Healthy Pumpkin Cheesecakes are the perfect gluten free, low fat cheesecake treat! Made with greek yogurt, low in sugar and so delicious!
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It’s no secret that we love ALL things pumpkin and healthier treats around here. From Healthy Pumpkin Muffins to Pumpkin Chicken Chili, and even these 40+ Healthy Pumpkin Recipes – we’ve got LOTS of options when it comes to cooking with pumpkin.
A few weeks ago when I shared these Healthy Cheesecake Bites I knew they could easily be made into a delicious fall treat by adding pumpkin puree and a few more spices.
The result was delicious.
These mini pumpkin cheesecakes are such a fun fall dessert. Perfect for sharing with friends, enjoying on football Sunday – or even making for a holiday treat!
Now, let’s get into what makes these cheesecakes ‘healthy’
What makes these cheesecakes better for you?
These cheesecakes are a lightened up version of the classic dessert you know and love.
- Lower in fat – A slice of cheesecake typically has about 30-40g of fat. These mini cheesecakes have 15g of fat per serving, which is almost half! The rich creaminess of yogurt helps to replace some of the cream cheese and make these much lighter.
- Gluten/Grain Free- Cheesecake is often made with graham cracker crust – this recipe has almond flour for the base for all my gluten/grain free friends! (Although there is a substitution to make it with graham crackers)
- Lower in sugar – Most cheesecakes have over 30g of sugar per slice. This recipe only has 14g of sugar. The filling is sweetened with maple syrup and there’s a tiny bit of brown sugar in the crust.
Ingredients for Healthy Cheesecakes
To make these mini healthier cheesecakes you’ll need:
- almond flour
- neufchatel cream cheese
- greek yogurt
- vanilla extract
- brown sugar
- cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg
- pumpkin puree
- maple syrup
- melted butter
You can find substitutions for all of these ingredients below in the green shaded substitutions box.
You’ll also need a muffin tin + silicone muffin liners. We like the silicone muffin liners the best because the cheesecakes pop right out of them.
Foil liners will also work, but paper lines won’t as they will get stuck.
How to make Healthier Cheesecake
It’s so simple to make these mini cheesecake bites! To make healthier cheesecakes:
- Mix together your crust.
- Once your crust has combined, press into silicone muffin liners and bake until golden brown.
- As crusts are baking – whip together filling until it is smooth and creamy.
- Scoop the filling into the baked crusts
- Place in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours until chilled.
- When the cheesecakes have chilled, sprinkle with cinnamon on top and serve.
Substitutions for healthy pumpkin cheesecakes:
We have included a few suggestions for this recipe below for you.
Room Temperature: It is very important that these ingredients are brought to room temperature for the smoothest filling. If you don’t, your filling won’t be as smooth. Cream cheese will leave little lumps if it’s not completely to room temp. This will still be fine for eating it, but not necessarily for presentation. I think a fresh fruit garnish would be great with the “cookie” crumbs.
Baked: We don’t recommend baking these cheesecakes. In order to get a nice looking cheesecake with the Greek yogurt, you’d need to have a water bath in the oven and it’s overall a lot of work!
Coconut Flour: You can’t substitute coconut flour for almond flour. It doesn’t work with the cream cheese. The almond flour crumb mimics the graham crackers best.
Nut Free/ Graham Crackers: You can easily sub in 1 cup of finely ground graham crackers for almond flour. If you do this, we recommend taking out the brown sugar since those are sweet. I’d still add in the cinnamon if they are honey graham crackers.
Other flavors: Try these Healthy Cheesecakes or Deconstructed Peppermint Cheesecake
Sugar: We tried a honey infused crust to really try to mimic the classic graham cracker crust flavor but it just didn’t pop through. We also tried one with coconut sugar and did not like the taste. Brown sugar is the best choice here. It’s a ¼ cup over 10 mini cheesecakes which is a very minimal amount.
Dairy Free: We do not recommend any dairy free options for this recipe.
Maple Syrup: We haven’t tried swapping maple syrup for honey but I think it would work!
Neufchâtel Cream Cheese: This is just cream cheese with 1/3 less fat. Make sure to use the one in the block. Do not use any whipped versions. While I haven’t tested regular cream cheese in this recipe, I think it would work.
Muffin Liners: Foil or silicone muffin liners work best. Paper ones risk sticking and taking on too much moisture.
Mix ins: I haven’t tried mixing anything into the filling of this (peanut butter, chocolate, berries, etc) but I think it would work. Alternatively, you can just top the cheesecakes with whatever garnish you like. You can also try these mini cheesecakes: Mini Lemon Cheesecakes, Mini Key Lime Cheesecakes, Frozen Key Lime Pie (gluten free and dairy free) or Healthy Cheesecake Bites
Making one large cheesecake: I haven’t tried making one large cheesecake with this recipe but I think it would work if you were to make it in a spring form cheesecake pan
Crustless: I haven’t tried making these cheesecakes without the crust – but you could definitely just make the filling and serve it in a bowl as if it were pumpkin mousse.
For chocolate lovers: Add mini chocolate chips to the filling or try this Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake!
Serving Gluten Free Pumpkin Cheesecake:
These pumpkin cheesecakes are best made 24 hours in advance of when you have to serve them. They only need about 6 hours to cool, but if they can set in the refrigerator overnight they’ll be even better!
Serve chilled: These cheesecakes should be served chilled. They’re fine to sit out at room temp for 1-2 hours, but they will get soft, and they’re meant to be eaten cold.
With cinnamon: We served these with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top, but you could also do chocolate, peanut butter, caramel sauce really anything you like!
How to store Healthier Pumpkin Cheesecakes:
Cheesecake bites must be stored in the refrigerator. They will last in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. They can get a little moist on top from condensation in the refrigerator so I recommend just blotting them with a paper towel before serving if that happens
Freezing – You can freeze these cheesecakes. When ready to eat, just remove from the freezer and place in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours before enjoying, or pop in the microwave for 10-15 seconds until thawed and creamy.
Other healthy dessert recipes we love:
Healthy Pumpkin Cheesecakes
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup brown sugar loosely packed
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons butter melted
Filling
- 8 ounces neufchatel cream cheese ⅓ less fat cream cheese
- 2/3 cup nonfat greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Instructions
- Note: It is very important that these ingredients are brought to room temperature for the smoothest filling. If you don’t, your filing won’t be as smooth.
- Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees
- Stir together all crust ingredients until a coarse sand-like texture forms. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with foil or silicone muffin liners.
- Press about 1.5 tablespoons of the crust mix into each of the 12 muffin cups. Depending on how fine your almond flour was, you might have some left over. Just distribute it evenly and cover the entire bottom of all the cups.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes at 350 until the edges start to brown a tiny bit.
- Remove crusts from the oven and allow the crust to cool while you prepare the filling. (You can put them in the refrigerator to cool quicker)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer add all filling ingredients. Use your whisk attachment (if available otherwise regular beaters are fine) and whip the filling mixture on high speed for 5-6 minutes until everything is incorporated.
- When your crust is completely cool, scoop 3 tablespoons of filling into each of the muffin cups.
- You will be able to fill the cups ¾ of the way.
- Put the cheesecakes into the fridge and chill for 6-8 hours or overnight.
Kris says
These were great! Instead of using the almond flour I subbed finely chopped pecans and 1 tbsp brown sugar.
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thank you! So glad you like them, Kris. You can plug the nutrition facts into My Fitness Pal, but I use a program through WP Recipe Maker to get the nutrition facts. You need to have a website to do it.
Amy Parkinson says
Have you tried freezing these? Can’t wait to try these and would love to make them ahead of my next event.
The Clean Eating Couple says
Hi Amy – Yes, we have a note on that in the post. You can freeze these cheesecakes. When ready to eat, just remove from the freezer and place in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours before enjoying, or pop in the microwave for 10-15 seconds until thawed and creamy.
Michelle says
Very good!!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked them 🙂
Meghan O says
These are absolutely amazing! I can’t wait to make the for my fam for thanksgiving 😊 Plus, they are easy to make!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thanks, Meghan! So happy you liked them 🙂
Alyssa says
These were delicious! Absolutely hit the spot and fulfilled my fall-themed dessert craving! Cannot wait to make these again soon!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thank you so much, Alyssa! I’m so glad you liked them!!
Jessica Packer says
This was seriously SOOO good!! I made a double batch to share with my neighbors & it did not disappoint! It wasn’t complicated or tedious to make & it tasted so yummy, while it was actually pretty dang good for you too! 10/10 – will make again….and again, and again!!!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thank you so much, Jessica! I’m so glad you liked them! Love that you shared with the neighbors 🙂
Annette F says
Not sure what I did different but mine never got hard enough to remove the wrapper. But it didn’t matter, just used a spoon. These are so yummy! Definitely a keeper. Everyone in the house loves them.
The Clean Eating Couple says
We used silicone molds so they popped out, if you used paper or the foil ones they will not come out of them. Glad you liked them!
Abigail says
Forget pumpkin pie, this is my new favorite fall dessert! I made them in the morning to enjoy that evening, but they were absolutely that much better the next day.
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked them! Thank you so much!
Fay says
Just made this for Thanksgiving. Soooo good and creamy!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked them!
Ciara Ledford says
Do these work in ramekins instead of muffin pans? Also, can zero calorie sweeteners like monkfruit or erythritol be substituted for brown sugar/maple syrup? Looks really good, planning to make for my birthday!
The Clean Eating Couple says
I think it would be hard to get these out of ramekins, but if you plan to eat them in the ramekin, sure! I would not substitute zero calorie sweeteners for the minimal amount of sugar in this. If it’s your birthday and you can – enjoy the real deal 😉
Lisa says
I made it for Thanksgiving but mine wasn’t that good 🙁 I used Monkfruit maple syrup and unfortunatelly my pie turned out to be not sweet at all, pretty plain, tasted like cream cheese 🙁 Maybe I should had used something else.
The Clean Eating Couple says
Hi Lisa- this recipe calls for real maple syrup, not monkfruit maple syrup. I’m sorry that it didn’t work for you, but that’s not a substitution I would recommend.