Almost No Bake Cheesecake Bites

So I talk about my Sicilian side a lot but I am 1/2 Brit. My Mum was born in England. She's actually still a British citizen despite living in the US longer than England (it does get her out of jury duty.) Both my sister and brother were born in England too. I'm the only natural born American in my family. Born and raised in New York, baby.

I think my Sicilian side supersedes my British side but there are some decidedly British things I heart... Jane Austen, BBC television, gardening, antiques, and tea parties with dainty pastries like these...


Shelly's Almost No Bake Cheesecake Bites

Almond Crust

3/4 cup Almond Meal or Flour*, ground (you can grind your own)
1 1/2 scoops Vanilla Protein Powder
1 Tablespoon Butter, melted
1 Tablespoon Sugar Free Torani Syrup (I used SF Vanilla)

Grease and line a 12 cup mini muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside. Mix almond meal, protein powder, melted butter and Torani Sugar Free Syrup together.


Press mixture firmly and evenly mini muffin papers (about 3/4 full.) Bake at 350 for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove the crust from the oven and let it cool before adding the filling.


Lemon Filling

1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese
2 oz. Cream Cheese
1 Tablespoon SF Lemon Pudding mix, dry
2 teaspoons Sugar Free Torani Syrup (I used Vanilla)
zest of 1/2 a Lemon


Mix filling ingredients together and spoon onto cooled crusts. Top if desired.


Toppings ideas:

Grated Lemon Zest, Toasted Unsweetened Coconut, Half a Strawberry, a Cherry, Mandarin Orange Segments, Blueberries or other berries, Pineapple Chunks, SF Chocolate Shavings.

You know I rarely put nutrition (nut) info on my recipes because 1.) I'm not a nut (well that kind at least) and 2.) Ingredients stats will vary dramatically (part skim versus whole milk, full fat cream cheese versus reduced fat - you can certainly cut the fat a bit by subbing neufatchel for full fat cream cheese and using part skim ricotta. I like the real deal full fat good stuff and would rather just eat less.) Using my full fat ingredients plugged into fitday.com: They work out to around 100 cal. a piece, 7 grams of protein, 3 carbs, 9 fat grams (but mostly from the nut crust so good fats). These would be a perfect weight loss surgery friendly dessert on my plan.

*FYI: Almond meal and flour are both just ground up almonds. Almond flour is most often made with blanched almonds (no skin), whereas almond meal can be made either with whole or blanched almonds. The consistency is more like corn meal than wheat flour. I find that for the most part they can be used interchangeably. I mostly make my own by whizzing raw almonds (skin on) in my mini food processor but this time I had a bag of Almond Meal and used that.