Healthy Coconut Mousse Cheesecake Bars
I never told anyone this, but last week I bought a coconut from the grocery store. Well, I told people that part, but what I didn’t tell them was that I struggled with it for a good two hours… Embarrassing, I know.
Looking back on it, draining and opening the coconut was the easy part, requiring two knives and a hammer, and taking up only thirty minutes of my life and flushing it down the drain. The hard part was scraping out the insides of the coconut. Maybe I should have done a better job at googling how to do it properly, even though every website made it sound so easy. Or maybe the coconut wasn’t ripe yet (do coconuts even ripen?? This shows you how much I know about real coconuts…)
Anyways, a long time went by scraping that darned coconut. My arm was killing from the constant scraping (with spoons and knives!), the edge of the coconut cut my finger, and the coconut “fur” was “shedding” all over my floor. How can such a tiny thing cause so much ruckus? I finally gave up on the frustrating, annoying, mean coconut and made these cheesecake bars with the very easy, readily available (and non-finger-cutting) coconut extract. These tasted so good, I forgot about my bleeding finger and the fact that I had to vacuum the floor.
Healthy Coconut Mousse Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 32g (1 scoop) Chocolate Whey Protein Powder
- 30g (6 tbs) Unsweetened Natural Cocoa Powder
- 160g (⅔ cup) Raw Coconut Butter
- ½ tsp Coconut Extract
- ½ tsp Liquid Stevia Extract
- ½ tsp Natural Butter Flavor
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 96g (1 cup) Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
Filling:
- 16 oz Fat Free Cream Cheese
- 300g (1⅓ cups) Plain, Nonfat Greek Yogurt
- 96g (½ cup) Powdered Erythritol
- ½ tsp Coconut Extract
- ½ tsp Liquid Stevia Extract
- ½ cup Light Coconut Milk (canned)
- 2 packets Unflavored Gelatin
Chocolate Drizzle:
- 1 oz No-Sugar-Added Dark Chocolate
- 1 tbs Light Coconut Milk (canned)
Instructions
For the Crust:
- Line an 8" brownie pan with parchment paper both ways.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the protein powder and cocoa powder.
- Melt the coconut butter and stir in the extracts and salt. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir. Add the extra 2 tbs of coconut butter if needed. Fold in the oats.
- Scoop into the brownie pan and flatten. Refrigerate while you make the filling.
For the Filling:
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cream cheese and yogurt (I used a hand mixer). Add in the erythritol and extracts and whisk again.
- In a small pot, add the coconut milk and sprinkle with the gelatin. Put over medium-low heat and whisk constantly until the gelatin has dissolved.
- Slowly pour in the heated mixture while whisking the cream cheese mixture. Whisk until mixture is even, then pour over the refrigerated crust. Refrigerate until firm (4 hours to overnight).
For the Drizzle:
- In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave the chocolate at 30-second intervals, stirring between each one, until melted.
- Stir in the coconut milk. Pour into a piping bag (I used a ziploc and snipped a tiny corner) and pipe a design over the cheesecake (maybe write a few words if you like). Quickly top with raspberries and a tiny mint leaf (and tell people that you got it from a very special restaurant! They will believe you). Serve the same day.
Despite the crumbly crust, everyone who tried it still loved it. It was slightly crunchy and had the perfect balance of salty and sweet. I ate the leftover crumbs, as it tasted like the best granola I’ve ever eaten. I am a lover of all things coconut, so I found the coconut flavor to be perfect in these. My friend, on the other hand, only likes a slight amount of coconut, so she recommends using a little less extract. So if you adore coconut like I do, keep the measurements where they are. If you like a hint of coconut, remove the coconut extract from the crust.
As for the chocolate drizzle, I wasn’t a fan of how the pieces broke when slicing, but it added so much elegance to the dish that I would definitely keep it in! Plus, it helps the raspberries stay in place. Maybe you can try slicing the bars first and then adding the chocolate?
I clearly dug into this one 🙂 I was pleasantly surprised — so soft, so fluffy, so coconutty. Make these soon!
Indulge − no strings attached!
These look and sound fantastic. However, do you have any recommendations for using “traditional” (which usually means less healthy) ingredients?
Sure! I know what you mean 😉
You could probably use more cocoa powder instead of the protein powder, just make sure the crust dough looks good when you put it in the pan. Give it a taste, though, you may need to add some sweetener. Instead of the powdered erythritol you can use powdered sugar. If you don’t have stevia extract, you can add 1/4 cup-1/2 cup more of erythritol (or powdered sugar), just taste to adjust. Instead of the sugar free chocolate drizzle, just use regular dark chocolate.
Hope these substitutions help! 🙂
-Jess
These look amazing! And I know I could make them over to be low carb, I just need to rework the crust. I stumbled them and I am going ot pin them too!
Carolyn-
Maybe you can try using some nuts in the crust to add some crunch?
Thanks for stumbling/pinning! 🙂
-Jess
You are an artist, I’m lovin” it!!
These look amazing! I am going to try and make them with raw honey since I’m currently shunning sugar from my diet. Don’t ask me why, it’s a sordid story about obsession and restraint, which I suppose says enough in itself.
As for opening the coconut I know exactly what you mean. I damaged a countertop and a perfectly good chef knife at one point in my life, yet to no avail. Below is the method I use to open and empty my coconuts, which takes fairly minimal effort! Let me know how it works out for you 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPvhxeg_PUA
Kerry @ Yum and Yummer-
Thank you so much for the video! I think it’s going to take a while for me to buy another coconut lol, but I’ll definitely let you know how it goes when I do 😉
yummm.. these bars are so gorgeous.. and i love coconut! love that testure of the filling!
nice idea..thanks for sharing...
If you don’t mind can you please give the nutrition facts for the coconut mousse cheesecake bars and/or the Lemon cheesecake bars?
Elaina Luna-
It takes quite a bit of time to make the nutrition labels so I don’t make it for some recipes. Plus, every brand has varying labels. If you would like to calculate the nutrition facts, here is the program I use!
http://www.shopncook.com/nutritionFactsLabel.html
-Jess 🙂
Hi Jess, I am a complete newbie to this type of healthy alternative cooking. My Dad has recently been diagnosed diabetic & finding your site has been totally amazing. As I am in England, could you give me a more precise guide to the gelatine required in this recipe? You are SUCH an inspiration and I am SO grateful to you for giving me back my mojo in the kitchen!! Huge gratitude to ya! x
I’m so glad you found my blog too! 😀
The gelatin I used in this recipe is unflavored gelatin (100% gelatin, no flavors or additives). 2 packages is equal to ~5 teaspoons of gelatin. Hope this helps!
-Jess