Baked Ricotta Cheesecake (recipe)

Another Donna Hay recipe. This is from issue 68 of her magazine. Our family has a subscription and so we have about 70 magazines now plus pretty much every Donna Hay cookbook too. Generally, all of the dessert recipes are spot on but every now and then you'll come across a savoury dish that is on the bland side of the flavour spectrum. But it is at those times that you remind yourself that Donna Hay is a food stylist, not a cook.

Ricotta & Amaretti Cheesecake

 

 

Ingredients - Base

120g amaretti biscuits
100g shortbread biscuits
50g unsalted butter, melted

 

Ingredients -Filling

400g ricotta
250g cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 eggs + 1extra egg yolk

 

Method - Base

1. Break the biscuits into a food processor and process until coarsely chopped.
2. Add the butter and process to combine.
3. Press into the base of a 33cm x 9cm rectangular tart tin OR a 20cm round spring-form tin
4. Refrigerate for 30mins

 

Method - Filling

1. Preheat oven to 150 celcius
2. Place ricotta, cream cheese, sugar and lemon rind in an electric mixer and beat for 3-4 minutes.
3. Add the eggs + extra yolk and beat until combined.
4. Pour mixture into the tin and bake for 40mins or until the surface is just firm.
5. Let cool slightly then refrigerate until cold.

 

Tips 

• Amaretti biscuits are made from almond meal, caster sugar and egg whites, so if you can't find amaretti biscuits, you can cook the base entirely with shortbread, or substitute another almond based biscuit in.
• I cooked mine in a round spring-form tin and it took closer to 50mins to cook so don't be alarmed if your cheesecake takes longer than the given time. Just press the top lightly with your fingers to test whether it's set.

Until next time.