Healthy Coconut Lime Cheesecake ♥ siggi's #Sponsored Healthy Holidays Recipe Challenge

This Recipe DeDux final contest of 2015 could not have come at a better time. Sorry. I really meant a better time for me because my new recent diet has been such a success. My success? Create dishes that were lean on calories but high on nutrition and taste. That included desserts, too.

"I received free samples of siggi's yogurt mentioned in this post. By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by siggi's yogurt and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time."

In my supermarket, there are so many different yogurts, it takes up one full back wall in the dairy section. Not kidding. I have seen people stare aimlessly, with a frown on their brow, trying to figure out where to start.

That is why I love siggi's strained low fat yogurt. As simple as a yogurt can get with no gimmicks, so much less sugar, all natural ingredients and so different in concept, it stands out on it's own.

An Icelandic-style thick yogurt called skyr (skeer) is a strained, low sugar yogurt that has been around for 1000 years.
First conceived in the small New York City kitchen in 2004, of a recently transplanted Icelandic Siggi Hilmarsson, who missed the style of yogurt he grew up eating. So what does one do? Well, do what Siggi did. He made his own, quit his job and started selling it at farmer's markets.

Eleven years later, siggi's can be found all over the US. Thicker than a Greek-style yogurt, siggi's has less sugar than any other yogurt found on that wall.
Loving the taste and texture of this product, the first dish that popped into my mind was cheesecake. One that has a quarter of the calories in a traditional version but with the same crust, flavor and pucker.
I took my go-to recipe of 40 years, slashed the calories without sacrificing any of that oh-so-wonderful stick-to-the-roof of your mouth texture that has defined exceptional cheesecakes for years. I make so many cheesecakes that during the holidays, you know those cookie tins, usually filled with holiday cookies? I bake cheesecakes in those tins, and pass them out to family, neighbors and co-workers.

Guess what flavor everyone is getting this year?
I choose siggi's coconut yogurt and combined that with refreshing lime juice and zest. A virtual Caribbean fiesta in your mouth!

With only a few simple substitutions for the crust, like replacing the butter with coconut oil and the sugar with an all natural coconut nectar, the cheesecake filling itself was completely done in a blender making prep time under 30 minutes.

While I baked mine in a 9" spring form pan, an 8" pan does produce a higher slice. Either way, 1 slice will satisfy any cheesecake aficionado and make new ones of people who thought cheesecake was completely out of reach.
You can hug me now.

Let's get cooking......

Healthy Coconut-Lime Cheesecake
makes 12 servings

* 8 tablespoons coconut nectar, divided (7+1)
* 15 Maria cookies (found in the Latin section)
* 2 tablespoons coconut oil
* 3 containers of siggi's coconut yogurt
* 1 cup ricotta (part-skim or whole milk)
* 2 large eggs
* 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup coconut milk
* 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
* 1 tablespoon lime zest
* 1 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract
* 1/3 teaspoon Kosher salt

Crust:
Grind Maria cookies in a processor and add 1 tablespoon nectar and 2 tablespoons coconut oil while processor is running.
Remove to a spring form pan and press evenly on the bottom and 1/2" up the side.

Filling:
In a blender, add remaining 7 tablespoons of coconut nectar, yogurt, ricotta, eggs, flour, coconut milk, lime juice & zest, coconut extract and salt and blend until mixture is smooth, about 4 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350­°.
Bake the crust for 8 minutes, remove to cool while the filling is made.

Pour the filling into the cooled crust and bake for 45-50 minutes. Lightly shake the pan. The middle should move slightly. Shut off the heat, put a folded towel between the door and oven, and leave cake in the oven for 30 minutes.
Remove to a rack and allow to come to room temperature.
Place in the fridge 8 hours or overnight.

Serving: 1/12th cheesecake

   

    An InLinkz Link-up