Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: That’s right, cheesecake for breakfast. Cottage cheese and Greek yogurt take the place of cream cheese but you’ll hardly be able to tell the difference. You’ll love the swirl of cinnamon.
How long it takes: 10 minutes to prep, 45 minutes to bake
Equipment you’ll need: blender or food processor, square baking dish, parchment paper
Servings: 9
Say No To Boring Breakfasts
I get bored with breakfast. Actually, as I type this, I’m at a darling little cafe near my home. I told myself I didn’t have time to eat breakfast before I ran out the door with the kids, but the truth is that I probably just wanted to eat here and not at home.
Maybe it’s the bowl of mixed fruit and berries when all I have at home are bananas. Maybe it’s the fresh flowers on every table. Perhaps it’s the hot coffee, when mine is always cold at home. I also can’t get enough of their crispy toasted multigrain toast. And then there’s the bacon…
Even though I get bored with breakfast, it remains one of my favorite meals. I try to keep breakfast items stocked like egg white casserole, baked oatmeal, and chocolate protein pancakes (I keep those babies in the freezer!). These frittata muffins are popular at breakfast, too. Lately, I’ve been loving cottage cheese eggs, which are higher in protein than regular scrambled eggs but just as easy to make.
Dessert For Breakfast
This breakfast cheesecake is another breakfast winner. I would say it tastes like eating dessert for breakfast but it depends on what kind of desserts you like. I don’t like super sweet treats and this cinnamon swirl cheesecake is not heavily sweetened (although you could easily add more sugar to the recipe). Topped with fresh fruit, a slice of cottage cheese cheesecake is absolutely perfect for breakfast, or dessert!
A Healthy Cheesecake Recipe
It isn’t made with cream cheese. Unlike classic cheesecake with lots of cream cheese, this breakfast cheesecake is made with a combination of cottage cheese and Greek yogurt. After a quick whirl in your blender, you won’t even be able to tell it’s not traditional cream cheese filling.
This cheesecake is better for you. This cottage cheese-based cheesecake only has 165 calories per serving with 10 grams of protein, which makes it a protein-packed breakfast choice that will keep you full all morning. There isn’t a lot of added sugar. The crust is a crunchy combination of good-for-you rolled oats and chia seeds, making a perfect contrast to the smooth filling.
Serve it for breakfast or dessert. There’s absolutely no reason why this cheesecake couldn’t be served for dessert as a healthier alternative to classic cheesecake. You may want to increase the sugar a bit (see the tip below).
Easy to enhance. I like to jazz this healthy cheesecake up with a pretty cinnamon swirl which is both decorative and tasty. Feel free to add your own touches with other flavors.
Easy Recipe Variations
Make it sweeter. If you have more of a sweet tooth, I’d recommend adding 2 to 4 tablespoons of coconut sugar or brown sugar to the filling.
Shortcut idea: If you don’t want to mess with the cinnamon swirl (we’re all about quick and easy here!), just add the swirl ingredients right to the cheesecake mixture. All the flavor and none of the fuss!
Add different enhancements. Try adding a dash of nutmeg or ginger. Apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice work well. Add a swirl of your favorite jam.
Experiment with toppings. I love fresh fruit or fruit sauces. A drizzle of chocolate syrup is amazing, too, and really appeals to kids.
Make individual cheesecakes. Try my mini mocha cheesecakes which are also made with cottage cheese.
This is the type of recipe that you definitely want to make ahead because it would take too long to make for an early morning breakfast. It keeps well in the refrigerator for up to a week and can be frozen, too. Simply thaw it overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
More Cottage Cheese Recipes
Breakfast Cheesecake – Cinnamon Swirl
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 ¼ cups rolled oats (see note)
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- 2 teaspoons coconut sugar, or to taste (brown sugar can be substituted)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons milk
Filling:
- 1 container (16-ounce) reduced-fat cottage cheese (I use large curd)
- ⅓ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt (full fat or 2% is fine, too)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
Swirl:
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 8- or 9-inch square baking dish with parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl, combine crust ingredients: rolled oats, chia seeds, 2 teaspoons coconut sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, melted butter, and milk. Press firmly into prepared baking dish.1 ¼ cups rolled oats, 2 tablespoons chia seeds, 2 teaspoons coconut sugar, or to taste, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 tablespoons butter, melted, 2 tablespoons milk
- Bake crust for 10 minutes and remove from oven. Reduce oven heat to 325°F.
- In a blender or food processor, blend cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, vanilla, and eggs until smooth. Pour filling into the baked crust.1 container (16-ounce) reduced-fat cottage cheese, ⅓ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 2 large eggs
- In a small bowl (or zip-top bag), mix swirl ingredients: 2 tablespoons maple syrup and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Drizzle over filling and then run a knife or toothpick through it to create a swirl.2 tablespoons maple syrup, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Return cheesecake to oven and bake for 45 minutes or until it's no longer jiggly in center.
- Cool completely before slicing into 9 squares. Refrigerate in airtight container for up to a week. Serve as is, or with fresh fruit or a fruit sauce.
Notes
- Oats: Rolled oats may be labeled as old-fashioned oats. If you happen to have quick cooking oats in the house, they’ll work fine. Steel cut oats (Irish oats) or instant oatmeal will not work.
- Make it sweeter: If you’d like a sweeter cheesecake, especially if you’re serving this as a dessert, you may want to increase the sugar in the crust and add a few tablespoons of sugar to the filling.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
Have made this SO many times – it’s on high rotation in our house.
Today I picked up “pistachio, cardamom and cinnamon sugar” at the spice shop and
OMG.
Next.
Level.
ps – yes it freezes fine.
Oh yum, that sounds amazing!
realised I forgot to mention that I sprinkled the pistachio cardamom sugar on top, in place of the maple cinnamon swirl haha
Oh yum!
Love this reciepe! I will say the crust is necessary. I tried making it crustless and it was not very good.
My question is….have you tried freezing this? How does it freeze?
Thanks!
I haven’t tried freezing it, let me know if you give it a try. My only worry is that it would change texturally and the crust would get soggy.
it freezes fine!
Good to know, thank you!
I love how easy this recipe is to customize! I made mine using flavored Greek yogurt, and reduced the sugar a little bit since flavored yogurt is sweetened. I didn’t have maple syrup on hand for the swirl, so I used honey. It all works! The crust on mine came out just the right texture and held together well. No complaints! I’ll definitly be making this “cheesecake” and variations of it in future.
So glad you like it! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!
This was easy and fast but I definitely would make some changes next time. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth and I wanted to use less or no real maple syrup to save calories. I subbed some sugar free syrup and a little monkfruit sweetener plus a dash of Torani cinnamon & brown sugar syrup. That was so good!
The crust had the texture of a crumble topping and completely fell apart. I could tell it would when I pressed it into the pan and it did even when cooled. :( Next time I would make it in the food processor and possibly reduce the chia seeds, maybe add a little almond flour, I’m not sure.
Either way it came together fast and easy. The texture of the cheesecake is sooooo smooth and feels decadent. I love the cinnamon swirl. My 15 year old with a major sweet tooth loved it and we will be experimenting and making this again!
So glad you liked it! Thanks for sharing your adaptations!