Orange & Rosemary Yogurt Cheesecake

As a cheesecake lover, I’m always looking for new cheesecake recipe ideas. Is it possible to concoct a healthy cheesecake? If so, I’m all about it. When I ran across a recipe which uses yogurt in the filling rather than cream cheese, I took notice. This cheesecake recipe uses a “labneh” which is Greek yogurt that has been strained to make a soft cheese. The labneh makes a smooth and light-textured cheesecake! It is higher in protein and lower in calories than cream cheese versions. Yes, a little healthier and very easy to make. This cheesecake recipe adds fresh rosemary and orange zest to the filling. These ingredients give a unique flavor “pop” to this cheesecake. Something different to brighten up an otherwise rather bland filling. And I added candied orange peels from marmalade as a topping.

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Yogurt Cheesecake with a Salty Pretzel Crust and Candied Walnuts

I like a challenge and was excited to see a notice for a contest to create a recipe using California walnuts. The goal was to submit a blog post and recipe using walnuts in either a sweet or savory recipe. Well, I love walnuts and so I jumped at the chance to enter the contest. However, by the time my walnut samples arrived in the mail and I figured out what to make, I’d missed the deadline. I made my recipe anyway. It is a soothing yogurt cheesecake — very healthy, too — I added a salty pretzel crust (savory) and candied walnuts on top (sweet). The recipe contains a “twist” on traditional cheesecake recipes. You will see. The dessert turned out great.

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