I wanted to share a bit of a pet peeve of mine. If you look at several vegetarian recipes online, there is one thing that they seem to have in common. I am excluding vegetable side dishes. It’s the statement, “It’s better than meat!” It’s not better than meat. A vegetarian recipe is good in its own right. Meat is not some bar that the recipe has to achieve. I like meat. I like vegetarian protein. One is not better than the other. I wish they would stop saying that.

It’s not summer yet, but I ran across a recipe that reminds me of it. Frankly, it just sounded good. Plus I have some cream cheese to use up. I am starting with a recipe from Delish for Piña Colada Cheesecake Bars. The calories are pretty high on this one. However, I can get some of it down by cutting the sugar. I also will skip the topping. I think I can make this better than it is now.

Here are the original stats:

Here’s what I changed:

• I replaced the sugar with it’s sweetener equivalent to reduce the sugar.
• I replaced the sweetened coconut flakes with unsweetened to reduce the sugar.
• I removed the toping to lower the calories.
• I made the filling to be a no bake filling to reduce the calories.
• I reduced the cream cheese by half to reduce the calories.
• I reduced the coconut milk by half to reduce the calories
• I increased the servings from 16 to 24 to reduce the calories.
• I will make this in a quarter sheet pan to reduce make these easier to portion.

Here are the final stats:

Here is the final recipe:

Piña Colada Cheesecake Bars

Makes 24 Bars

For the crust

• 1 1/2 cups finely ground low carb sweet crackers
• 1/4 cup granulated sweetener
• 6 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt

For the cheesecake filling

• 8-oz dairy free cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sweetener
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 3/4 cup untoasted sweetened coconut flakes

For the pineapple filling

• 1 cup granulated sweetener
• 9 large egg yolks
• 1 cup canned pineapple juice
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 10 Tbsp. butter, cut into 1/2″ pieces

For the crust

1. Preheat oven to 325° and line a quarter sheet pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides. 
2. In a medium bowl, combine crackers with sweetener, melted butter, and salt. Transfer to prepared pan, and gently press in to make an even crust. Bake until lightly golden, about 12 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack while making the filling. 

For the cheesecake filling

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with sweetener until light and fluffy, 2 minutes. Beat in coconut milk, cornstarch and salt until smooth. Stir in coconut flakes. Pour mixture over crust. Place in the refrigerator until set.

For the pineapple filling

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together sweetener and egg yolks, then whisk in pineapple juice and salt. Add butter and place over medium heat. Cook pineapple mixture, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom and sides of the pans, until the butter melts and mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 9 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium heatproof bowl. Refrigerate until very cold, at least 1 hour.
3. Spread cooled pineapple mixture evenly over cooled bars. Serve.