brightened my day — thank you so much! I’m really glad you enjoyed the cheesecakes, and it’s great to know that they work as regular-sized muffins too. You can never have too many healthy sweets, right? 😉 I’m excited to hear what you think about the funfetti oatmeal too!
Could I substitute something for the banana, my daughter gets sick by them and I really think these would be cute for her brunchen tea party.
Oh no! I haven’t tried it myself, but I think applesauce would be the perfect substitute. Add a tiny bit of cinnamon, and you’re all set! 🙂 That’s so sweet of you to bake them for your daughter’s birthday brunch — she has the best mom in the world!
I finished baking these and they are in the fridge chilling. Very hard to resist in there… the batter tasted really really great. I didn’t have light cream cheese so I used full fat one, but other than that I kept the ingredients the same (and doubled the recipe) for these regular sized muffin tin cakes.
Good work!
I think I am going to make a savoury version of this as well.
Thanks Kat! I really hope you enjoy the finished ones as much as the batter. 🙂 I love your idea for savory ones — I definitely need to add that to my “To Make” list!
Because I’m diabetic I really watch the carbs. Needless to say I am REALLY sick of eggs for breakfast. I’m going to try both this and the Maple Bacon version. I’m wondering if these freeze well. I’d love to stock up on them.
My grandpa has diabetes too Debbie, so I can understand being sick of eggs! (And tomatoes… That’s what he always subs for hash browns!) I haven’t tried freezing my breakfast cheesecakes before, but I’m sure that’d work just fine. My friend Dorothy has an incredible guide on how to freeze anything baked on her blog! It’s here, if you’re interested. I’d love to hear what you think of the cheesecakes if you try them!