Light & lemony baked cheesecake, American style (in a 9x13inch pan) 'Excellent taste & texture!' 'Lovely burst of lemon' 'Really, really great' Tasters |
Partly this is due to replacing ricotta with reduced fat cottage cheese (which also cuts cholesterol in what is already a high-fat/dairy product). Lemon zest and juice were bumped up for added flavour then combined with a slurry of cornflour and water to maintain 'body' in the final product.
Cheesecake Bars |
If you have a good food processor, nearly all the cheesecake ingredients can be blitzed in one go. Otherwise, a hand mixer with a powerful motor will be fine.
Cheesecake, US style (Stock Photo) |
This is not a frugal dessert but it makes a deep 9inch/23cm cheesecake which will feed a crowd.
To make it go further, and to encourage portion control, bake it in a rectangular pan 9x13inch
/23x33cm and cut into bars. Either way, it's perfect for a gathering.
Start early; the cheesecake takes several hours to cool.
Cost: £9??? or thereabouts (i.e. *60-45p a slice)
Serves: 15 slices/24 bars
Ingredients:
250gm/9oz own-brand ginger snaps
40gm/1.5oz melted butter
340gm/12oz full-fat cream cheese (only a specialist product like Roni's or Philadelphia will do)
454gm/16oz reduced fat cottage cheese**(you will likely need 1x500gm plus a small tub)
(both the above at room temperature)
1 1/3 cup sugar
4 medium eggs at room temp
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 tablespoons water
Garnish: icing sugar
and/or fresh fruit
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180c/350f
- Pour 1 1/2 tubs reduced fat cottage cheese into a strainer and allow liquid to drip through
- Line the base of a 9inch/23cm springform pan (removable sides) with greaseproof paper. Brush sides liberally with butter. OR line rectangular pan 9x13inch/23x33cm with greaseproof paper.
- Roughly process ginger snaps into coarse rubble - there should be fine bits & crunchy bits. (Or place biscuits in a strong plastic bag and bash with a heavy rolling pin). Mix with melted butter and press into the pan the back of a measuring cup to make an even layer
- Bake 10 mins; cool.
- TURN OVEN DOWN TO 165c/325f
- Measure out 454gm/16oz strained cottage cheese into a bowl; process or use a stick blender to remove lumps (it should look like cream cheese when ready)
- If you have a good food processor, place cheeses, sugar, eggs, lemon juice & zest & vanilla into the bowl and process finely OR
- Otherwise, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese until soft. Add blitzed cottage cheese; blend. Beat in sugar gradually. Add eggs one at at time, mixing well after each one. Beat in lemon peel & juice and vanilla.
- Mix cornstarch and cold water to form a paste; pour into cheesecake mix
- Beat/process on high speed till well combined
- Pour into the pan
- Bake in the oven 1 hour 10 minutes or until golden around the edges with a slightly wobbly middle.
- Turn oven OFF; return cheesecake to oven; shut door. Leave overnight or at at least 4 hours.
- When completely cold, dust lightly with icing sugar
Comments:
'Excellent...enjoyed the texture and taste.' Secretary of State for Scotland, David Mundell
'Perfect texture; I savoured every mouthful.' Local Council Candidate
'Excellent...enjoyed the texture and taste.' Secretary of State for Scotland, David Mundell
'Perfect texture; I savoured every mouthful.' Local Council Candidate
'A lovely burst of lemon that's refreshing; it has the consistency of a good French patisserie.' Political Agent
'Great! Really really great! I love cheesecake; this one is really good.' Campaign manager
'I feel so much better after having that!' Busy Local councillor
'I love that the base is not soggy!' Retired writer
Tips:'I feel so much better after having that!' Busy Local councillor
'I love that the base is not soggy!' Retired writer
- if cholesterol isn't an issue, ricotta or ordinary cottage cheese can be used
- ginger snaps can be replaced with digestives (plain or chocolate)
- if you liked this, you will probably also like No-bake Orange Cointreau Cheesecake
* Philadelphia cream cheese periodically goes on special at Tesco
** 67 used M&S cottage cheese
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This recipe has been developed by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.
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