Luscious Meyer Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake

I’ve tried several recipe ideas to use the 13 Meyer lemons from my backyard tree before they “sour.” With cold weather and two freezes now, I picked the entire lemon crop. Don’t want to waste a single lemon. I love cheesecake and experimented with making a “lighter” version of traditional cheesecake using the Meyer lemons and ricotta cheese.

I  have a great recipe for classic lemon cheesecake — one of my favorite desserts.

Cheesecake has many variations — praline, chocolate, cherry, pumpkin-hazelnut, lemon–I’ve made them all. Lemons, especially, bring out the flavor in a cheesecake and I decided make one using my Meyer lemons. Actually, one lemon was plenty for the recipe because Meyer lemons are so large.Lower fat cheesecake?

Cheesecake is rich–high in fat and high in calories. It is made with cream cheese, sugar, eggs and flavoring extract. Cream cheese, by definition, must be 33 percent fat. Is it possible to make a lower fat cheesecake which still tastes good?

I made several versions substituting ricotta cheese for cream cheese to lower the fat content. It took several attempts to get the proportions and cooking times worked out; the last one resulted in creamy, lemony and lighter cheesecake which tasted delicious. For the final version I used one 8-oz block of 1/3 less fat cream cheese and 15 oz ricotta cheese rather than four 8-blocks of cream cheese in the original recipe. Quite a difference!

Ricotta Cheese vs Cream Cheese

Both ricotta cheese and cream cheese are fresh cheeses–they are not aged. But ricotta cheese is quite different from cream cheese and substituting it gives different characteristics to the cheesecake. Cream cheese is made from coagulated milk and cream and is very high in fat. Ricotta cheese is made from whey-protein curd and is higher in protein and fairly low in fat.

Ricotta cheese is an Italian cheese which means “cooked again”. It technically is not a cheese, but a by-product from making mozzarella, provolone and other cheeses. It is made from whey, which is the liquid left over after the cheese curdles. It is made by adding vinegar and a touch of salt, so that the protein denatures and forms a curd.. It is very delicate, soft and moist with a fine but grainy texture, perhaps slightly sweet. Modern ricotta cheese is made from whey, whole, part-skim or skim milk.

Ricotta cheese is much lower in fat than cream cheese. For example, 1/4 cup (62 gm) of part-skim Sargento Ricotta cheese has 4.5 gm fat and 1/4 cup whole milk Sargento Ricotta cheese has 6 gm fat. Compare this to Philadelphia cream cheese which has 18 gm fat in 2 oz (60 gm) cheese! Philadelphia 1/3 less fat cream cheese has 12 gm fat in 2 oz cheese.

Cream cheese is made from cow’s milk and cream with lactic acid bacteria added to coagulate the cheese. Stabilizers such as guar gum are often added because the high fat content of the cream cheese easily separates. Cream cheese is a fresh cheese–not fermented–and has a shorter shelf life than aged cheeses. It is a mild cheese, smooth texture and slightly sweet.

Cheesecake recipe with Ricotta Cheese

For this recipe, I substituted ricotta cheese–either whole milk or part-skim–for part of the cream cheese. You have to be careful when baking this cheesecake; this cheesecake is more delicate and baking too long results in a tough filling. Here are the ingredients for my first cheesecake (the final recipe had only one block of cream cheese and 3 eggs). 

This cheesecake filling is quite soft and liquid; I added cornstarch to help the cheesecake thicken. The light sour cream is for a spread on top after the cheesecake is removed from the oven and cooled.

Both cream cheese and ricotta cheeses can be whipped or beaten. Use an electric mixer and mix until the filling is creamy and smooth. If you don’t beat long enough, the ricotta cheese will still be grainy. If helps if all the ingredients are at room temperature before you start–let all the ingredients set at room temperature for 2 hours. (During this time you can make a trip to the grocery store to replace the graham crackers for the crust which mysteriously disappeared.)

Beat the cream cheese and ricotta cheese until creamy and smooth, then add the other ingredients–sugar and cornstarch, then the eggs, vanilla extract and lemon with zest. I added the zest for extra lemony flavor.

Pour the filling into 8″ spring-form pan over the prepared graham cracker crust and bake in oven on a low temperature.

Baking a cheesecake

The tricky part to making a cheesecake with ricotta cheese is baking it so that it bakes and does not crack. The cheesecake must be baked on a lower oven temperature for a longer time. The key is to bake until the center is slightly giggly. If you over-bake, then the cheesecake will be tough and crack. Some recipes call for you to turn the oven off and let the cheesecake set in the oven for an additional hour–this is optional.

My recipe uses an 8″ spring-form pan rather than a 10″ pan, so the baking time is not as long. Still, watch the baking time carefully. Let the cheesecake cool in the pan for at least an hour before removing the sides of the spring-form pan. Then refrigerate until cool and set (also good slightly warm!). Here’s my final cheesecake.

Graham Cracker Crust

I made a graham cracker crust for the cheesecake. One package of graham crackers (9 crackers) was the right amount to fit in the bottom of an 8″ diameter spring-form pan.I have a simple method for crushing graham crackers which works every time. Place the graham crackers in a large zip-lock bag and crush using a rolling pin. This is much easier than using a food processor to pulverize the graham crackers.

Then add powdered sugar and soft tub margarine to the graham crackers in the zip-lock bag and mix with your fingers until soft and crumbly. Don’t try to melt soft tub margarine in a microwave–you end up with margarine and water!

Press the graham cracker crumbs with powdered sugar and margarine in bottom of spring-form pan. Bake the graham cracker crust in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes until set and slightly browned. Remove from oven and let the crust cool.

Here’s the final cheesecake. It is delicious–smooth and creamy with a great lemon flavor. I iced the cake with light sour cream. It deserves to be served at a special occasion–birthday, anniversary, Valentines Day, Mardi Gras celebration!

I was pleased that the “lighter”version of my lemon cheesecake turned out so well. I hope you will enjoy it, too.

References:

//organicvalley.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/119/~/ricotta-cheese%3A-what-is-it%3F

//homecooking.about.com/cs/cheeseinformation/a/ricotta.htm

//www.sargento.com/our-cheese/other-varieties/ricotta/sargento-whole-milk-ricotta-cheese

//calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-cream-cheese-1-3-less-fat-cream-cheese-brick_f-ZmlkPTg5NTQ5.html

//www.wisegeek.com/what-is-cream-cheese.htm

//homecooking.about.com/od/cookingfaqs/f/faqcrcheese.htm

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cream_cheese