Skinny Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Early in December, I met Karen and Alex, two of my close blog friends, for dessert. We settled on one of my favorite places in town, a retro diner dedicated entirely to sweet treats.  

Although I’ve been an embarrassingly large number of times since we moved last October, I still feel overwhelmed every time I walk through their doors. Two long display cases full of four- to six-layer cakes, éclairs, cream puffs, cheesecakes, pies, cookies, and bars greet you, and somehow in just a few moments, I’m supposed to pick out what I want to give the bakers behind the counter my order. Impossible!

I always hem and haw indecisively, pacing up and down the cases, trying to narrow down my choices to five, then three, then one. Sometimes my guy takes pity on me and tells me to buy two desserts, but this time…

Karen and Alex agreed that we should share around the table—the sweetest girls I could’ve asked for. Decision crisis averted! Karen went with a layered caramel, whipped cream, and puff pastry treat; Alex ordered a slice of chocolate cake with chocolate and peanut butter frostings; and I ended up with a piece of spiced apple cake.

Within minutes, we had nine forks spread out across the table, one for each person and dessert, and we nearly forgot to talk. So many desserts! So little time! Pure heaven for a baking blogger.

While the caramel in Karen’s and my treats made me weak at the knees, it was Alex’s frosting that stole the show. I already knew that I adored the restaurant’s rich, fudgy chocolate frosting, but that peanut butter one… It was sweet, nutty, and with the texture of mousse combined with cheesecake. I wanted to hole up with a bowl of that and a spoon!

That frosting became the inspiration for today’s dessert: Skinny Peanut Butter Cheesecake! It’s sweet and creamy with a light peanut butter taste, and boy oh boy… This is the stuff dreams are made of!

 

This lightened up cheesecake starts with the crust. I settled on a chocolate graham cracker crust because chocolate and peanut butter go together like two peas in a pod. (I bet Oreos would make an incredible crust too!) It’s held together with butter and an egg white, which helps cut down on fat and calories, and is baked until just barely fragrant.

The filling proved to be slightly trickier. It needed a prominent—but not cloying—peanut butter taste, and not just pure vanilla either. I tested the filling three times in five days before I proclaimed it perfect! (And yes, at one point, we had all three cheesecakes in the fridge. There was hardly room for anything else!) So here’s my trick…

I used a combination of Better’n Peanut Butter and PB2. Both of these have less fat and calories per serving compared to regular peanut butter, but they still provide the same iconic taste. You’ll need ½ cup of the former and 1 full cup of the latter.

However, because PB2 is actually a powder, it makes the filling really thick—much more so than a regular plain or vanilla cheesecake. We’ll add a little milk to compensate, but because it’s still so thick, the cheesecake finishes baking in a shorter period of time.

As hard as it may be, chilling is mandatory. At least 8 hours in the fridge before serving! This allows the texture and flavor to fully set, but as soon as the time was up, you better believe I cut into this, and…

Pure bliss.

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More peanut butter cheesecake recipes from other food bloggers…

♥   No Bake Frozen Peanut Butter Cheesecake {with Nutter Butter Crust!} by Crazy for Crust

♥   Peanut Butter Nutella Cheesecake Bars by Inside BruCrew Life

♥   Peanut Butter Butterfinger Cheesecake by Sally’s Baking Addiction

♥   Peanut Butter Cheesecake Minis by TidyMom