{Recipe} White Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake (with Greek yogurt!)

I finally got bit by the fall bug last weekend. I usually get really excited about each new season, but I'm a summer girl at heart, and as September rolled around this year, I was feeling kind of bummed that I didn't make the most of my summer. No beach trips. Only a handful of days at the pool. A lack of tanned skin and sun-kissed hair. I kind of wanted to rewind to July. But last weekend as the weather started feeling cooler, I finally accepted the inevitable, and suddenly felt like I desperately needed pumpkins and mums on the patio and some sort of pumpkin baked goods in the oven. A few hours after that feeling initially stuck, and I was chowing down (at an embarrassing rate) on this cheesecake. Although the quantity I ate was a bit excessive, the use of Greek yogurt in this recipe helps to make it a healthier dessert (at least compared to regular cheesecake!).

I used a modified version of this recipe. I urge you to take a look at that one - it's more detailed and sounds delicious, and the things I modified weren't necessarily by choice (c'mon, local grocery store - why don't you have cinnamon chips?!). Since I did do a few things differently though, I've listed my recipe below.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. reduced fat cream cheese
• 2 tbsp. granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp. no-calorie sweetener
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 3/4 cup + 1/4 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tbsp. flour
• 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1 graham cracker pie crust
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Beat the cream cheese, sugar, sweetener, vanilla, and sea salt until smooth. Gradually add 3/4 cup of yogurt, pumpkin, egg whites, flour, and spice. Pour the mixture into your pie crust. Heat the chocolate chips in the microwave in short increments until melted (mine took a little over a minute total). Mix 1/4 cup yogurt with the melted chips. Add dollops of the chip mixture on top of the cake, and swirl around the top with a toothpick to give it a swirly effect (I kind of botched that part!). Bake for approximately 30 minutes. Let cool, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Have you started making any pumpkin recipes yet?