Custard Crackup

My affinity for cheescake may not be well-documented, but rest assured, I consider it one of the greatest sweet creations since the development of pie. For those of you who are pointing out that a cheesecake is basically a cream pie made with cheese, you're absolutely correct; does that make me wrong? Pie is the single greatest thing in the universe; it is to food what Chuck Norris is to an average human. Pie has the capacity to end wars, right wrongs, and leap tall buildings with a single bound, all while still being delicious in every single form (with the possible exception of pumpkin, but I'm willing to let that one slide).

But I'm not here to talk about pie. Well, not entirely (just watch for future entries!); instead, I'll continue with the pie that is cheesecake. It should be pointed out that I do not own a springform pan. I hate the things; they're messy, they leak, and they serve only a single purpose (delightful though that purpose may be). As such, all my cheesecake creations thus far have resided in a single 9x9" square pan. Is it the best vessel to bake and display the greatness that is the cake (or pie!) of cheese? Most certainly not. Does it get the job done? So far, yes.

With that out of the way, my last adventure with cheesecake (which went sadly undocumented) led me to discover that some recipes call for cheeses *other* than cream cheese. As this had never occurred to me before, I had to investigate further, and, of course, test out these recipes for myself. I've never been a big fan of ricotta cheese; to me, it tends to be bland, lifeless, and I really don't like the texture, as it's not what I expect when I think "cheese". As such, it was a perfect candidate for my cheesecake experiment. And so, after some lengthy research, I settled on stealing a recipe from FoodTV's resident female Italian food expert, Giada. It should be noted that I took some liberties with the actual ingredients, but I stayed more or less true to the recipe itself.

Ricotta Cheesecake
(heisted from Giada de Laurentiis)

Ingredients
Crust
2c Rolled oats (ground coarsely in processor or blender)
1c Brown sugar
1c Butter (melted)

Custard
6tbsp Butter, melted
16oz Ricotta
16oz Cream cheese
3/4c Sugar
1/4c Honey
1tbsp Lemon zest
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350F

Procedure
1) In a large bowl, mix the ground oats and the brown sugar thoroughly. Add the butter and mix until it comes together.

2) Press the crust into the bottom of a greased 9x9" pan and bake at 350F for 15 minutes.

3) Remove and set aside to cool. Be sure to cool the crust for at least 10-15 minutes before adding the cheesecake mixture!

I used oats because I ran out of graham crackers.

4) In a mixer bowl, mix the ricotta on its own until it is reasonably creamy. Add the cream cheese and mix thoroughly.

I wasn't sure what "creamy" looked like for ricotta, so I didn't worry about it overmuch.

5) After the cheeses have mixed a bit, slowly add the sugar, honey, and lemon zest.

I almost forgot the eggs at this point, as it was so creamy already!

6) Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until thoroughly blended.

7) Pour the mixture onto the prepared crust and bake at 350F for about an hour. Start checking it at around the 45 minute mark, as some ovens will vary. It's ready to come out when the center jiggles slightly and still resembles a liquid, but the outside is firm.

8) Allow the cheesecake to cool to room temperature on the counter, then refrigerate for at *least* 4 hours. Overnight works better.

Lessons Learned
As seen in the first image of this post, this recipe taught me the value of adding that pan of water that most cheesecake recipes call for during baking. I didn't mind the cracked-ness of the end product, and it still tasted good. That said, I don't care much for the honey flavor of it; I prefer a pure cheesecake flavor. Overall, I really didn't notice much difference using ricotta instead of all cream cheese, so I probably won't bother doing it again, as cream cheese is far cheaper than ricotta these days.