ricotta cheesecake with strawberry coulis

The sudden influx of ricotta and/or cheesecake-based dessert is pure coincidence. I just happen to have had some ricotta sitting in the fridge that I needed to use up. And I'm utterly obsessed with cream cheese. It was a dessert waiting to happen, really.

Plus, I've been kickin it in Cville on my own over break, so amidst work and studying I've had some down time to do frivolous things like this.

Ricotta Cheesecake
Adapted from foodnetwork.com

For the cheesecake filling, you'll need:

• 3 8-oz packages of cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 3 egg yolks

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper and grease the bottom and sides.

Beat cream cheese, ricotta, sour cream, and sugar on medium speed until fluffy, 2-3 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk heavy cream, vanilla, eggs and egg yolks until blended. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the cream cheese mixture. Beat until just blended. Pour filling into the prepared pan.

Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 275 degrees, and continue baking for 1 1/2 hours, or until top is golden brown and cake is pulling away from the sides of the pan. The center will still be slightly jiggly. Turn off the oven when done, and leave cake in the oven with the door ajar to cool for 3 hours. Remove cake from the oven and refrigerate for at least 4 hours [preferably overnight], before removing from the pan and cutting. Serve chilled.

You can use any sort of crust you'd like for this cheesecake. A classic graham cracker crust always works well, but a shortbread crust would also be delicious. I made a low-carb version of this particular cheesecake, so I used the crust from my LC mocha cheesecake, and a combination of baking Splenda and erythritol [3/4 cup of each] in place of the granulated sugar. Also, instead of one 8-inch cheesecake, I made two 4-inch cheesecakes and one 6-inch cheesecake, and adjusted the bake times accordingly [30-25 mins at 375 degrees Fahrenheit]. What can I say, I just like mini desserts. [Except cupcakes]

The low-carb version turned out beautifully, without the slightest inkling that it's actually low-carb, but I'm sure the full-carb version is just divine. In fact, this may be the best LC cheesecake I've ever had. Is this the magical cheesecake recipe I've been searching for? If it's not, it's getting pretty damn close.

I also topped mine off with a really easy, homemade strawberry coulis, because no real cheesecake is complete without a berry sauce.

Strawberry Coulis
Adapted from smitten kitchen

You'll need:

• 1 cup strawberries, quartered and hulled
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Puree all the above ingredients in a blender. Run coulis through a strainer to get rid of seeds. Store in fridge for up to 1 week, in freezer for up to 3 months.

Recipe makes about 3/4 cup of coulis.

In other news, I am officially giving up sugar [again]. Honey, agave, sugar added to coffee, BBQ sauce and sugary Asian sauces, baked goods. Yep, baked goods. I'm not cutting out the artificial sweetener, but it'll definitely be a once-in-a-while sort of thing. Mainly to satisfy any unbearable cravings and experiment with more low-carb baking.

How long? Only very strictly until Spain. Which is only, what, 80 days? 2 and a half months? Definitely doable. I hope. And I'll still be baking full-carb, of course, so no worries there. I'll just have to will myself not to lick the spoon.

...merda.