Low calorie carrot cake cheesecake muffins
A soft, moist and fluffy carrot cake muffin filled with a velvety smooth cheesecake - what could be better? These low calorie carrot cake cheesecake muffins are truly what weight loss dreams are made of because how easy is a calorie deficit if you can satisfy your sweet tooth with a cheesecake filled carrot cake muffin for 90 calories?
Ingredients
Cheesecake filling:
- 75 g light or low-fat cream cheese
- 20 g 0 calorie icing/powdered sweetener*
- ½ tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
Carrot cake muffins:
- 1 egg room temperature
- 35 g stevia or 0 calorie granulated sweetener*
- 50 g 0% fat greek yogurt*
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 80 g plain/all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp ground cloves
- 50 g shredded carrot
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 180ºC(350ºF). Prep a 6-count muffin tray with 6 muffin liners and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, make the cheesecake filling by mixing together the cream cheese, vanilla and 0 calorie icing/powdered sweetener until smooth and well combined. Set aside.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg and stevia until light and fluffy. Add the yogurt and vanilla and whisk again until smooth.
- Add the flour, spices, baking powder and baking soda and whisk until well combined. Fold in the shredded carrot.
- Pour 1/12 of the batter into a muffin liner, add a dollop of the cheesecake filling and top with another 1/12 of the batter. Repeat for the remaining 5 muffin liners until all the batter and cheesecake have been used up. The easiest way to get perfectly even muffins is to weigh the carrot cake batter and the cheesecake filling and divide the carrot cake batter by 12 and the cheesecake filling by 6 to get the amount per muffin.
- Place the muffins in the pre-heated oven and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into either side of the batter comes out clean or with very few crumbs.
- Allow the muffins to cool completely before enjoying!
Notes
* Plain or All-purpose flour – This recipe calls for plain or all-purpose flour. For a gluten free alternative, you can use gluten free flour or oat flour.
*0 calorie powdered sugar – You can make your own by blitzing 0 calorie sweetener in a food processor until fine and powdered. You can also opt for regular powdered sweetener for a slight increase in calories.
*Stevia or 0 calorie granulated sweetener – The stevia i use is a 1:2 ratio of stevia to sugar. You can use any 0 calorie granulated sweetener but be mindful of the conversion! This recipe would require 70g of regular sugar so if your sweetener is a 1:1 ratio, use 70g etc.
*0% fat greek yogurt – Greek yogurt is much thicker than regular yogurt which results in fluffier and softer muffins. Regular yogurt will work fine for this recipe if that's what you have available.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 MuffinCalories: 90kcalCarbohydrates: 13.2gProtein: 4.3gFat: 2.3gSaturated Fat: 1.2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.2gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 39.4mgSodium: 297.4mgPotassium: 50.7mgFiber: 0.8gSugar: 2.4gVitamin A: 92IUCalcium: 7.4mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!