This is as close to cheesecake you can get while watching your diet. Each of these bars is about 70 calories. After they are cooked you can set a half a strawberry on each to make it really pretty and get a flavor boost without many calories added. I suggest you have them as a snack or with company and eat them with a big cup of coffee or tea. That will fill you up. Eat them slowly and savor them. YUM!

Cheesecake Bars
makes 32 2-inch squares



1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup Brown Sugar Twin (a sugar substitute that comes in a brown sugar flavor)
1/3 cup firm margarine, cut into pieces
8 ounces cream cheese
1 large egg
2 packets sugar substitute
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare an 8-inch square pan with any non-stick baking spray.

Mix together flour, walnuts, sugar substitute, and margarine.

Remove 1/2 cup for topping.

Press remainder firmly in pan. Bake for 12 minutes.

Then beat cream cheese, egg, sugar substitute, lemon juice, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Spread over baked crust, spreading to cover.

Sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture.

Return to oven and bake 25 minutes.

Cool. To serve, cut into 2-inch squares.

Those sound very good. Thanks for the recipe.

Do you think that you could use light cream cheese, and eliminate a few more calories?

You can try a light cream cheese, but it might not work well. There needs to be some form of richness so that the bars will actually taste cheesecake-like. Otherwise they will be rather boring and not much of a treat.

But still they only have 70 calories a piece and for a snack that's not too shabby.