Shannon's Citrus Cheesecake Surprise

There is the recipe for the cheesecake today... if you don't want 3 cheesecakes- half it and put the extra into a muffin tin... or if you use a spring form pan... make sure you do a water bath for this so it cooks all the way through... with a spring form pan this will just be a very deep dish cheesecake....  

 

Shannon’s Citrus Cheesecake Surprise

 

2.5 pounds of cream cheese- 5 blocks- 1/3 fat reduced (this is 5 blocks of cream cheese)

2 - 6oz container of Lemon Dannon Light and Fit yogurt

1 – 8oz container of light sour cream

1 grapefruit- zested and juiced (you can use a combo of lemon and orange if you like)

3 tsp of vanilla extract

1 cup of Splenda

¾ cup of DS white sugar sub.

3 TBSP of all purpose flour

5 eggs

2 egg yolks

Purple food coloring (for fun)

2 graham cracker crusts (to lazy today to make SF crusts from SF cookies)

  

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. 

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until soft and smooth, about 1 minute.  Combine flour and sugar in another bowl and then add to the beaten cream cheese.  Mix well Scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.  Beat in the grated citrus zests.  Add in the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla extract.  Mix thoroughly scraping down the sides of the bowl, until the batter is perfectly smooth.

Pour the batter into the graham cracker crusts, tapping the bottom on the counter 4 or 5 times to eliminate air pickets.  Bake 1 hour, or until the center feels firm when pressed.  Immediately remove the cake pan from the larger pan and set aside to cool on a rack.  Refrigerate for a few hours.

ok, so as good as that one sounds, it looks like WAAAAY to much work for me.  I'm all for easy stuff.

easy version of this...

2 cups of milk

1 box of lemon SF instant pudding

1 block of cream cheese

extra- if you have an orange... zest it and juice it...

1 crust of your choice- premade graham cracker crust or sf cookie crust- crust up a box and add a tablespoon or so of melted butter... bake for 5 to 8 mins... let cool before you add the mixture...

 

Toss all of that in the blender until smooth... then pour in crust... it is a good fix for when you want cheesecake... oh fridge it for a few hours... then dig in... if you want this fluffier... after blending that together... fold in a container of SF cool whip....

that's my speed. Thanks Shannon!!

This is the kind of cheesecake we have here all the time... which is why I think Lore always wants cheesecake lol... but if you want more of new york kind of a feel use vanilla pudding with a hint of lemon juice... taste and see what ya like... if you want a chocolate one... use SF oreos for the crust... then crush up some more for on top... YUM!!  I have a box of banana and butterscotch in the pantry that I haven't experimented with yet... oh if you find the cheesecake flavor of pudding you can add a little vanilla ext to it or lemon to give it less of a cheesey feel to it hehee...

I have to say that this was a WONDERFUL taste sensation.  Thank you so much for sharing!

Karen

I was really surprised how awesome the grapefruit was in this... I am going to try this some time to see how it would be with real chunks of the fruit in it...