Q. I tasted a frozen peppermint cheesecake at a restaurant and would love to make something similar but lighter. Do you have something like this in any of your cookbooks?

A. I've written many a cookbook, but I have to say the closest I've come to lightening a frozen peppermint cheesecake was a grasshopper pie recipe a few years back. But I did some digging and came up with a recipe (from Eagle Brand) I hope will fit the bill.

I really tried to push the limit and bring down the calories as far as they could possibly go, so the crust took quite a beating. I decreased the amount of crust by only covering the bottom of the spring-form pan (instead of going a little up the sides), and I used Equal blend sugar, lower-fat chocolate cookies and less-fat margarine.

For the filling I switched to light cream cheese and fat-free sweetened condensed (OK, that's a given), but the recipe also calls for 2 cups of whipped cream. With the powerful peppermint flavor and thick cream-cheese texture, I thought we could get away with fat-free or light Cool Whip. Use whichever one you like (or use real whipped cream). If you use the fat-free Cool Whip, you'll bring down the saturated fat from 12 grams per slice to 2, the fat grams from 20 to 5 and the calories from 299 to 179.

Makes 16 servings.

FROZEN CANDY CANE CHEESECAKE

1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (such as chocolate Teddy Grahams)

3 tablespoons Equal blend sugar

3 1/2 tablespoons less-fat margarine, melted (with 8 grams of fat per tablespoon)

8 ounces light cream cheese, softened

14-ounce can Eagle Brand fat-free sweetened condensed milk

2 teaspoons peppermint extract

20 drops red food coloring (add more or less as desired)

2 cups fat-free or light Cool Whip

Fudge ice cream topping, for drizzling on the plate or over each slice (optional)

In 8-cup measure, combine cookie crumbs with sugar blend. Drizzle melted margarine over the top and blend well. Press moistened crumb mixture on the bottom of a foil-lined 9-inch round spring-form pan. Chill in freezer.

In large mixing bowl, beat light cream cheese with electric mixer until fluffy. Gradually add Eagle-brand fat-free sweetened condensed milk, mixing until mixture is smooth. Add the extract and food coloring and beat on low speed until mixed in. Fold in the Cool Whip.

Pour filling into the spring-form pan and cover. Freeze until firm (about 6 hours). Lift the foil out of the pan and cut into 16 slices. Garnish the serving plates or slices with slightly warmed fudge topping if desired.