These lemon cheesecake bars are the perfect dessert because they only take 5 minutes of your time and they give you a chance to indulge without the guilt. My cheesecake bars are full of healthy fats and they’re only sweetened with dates and honey.
For people on a gluten- or dairy-free diet, you’re good to go because the base of these bars are made with cashew butter, the perfectly healthy alternative.
What Is a Cheesecake Bar?
A cheesecake bar is exactly what it sounds like — cheesecake that has been chilled and divided into bars. This makes it easy to pass out dessert at a party or to your family, and it helps you to be aware of your portions.
My cheesecake bars are also raw, so there’s no baking required. That’s why this recipe is so simple and only requires you to throw the ingredients into a blender.
Best Cheesecake Bar Ingredients
Most cheesecakes are made with white sugar, cream cheese, heavy whipping cream and even graham crackers for the crust. Don’t get me wrong, growing up I used to love eating cheesecake, but to me it’s no longer worth the gamble. Am I going to be feeling bloated afterwards? Maybe the sugar will give me a headache or the crust will throw off my digestion.
That’s why I started making cheesecake with much simpler and healthier ingredients.
I decided to use sprouted cashew butter instead of cream cheese. Cashew butter also has a creamy texture, plus cashews are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, plant-based protein, dietary fiber, antioxidants and minerals like copper, zinc and magnesium.
Instead of using artificial or processed sweeteners, I use dates and honey for my cheesecake bars. Medjool dates are the healthiest sugar alternatives, which is why you often see them in all-natural energy balls or bars. They are undeniably sweet, but completely unprocessed; plus, they can help to lower your cholesterol, boost your bone health and prevent constipation, which is why I often use them as a pre-workout snack.
Raw honey has incredible nutritional value, most notably, it works to relieve seasonal allergy symptoms and boosts your overall immunity.
How to Make Cheesecake Bars
This is a really simple recipe. Start by adding all of your ingredients to a food processor or blender. That’s sprouted cashew butter, raw honey, fresh lemon juice, Medjool dates, vanilla extract and sea salt.
Adding lemon juice to this mixture gives it a great tartness that you get from your classic cheesecake. Make sure you use fresh lemon juice and not lemon juice from concentrate. I like to squeeze my own, but you can also find fresh lemon juice in most grocery stores.
Did you know that vanilla extract is a powerful antioxidant that can help to lower your cholesterol naturally and boost your mental health? It’s true. Try to use a high-quality vanilla extract for your baking to get these awesome benefits.
Blend the ingredients until you have a smooth and creamy texture. If your blender gets jammed up in the process, just move the mixture around with a spoon and start again.
And just like that, your cheesecake batter has been made! You can even eat it just like this, as a pudding. The last step is to spread your cheesecake mix out to make bars.
Press your cheesecake mix into a pan lined with two sheets of parchment paper — this way you can slide out the parchment from both sides when the bars are ready. Put the pan into the refrigerator for about an hour until the mixture becomes hard. Then cut the mix into square bars and they’re ready to enjoy!
Cheesecake Bars Recipe
Total Time: 5 min
Yield: 12 1x
Diet: Gluten Free
Description
These nutty cheesecake bars are the perfect dessert because they only take five minutes of your time, yet they deliver perfectly on the creamy, sweet, tangy and salty combination. It’ll be the easiest, fanciest dessert you’ll ever make.
Ingredients
- 1 cup sprouted cashew butter, unsalted
- ⅓ cup lemon juice
- ⅓ cup raw honey
- 4 Medjool dates
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- In blender, chop dates first to make sure they will integrate in the cheesecake smoothly.
- Combine all remaining ingredients in food processor or blender.
- Blend until smooth, then scrap into a 8×8 baking pan lined with two sheets of parchment paper
- Refrigerate for at least an hour.
- Slice into 12 squares and serve cold.
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Category: Desserts, Snacks
- Method: Blender
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 square (46g)
- Calories: 178
- Sugar: 13.2g
- Sodium: 101mg (7% DV)
- Fat: 10.6g
- Saturated Fat: 2.1g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8.1g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 20.1g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 4g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
This recipe originally appeared on draxe.com
