I am so excited about this diabetic friendly, low carb, sugar free cheesecake frozen yogurt that all through the Gettysburg Address (we’re on the home school Civil War unit right now), I was enraptured by different thoughts, all encompassing frozen yogurt.
No, I’m not going to share 37 ways to make frozen yogurt, but I am going to share my other yogurt-spiration. From this simple, five ingredient recipe, you can pretty much expand your frozen yogurt righteousness in a wholly different direction. That of the cheesecake variety.
I went full-on strawberry for this recipe, and I share how I did that below in the tips. (Always make sure to check the tips.)
And thus, four floors, and less than 7 carbs ago, Your Lighter Side brought forth from the kitchen a new dessert … aw forget it. Who am I kidding? I’m not Abe Lincoln. I’m short and not as hairy. Well, my legs are hairy. And I only played with Lincoln Logs. I try not to study near open flames. I can let the quips loose, but none are as Abe-y as Abe’s. For today I will settle for Babe Lincoln. (Don’t look at me that way).
Strawberry in your face. And, erm, in your mouth. Which is in your face.
That aside,
A (Lincoln) Penny for thinky thoughts and recipe ruminations:
- Can’t find fage or Greek yogurt? Do not fear. Simply pour a container of whole fat, plain yogurt into cheesecloth, allow to drain, and what you’re left with is Greek yogurt. Bam. Now you can go back to being fabulous.
- Want key lime? Add some lime juice in place of lemon along with some lime zest.
- For soft-serve, you will likely only need to freeze the yogurt for 30-60 minutes, checking every 15 minutes or so.
- For solid ice cream consistency, allow 60-120 minutes for the yogurt to fully harden, stirring every 30 minutes.
- If your frozen yogurt becomes too frozen, simply let rest on the counter at room temperature (or in the refrigerator if you have more time) until the desired consistency is reached. Stir and serve.
- Make sure to powder your granulated sweetener (in a blender or food processor) prior to adding to the yogurt. Coldness + granulation doesn’t equal a breakdown; you’ll have crunchy granules.
- Need to conserve some calories? You can use a less full-fat recipe, but be aware that dairy products which tend to be lower in fat climb in carbohydrates due to an addition of sugar–especially in cream cheeses.
- Strawberry Cheesecake Yogurt: I swirled in some of this sugar free preserves recipe to bring the strawberry fabulousness and then lined the bowl with fresh, unsweetened strawberries for that added bit of special. Please note the calculations blow do not include added fruit.
- This recipe is sugar free, gluten free, vegetarian friendly, and contains only 3.2 grams of carbs per serving because the addition of even lower carb cream cheese lessens the carb value. Not bad for the easiest, most delicious dessert you’ve ever made with a bowl and a spoon.
- A delicious plain frozen yogurt version can be found here.
Easy Cheesecake Frozen Yogurt
2 cups plain, full-fat fage/Greek yogurt
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar equivalent substitute
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsps vanilla extract
Combine ingredients in a large, freezer-proof bowl or pan. Freeze covered, stirring every 30 minutes until desired consistency is reached. Keep covered and frozen.
Makes about 5, 1/2 cup servings.
Nutritional information per 1/2 cup serving: Calories: 140, Carbohydrates: 3.2g, Fiber: 0g, Net Carbohydrates: 3.2g, Protein: 7g, Fat: 24g.
You are my hero! I have been craving ice cream for two weeks, but couldn’t find anything low-carb friendly. (And I can’t cheat cuz I’m diabetic). I will be making this tonight. I don’t have preserves, but I keep freeze dried strawberries (from Trader Joe’s) in the house — I grind them up in my coffee grinder for making my strawberry cheesecake protein bars. I bet they’ll be great in this recipe. And offering a key lime variation? You truly are the best!
Moira– What an awesome idea to grind up the strawberries in a coffee grinder. That is so inventive! I love it! I hope you like these recipes. No one in our house will eat ice cream now. They’re too spoiled by the yogurt.
Holy cow this stuff is GOOD! It was really hard to stop “taste-testing” the batch and put it in the freezer!
I made a few changes that I thought other people might dig: I used slightly less than a cup of erythitol, powdered, and added a full dropper of vanilla creme liquid stevia. I also added in 12 drops of capella flavor drops, NY cheesecake flavor. I added in about an 1/8th of a cup of freeze dried strawberries, which I pulverized in my coffee grinder. I also added flaxmeal, cuz I’m crazy into fiber like that — I always loved the graham cracker part of cheesecake, so I mixed 5 drops of Capella drops, graham cracker flavor, into 2 T flaxseed, crushed in coffee grinder. I stirred this mixture into the yogurt mixture. Seriously — this is amazing stuff. It tastes EXACTLY like a strawberry cheesequake blizzard, which was my go-to sweet treat, pre diabetes.
Thanks so much for sharing your recipe! I can already tell I’ll be making this about a zillion times. The only bad thing will be trying to limit myself to a single serving… 🙂
It is SO hard not to eat more than a few bites before it goes in the freezer. Everything you did sounds phenomenal!
Um………maybe a few blended strawberries mixed in. THANKS!
Ooh! I am thinking blackberries when they come into season, too…
Great! Now I know what’s for dessert tonight! Thanks – looks wonderful!
Make sure to make it appear you worked really hard. Swoon across something after you throw some coconut flour in your hair.
Would this work in an ice cream maker…. This truly is perfection dearie!
Hi, Susan! You could probably use an ice cream maker! I haven’t tried it. If you do, would you let me know how it works?
Looks yummy. What is your favorite sugar sub? Would honey work?
Thanks
Hi, Darla! You can sub in honey, absolutely, in slightly different amounts. I tend towards the Purple-bagged Krogre brand of Ideal sweetener: https://www.idealsweet.com/kroger/index.html
I have some Lime Ginger Marmalade that I made last year (with Splenda) that sounds like it would be perfect for this… mmm can’t wait to try it!
Wow. That sounds like it would be perfect, fresh and fruity! I love that idea. The flavors would totally mesh, too.
Absolutely awesome!!!!!! Fantastic. Can’t wait to do this.. like today! I would really like all these recipes in a cookbook. Aren’t you thinking of doing one? Also, if we have a good recipe, can we just send it in to you? Do we need pics? I have some that I have varied to make low carb. Blessings to you and yours, Sheatina
Hi, Sheatina! I am currently working with a publisher and hope one of my next projects will, in fact, be a cook book. Thank you for asking!
I LOVE to get recipes to share! You guys come up with the most amazing things. It helps to have a picture (it doesn’t have to be magazine-perfect) and I always ask for a link to your site so that I care share you with readers. Recipes can come to [email protected].
ICE CREAM!!!! YAY! I’m breaking out the machine and making this tonight. Thanks so much!!
Such a GREAT idea! I don’t have any Fage but I’m gonna go buy some now after reading this. I’m going to start watching my carbs soon, and I was trying to find recipes and ideas to add to my list!
I really hope you like this recipe as much as we do! If you can’t find any unsweetened, full fat fage/Greek, you can make your own, too! I put a quick note in the tips above the recipe for those of us without access to Greek yogurts.
Oh ya Fage is plentiful here. I wonder how it would taste with some raw cocoa powder and stevia? That sounds like it could be heaven! Totally going to try this.
I would say to go ahead and try it. It is so easy to sample the flavors before it goes in the freezer. Worst case, add more yogurt to offset any tastes you’re not crazy about. Nothing’s ever such a mess that it can’t be fixed by doubling the recipe and adding vanilla.
OH. MY. GOODNESS. I just bought the Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream book with all kinds of wondrous flavors and was thinking I was going to have to spend all summer tinkering around to make LC ice cream, and here you’ve gone and done all the work for me… all I have to do is add the flavors and taste test! I bow before you and send you a HUGE Thank You!
Sara–you are so sweet! I do have some low carb ice cream recipes in the works, too. Please let me know if you come up with something that you love so much you want to see me drool just by reading about it.
Would liquid Splenda work as the sweetener, or does it have to be granulated? I’m diabetic, so I don’t like to use the carbier granulated Splenda if I don’t have to.
This sounds divine, I can’t wait to make it!!
You can use essentially any sweetener with this recipe. The bonus is you can taste tst before freezing so you know it’s exactly the way you want it first.
You are so funny–you are a joy to read—-AND LOVE all your recipies!
Thank you so much for saying so! My kids call me a lame hipster, so when I hear amazingly generous compliments like yours, I’m like yeah, hey kids, lame this!
My major problem is all the yogurts around here wither have sugar in them, or all fat free! No one has full fat yogurt! I get so mad about that.
I saw the Greek yogurt, but never checked the ingrediants, will have to go look.
Tami– that’s the hardest part. The full fat usually comes in the large tubs, so maybe that helps a little? Worst-case, if you can find a yogurt that’s plain/fat free, you can drain the liquids from that and use it in place of the Greek. Another commenting friend said to be sure to check for any hidden gums to avoid in the plain yogurts for the best product.
We make these as popsicles instead of ice cream. Proportions vary but I use a couple of raw egg yolks (our own hens so they are safe), cream cheese and yogurt. It makes an incredibly thick mixture which I thin with coconut milk so I get more per batch. I also add a bit of vanilla but no sweetener.
Some times I stir in a big dollop of peanut butter too. The popsicle mold holds 1/4 cup – pure bliss in a pre-measured container.
And of course you can add what you like.
That sounds really amazing, especially with the raw egg. Does freezing the egg kill any potential issues with raw eggs?
I mixed up a batch this morning. I was feeling bad because my husband bought some coffee ice cream last night and I couldn’t resist a couple spoonfuls. So I took this recipe and made my flavor mocha! Its yum! I only had to add 1 TBS of espresso and 1 TBS unsweetened dark chocolate cocoa! Thank you for sharing your recipes…and I’m glad to see that you are indeed thinking of a cookbook!
Thank you for your support, Kim!–and, incidentally, for making me drool with your rendition of frozen deliciousness.
With our own chickens we don’t worry about the raw eggs. But you can just leave the egg out if it is a concern.
You. have. chickens! Lucky!
I made this Saturday with DaVinci syrup. I used a combo of vanilla and raspberry. It was sooo delicious. Only problem was that it got as hard as a rock! I let it sit out for a few hours and then finally put it in the fridge. Any thoughts???
We tend to eat ours within an hour to 90 minutes or you’re right–it tends to freeze into a pretty hard mass! As soon as the kids know I’m making it, they set the timer because they want theirs. lol
What about using splenda? Sorry, I know you are going back and forth with the stuff.
Hi there! I purposely don’t specify sweeteners since they are so relative to each user. If you use Splenda, just make sure you use what would be the equivalent to the sugar replacement.
Just mixed this up, and it is WONDERFUL! Hubby loved it too … now we have to wait for it to freeze! I think I will try making it in our ice cream maker tomorrow as the bowl still has to freeze.
Question for you: Trying to run my numbers on this so I can enter it into my Fitday. When you total your carb count, do you count the carbs from the yogurt and the Ideal? I think I heard somewhere that the carbs from the yogurt can be subtracted, and the xylitol can be subtracted as well?
Thanks for all of your hard work and great recipes!
Hi, Robyn! I only count the yogurt carbs in this one. You’re 1000% right though–many count fewer carbs for the yogurt based on the kefir exception. I like to count those carbs, but I don’t count the carbs for my sweetener since everyone uses something different.
Thanks – that helps me figure that out!
I couldn’t wait and used the ice cream maker tonight (plus my husband pointed out that it would need overnight to set)! It came out with a lovely, smooth, thick consistency – absolutely wonderful! It took about 18 to 20 minutes. Thanks again!
Ok… I just found your site a couple of days ago and am so impressed. I made crockpot lasagna for dinner tonight (fantabulous) and this wonderful fro-yo recipe for dessert, and I am in low-carb heaven. These are the types of recipes that remind me how doable low-carb is, and how delicious and nutritious it really is.
This frozen yogurt was creamy, decadent, rich, and I totally felt like I was cheating. I used powdered stevia as the sweetener (not sure exactly how much as I just added until it was the right sweetness, but would estimate about a half tsp total). Love other’s suggestions of various berries or freeze-dried strawberries…I have bookmarked this one and have a feeling it’s going to be used ALL summer long.
I am so glad you feel that way, and I am so thankful that you took the time to let me know. You are the best, beej!
I cannot wait to try this! I’ve cream for breakfast!!!
Trying this for the first time today…but a quick question on how you figured carb count. For two cups of plain Greek yogurt, I get 16 to 24 carbs total, depending on the brand. Most cream cheese is 2 carbs per ounce, so that is another 12. Not even counting any carbs in the juice or sweetener, I end up with 5.5 to 7ish per serving…still pretty low, but I’m wondering what I’m doing wrong in my calculations. Thanks for your help!!
Hi, Meg! Great question! I have cream cheese at a carb per ounce and the Greek yogurt at 5 carbs per half cup.
OMG, how delicious was this one??!! Tried it last night and it was yummy. Skinny husband loved it too but only got a wee bit since he also has regular ice cream in the freezer and all other kinds of carb-filled things to eat all over the house! The possibilities seem endless but this basic recipe was so easy and quick. Love it! Thank you again, Jamie! (we have had our eye on a little $20 blender/processor at Wal-Mart made by GE so we went ahead and bought it and it processed the sweetener beautifully and easily. Did it in 2 batches. This tip will help a lot of my low-carb dessert recipes out.)
Patti– I am so glad! I love love love being able to mill my own flours and powder my own sugars. It is worth the investment. I have the Ninja KitchenMaster Prep and I positively love it.
You should buy a Vitamix Blender. All you have to do then is put in Frozen strawberry’s and Full fat yogurt. I used Fage Greek yogurt because I like it the best. It’s ready in the less than 2 minutes without any freezing. Not to mention with the Vitamix you can do so much more. Definately worth the $500 investment.
That’s fantastic, Alex! It would work with a Ninja too, I’ll bet! The use of frozen fruit is inspired. Thank you thank you.
I love this recipe! I followed it the way you suggested, just using greek gods full fat greek yogurt. I also added 1 large banana and processed that and added it to the mix to make banana cheesecake flavored frozen yogurt. I blended it together and put it in an ice cream maker and it came out beautifully. Thank you so much for the inspiration, it was super super delicious!
I am so glad you tried it. I love your process in making the dessert. Thanks so much for taking the time to share how you did it!
I love your recipes!. Can you make a sugar free sugar ice cream cone recipe and a low carb/sugar free waffle cone recipe. Also a sugar free butterscotch chips recipe and low carb, sugar free/low sugar candied yams with marshmallows recipes.
I made a single serving of this which came out great. I follow more of a Dukan diet so I used non-fat Fage, reduced-fat cream cheese and a squirt of sugar-free orange flavored liquid kool-ade along with a squirt of sugar-free pineapple-coconut flavored Dasani water enhancer and it was like frozen Cactus Cooler ice-cream-ish treat. Wonderful on this hot, humid summer day 🙂
Thanks so much for all your creativity. Your recipes are awesome on their own and so easily adaptable. Genuis!
Um okay so I’m new at this, and bought some non-fact big ass yogurt by mistake and I was tired, grumpy and craving sweets. I used it anyway to make this recipe along with Apriva (Kroger brand?) zero calorie sweetener with sucralose. The carb content says <1g so I figured why not.
OMG SO GOOD. I also used your raspberry preserve recipe (no gum stuff) and swirled that in there. I'm very excited, thank you so much. 🙂
Would it make a difference in the end product if you used FF greek yogurt instead of the full fat?
Hey there! Crazy chicken lady here here to bust the raw egg myth! the risk of salmonella from raw egg is extremely low. The majority of the risk comes from fecal material on the shell. Like any raw animal product, if left out for an extended period of time there’s a risk of contamination. But if you wash your egg thoroughly before cracking, you’re pretty much good to go!