Creamy Ricotta Cheesecake

I have a confession to make:  this cheesecake?  It was wonderful – oh so wonderful – and I need to tell you guys that I haven’t made it recently.  No, this was a concoction whipped together in a frenzy during the last days of my pregnancy.  In fact, I believe that I made this literally 2 days before I was induced.  It was kind of a I’m-so-stressed-that-I-haven’t-gone-into-labor-yet fix.  I needed cheesecake.  And I needed it RIGHT THEN.

 

And you know what?  Sometimes the best things come from a need for [insert specific dessert title here] RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND.  I think that in the process of making this I made my new favorite kind of cheesecake.

Here’s the thing with me and cheesecake:  I kind of can’t say no.  I love love LOVE it, and the best part?  The crust.  TOTALLY the crust…in all of its buttery, rich, heavenly glory.  I can’t get enough of the cheesecake crust but the one thing that keeps me from actually making cheesecake?

 

You guessed it – the crust.

 

I wish I had a good reason, but it’s literally the fact that by making a crust you can’t just whip it all together in a big bowl and call it a day.  Nope, you have to actually crush the graham crackers, mix them with stuff, press them into a pan (Lord help me I hate pressing things into pans…), pre-bake it, and THEN you get to do the filling.  So now that I’ve confessed my pure and complete laziness, you see why I love this cheesecake.  Would I like a crust?

 

You betcha.  But if I’m making it then I think I’ll pass 😉

RICH RICOTTA CHEESECAKE

Adapted slightly from this recipe.

• 6 eggs, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• seeds from one vanilla bean
• 15 oz whole milk ricotta cheese
• 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
• 8 oz Greek yogurt
• 2 tsp lemon zest, optional

Preheat oven to 325. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Separate the eggs, placing the whites in one of the large bowls and the yolks in the work bowl of a food processor.  Add the sugar and vanilla bean to the food processor and process until thick and light yellow, about 1 minute (you can also whisk into oblivion if you don’t have a food processor). Add the ricotta, cream cheese, and Greek yogurt and zest (if using) and process until smooth, another 30 seconds. Set aside.  Beat the egg whites on high speed with the mixer until they form stiff peaks. Fold the whites into the ricotta mixture and scrape into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the spatula. Bake at 325 until the cake is deep golden brown and the sides begin to pull away from the pan, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 6 hours.

 

**If you don’t have a springform pan you can certainly line the bottom of a pan with parchment paper and spray well with nonstick spray!**

Next up:  the crazy easy and way too delicious blackberry sauce that I smothered it in.  Yeah, that’s right – happy Monday to you!