Yogurt Cheese "Cheesecake"

That's a teaspoon of  apricot fruit spread on top of it.

Yogurt is one of those things that is rather more versatile than most people imagine. As a breakfast food, it rather leaves me cold, not to mention hungry. However, as an ingredient in various dishes, particularly as a partial substitute for sour cream or mayonnaise. It also works wonders in the lemon yogurt soufflé I make.

Cheesecake is one of those things which I love, but the problems with it are two-fold. The first is that Japanese cheesecake doesn't really do it for me. It's more of a sponge cake and it often tastes like Gouda instead of cream cheese. The second is that it is, undeniably, calorific.

So, when I've got the urge for cheesecake, I have limited options so I decided to attempt a yogurt-based version. I found this recipe online, and figured it was a very good starting point. I figured that it couldn't possibly taste bad because it contains the same basic ingredients as the lemon soufflé, and the batter from that always tastes so good that I'm more than happy to eat a bit of raw egg to sample it. This cheesecake has the virtue of being far less fussy than the soufflé.

This makes a very small "cheesecake" for a 17 cm./6.7 in. pie plate. If you use a regular pie plate, you'll want to double this. I wanted to keep the size down for my first attempt. Also, I don't expect my husband to have any of this and having a lot of it around probably would take so long to eat that it'd go bad before I reached the end of it all.

Yogurt Cheese "Cheesecake"

• 1 egg 
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 4 packets of Splenda (or use about 3 tbsp. of sugar)
• juice of half a lemon (I didn't squeeze it dry)
• 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 cup strained yogurt*/yogurt cheese

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F./160 degrees C. Spray your pie pan with cooking spray or lightly grease it. 

Whisk the egg, vanilla, Splenda, and juice until well mixed and slightly frothy. Add the yogurt cheese and whisk until all the lumps are gone. Whisk in the cornstarch until smooth and thoroughly incorporated. Add the mixture to the prepared pie pan and bake for between 20-25 minutes until set. Cool completely and refrigerate uncovered before eating.

Determining the calories for this is tricky because straining the yogurt changes the volume. The original recipe uses sugar and is 100 calories per serving. For this, I'd say it is 4 servings and my best guess is that it is 65 calories per serving. That's likely on the high side as I'm counting the calories in an entire 400 gram (14 oz.) container of plain low-fat yogurt and I don't think I used the entire thing, but can't know how many calories are drained off in the whey and don't know what proportion produced 1 cup of yogurt cheese. Note that I used a "mild" yogurt which I can get here in Japan. I don't know if such types exist in other countries, but I think this makes for a mellower result.

As for how it was, it was surprisingly good. It wasn't really "cheesecake", but it did have a nice texture and tangy flavor. It is, however, missing all of the richness of cheesecake and has a bit of a "too set" feeling. I also think I also whisked too much air into it (hence the air bubbles in the cut view). Rather than whisking, one might be better off stirring, but I can't say I'm too fussed about it. The only thing I can say is that it might be better at double the volume in the same size pan. I think it's a bit too flat to get a good sense of the texture. It strikes me that this would make an excellent breakfast treat for people who want something high protein, but sweet.

*Strained yogurt or yogurt cheese is plain, unsweetened yogurt which has been suspended in cheese cloth or a coffee filter above a container overnight and the whey has been allowed to drain off. The result is a much thicker, less watery version of yogurt.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Lemon Yogurt Soufflé (sugar-free)

Sometimes I think it would be useful for someone to start a content aggregate site which only includes trusted recipes from sites that actually test the recipes and have positive feedback from people who successfully duplicate their results (not just rave about the pretty food pictures). A great many recipes out there are mere eye candy for attention and the resulting food is pretty crappy. In other words, the food looks good, but the texture or taste is really disappointing.

There are more recipes for sugar-free, low-carb or low-fat foods that disappoint than any other type of recipe. It's easy to fail when it comes to such things since sugar, fat, and flour are integral parts of many successful dishes. One of the reasons I blog about these types of things (besides the fact that it helps me keep track of what I have tried) is that it allows me to say, "this is a good recipe" or "this is a bad recipe".

I tend to give sites two chances when it comes to "bad recipes". If I try them and the result is poor, I leave a comment and ask if I made an error and that perhaps contributed to the poor result. If the comment is published, then I will give the site's author's recipes another try. If the comment isn't published, I will never try that author's recipes again since they clearly can't be trusted not only to be honest about the results of their cooking experiments, but they also won't allow anyone to say the recipe may not turn out well for those who have actually tried it. They'll publish a hundred comments about how good the food looks in the picture, but not one dissenting opinion about how the results were disappointing for a particular person. For the record, no one who I have left a comment with saying I tried the recipe and it failed has ever published my comment, even when I am polite and ask for advice on where I may have gone wrong. They just delete it in moderation.

One site which I absolutely trust when it comes to healthy variations on recipes is Eating Well, Living Thin. The mistress of this site had bariatric surgery and is maintaining her weight, at least in part, by modifying old favorites so that they are lower calorie and healthier. I've tried several of her recipes, and they have always turned out well. This lemon yogurt soufflé recipe from her site was my latest attempt at one of her recipes, and it turned out very well. I did change it a little based on a desire to cut back the recipe a bit, and because I only had 3 ramekins. Here is the recipe with my (small) modifications. The original recipe is a little better nutritionally than mine, and mine is more lemony and uses regular yogurt instead of Greek.

Lemon Yogurt Soufflé

• 1/2 cup of strained plain, low-fat yogurt*
• 2 eggs, separated into yolks and whites
• 4 tbsp. granular Splenda (or just use white sugar if you want)
• 1.5 tbsp. flour
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
• pinch of salt
• pinch of cream of tartar

In a large bowl, whisk the yogurt, egg yolks, 3 tbsp. Splenda (or sugar), flour, vanilla, lemon juice and salt until smooth.

Spray 3 ramekins with cooking spray (or grease them manually). Dust them with Splenda (or sugar) and set them aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and 1 tbsp. Splenda (or sugar) until stiff peaks form. If you aren't familiar with the best way to beat egg whites, you might want to read the instructions in the original recipe but I was taught to first beat the whites at a relatively low speed until foamy, add the cream of tartar and sugar (or sweetener, in this case) and then beat at a higher speed until the peaks stand up straight.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F./190 degrees C.

Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the lemon-yogurt-egg-yolk mixture. Be careful not to stir in or you'll lose all of the air from the egg whites. I use the "cutting" method to fold in egg whites. To do this, spoon in about 1/4 of the egg white mixture and cut through the center of the yogurt mixture with a large spoon. Fold over half of the mixture. Cut through and fold over the other half. Slowly add in the egg whites by quarters repeating the folding in this manner until there are no pockets of egg white.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared ramekins, place on a baking sheet, and bake for about 15 minutes until the tops are a golden brown. Serve warm. These are about 100 calories each, which is incredibly low considering the size and quality of the dish.

The soufflés will start to fall after about 40 minutes, but Linda (the person who originally posted this recipe) warns readers about that. She said it becomes like cheesecake after it falls. As of this posting, I haven't tried it cold after it has fallen.

My husband and I both really liked this a lot, though I made it this first time with only 1 tsp. lemon juice and we both thought it'd suit our tastes better with more lemon (hence the reason that I put "2 tsp." in the recipe above as that is what I'll use next time). The texture was really good, as was the flavor. Also, frankly, this was a little sweet for my tastes, but my husband thought it was quite fine as is so it's probably just me (and I have no plans to alter the sweetness levels the next time). We'll definitely be having this again!

Update: The next day, this was even better. It was like a sponge cake with a bit of a baked cheesecake feel. Also, it seemed less sweet (maybe because the granular Splenda on the outside was absorbed and not hitting my tongue directly). This was truly amazing as a low calorie treat.

*Strained Yogurt Instructions:

To make thick, creamy strained yogurt, buy regular plain, low-fat (unsweetened) yogurt. Take a coffee filter and affix it with rubber bands to the mouth of a glass or bowl which is the right size for your particular filters. The coffee filter should be suspended above the glass and there should be at least an inch (2.5 cm.) below it. Spoon the plain yogurt into the filter until just full. Cover with plastic wrap or a lid and allow the whey to drain for at least 24 hours. There should be very thick yogurt the consistency of sour cream in the filter. Most yogurt will be reduced in size by 40-50% using this procedure.

If it seems too watery after 24 hours, drain the whey from the bottom of the glass or bowl, rinse it out, affix a new coffee filter to the top of it, and transfer the strained yogurt into a new filter. When you strain it twice, it gets even thicker, though usually straining it once is enough.

by Shari (Orchid64)

(Not So Great) Honey Lemon Oat Scones

I've been on a quest for the "perfect scone" for quite some time, and I don't consider "perfect" the way one might think. That is, I'm not looking for a texture or taste that is heavenly. I'm looking for a scone which is pretty good without requiring tons of fat to make it that way. After all, you can make anything good with enough butter (or bacon). It's no great feat to make a fabulous scone if you ply the dough with fat in the form of cream or butter.

I've probably tried a dozen or more low-fat recipes or recipes which use less fat than most. So far, no good. I found this recipe through a link on Foodgawker (I think) and it had a lot of appealing elements. For one, it doesn't use too much butter. For another, it uses oatmeal and it uses no refined sugar. The only question was whether or not it was going to come together as a decent scone.

I mainly kept the recipe as is. The only difference is that I didn't brush the tops with butter and sprinkle them with sanding sugar. This was mainly because I didn't have a brush or the right kind of sugar. I also split the dough in half and cooked half of it immediately, and put the rest in the refrigerator to bake the next morning. I wanted to see if leaving it to rest overnight would have an effect on the texture and how well it rose. Mainly, I wanted to see if the oatmeal would be altered by leaving it to absorb more moisture.

The ingredients and recipe are:

• 2 cups white flour
• 1 1/2 cups oatmeal
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 cup butter

• lemon zest from one lemon (the original said 2 tsp.)
• 1 medium eggs (the original used a large, I didn't have one)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup whole milk with 1/2 tbsp. vinegar in it (the original had buttermilk)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. salt (not in the original)

Mix the dry ingredients together then grate the butter with a cheese grater so that it forms long strings. With a wooden spoon, break up the butter strings and mix evenly into the dry ingredients. Mix all of the wet ingredients and lemon zest together well. Add them to the flour and butter and moisten everything. Try not to knead it, though it may be necessary to do so a little to get everything wet. The dough will be very sticky. Pat the dough into whatever shape you prefer then cut into shapes. I followed the same format as the original recipe and made a circle and cut it into wedges. I put the dough on a plastic cutting board to do this so I could avoid using extra flour. Bake for 10-15 min. (mine went 10) at 425 degrees Fahrenheit (220 degrees C.).


The flavor and smell of the scones was quite good. The main problem was the texture. I don't think the problem was that there was too little butter so much as far too many oats. I think that a half cup of oats might work far better. I also think that in making my faux buttermilk that I should have used lemon juice instead so that I could infuse these with more lemon flavor. I could smell the lemon a bit with these, but not taste it at all.

The main difference between the ones that I made immediately and the ones that I made overnight was that the overnight ones seemed coarse and tough and the ones I made right away were oddly chewy. Both of them rose just fine so the baking powder didn't lose its punch overnight. I also wonder if the honey may be contributing to the overall texture problem. I'd like to try these again, but next time with 1/2 of the oats (possibly toasted - see the next paragraph), more lemon, and possibly with about 1/2 of the honey and perhaps a bit of sugar. I don't think the oats affect the moisture balance much so I'm not likely to do anything in an altered recipe to change the amount of flour.

I'm also wondering if toasting the oats a bit in a pan might help. My guess is that 10-15 minutes at a high temperature isn't enough to really cook the oats at all. They're essentially raw when you're eating them in the scone which is why they're chewy and tough. If they're precooked a bit, their texture might be better.

When I try a different version, I'll post it here.

Update: I found that the oatmeal texture mellowed a bit after freezing the scones (and allowing them to rest in the kitchen for about a day). As is often the case with baked goods with a lot of whole grain in them, they were better the next day, though I still will make a modified recipe in the future.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Further Frozen Failure

Despite what you might infer from the title of this post, I don't necessarily consider this attempt a failure--I simply enjoy alliteration. Nonetheless, it is most certainly not a successful attempt either, except in the sense that it gives me more ammunition with which to go back next time and try to build upon my previous attempts. Which, of course, is the whole point of my documenting these instances, so I suppose it was a total success; just not quite what I had hoped for.

Allow me to explain. As I mentioned in my previous frozen project, I have not had great success with my relatively new ice cream maker attachment for The KitchenAid. The KitchenAid itself is, of course, fantastic, and has become a staple of most anything I produce, allowing me to remain my lazy self while still enjoying the fruits of much labor. However, all of my attempts at ice cream thus far (particularly those based on corn starch, i.e., the ones that are practical to make, as I don't keep a dozen egg yolks lying around most of the time) have resulted in delicious chunks of very solid ice that resist the infiltration of a spoon with impressive tenacity. My repeated experiments have given me some insight into this phenomenon, but I am still undecided as to whether I should blame my freezer or my ice cream making technique; consequently, I must continue attempting until I find something that works right.

This attempt was no different, as I took an existing recipe (stolen this time from The Kitchn) and tweaked it to help compensate for my previous experiences. This tweaking, as you'll see, did indeed help, but not as much as I would have hoped.

Lemon Ice Cream
(As stolen from the folks at The Kitchen)

Ingredients
1.5oz Cream cheese
3 1/4c Half and half
1tbsp Corn starch
1/3c Sugar
1/4c Brown sugar
1.5tbsp Corn syrup
1/4tsp Salt
1/2tsp Vanilla extract
1tbsp Vodka
1 Lemon

Procedure
1) Place the cream cheese in the mixer bowl and process until it is softened and resembles something like cake icing.

This softening helps produce a smoother cream later on.

2) In a bowl or cup, mix 2tbsp of the half and half with the corn starch. Ensure that no clumps of starch remain undissolved and set aside.

3) Place the remaining half and half in a skillet or saucepan and set over medium heat. Mix in the sugars and corn syrup and bring to a boil. Simmer just until the sugar and syrup are completely dissolved; this shouldn't take more than a minute or so.

Stirring gently will prevent a skin from forming on the top; not necessary, but I prefer to do so.

4) Remove the mixture from the heat and whisk in the corn starch mixture. Return it to the heat and bring back up to a boil, stirring continously to prevent boiling over. Boil for about a minute and then turn off the heat.

5) Pour the hot mixture into the bowl with the whipped cream cheese and stir with a spatula to ensure that the cream cheese is scraped off the bottom and sides of the bowl. Add the salt, vodka, and zest from the lemon and set the entire mixture in the refrigerator to chill for at least 8 hours.

Note: Placing a cover of plastic wrap pressed against the top of the mixture will prevent a skin from forming on the top.

6) When the mixture has chilled, add the vanilla and the juice from the lemon to the mixture and stir thoroughly. Pour into your ice cream maker (making sure to start the churner first!) and proceed with whatever the maker's instructions say.

From this image, I don't think I let it churn long enough; that may be specific to my mixer.

7) When the process is finished, scoop the ice cream into a sealable container and place in the freezer to cure for at least 4 hours.

This picture is deceptive; the surface is actually very stiff. Oddly enough, it has a similar texture to that of over-solidified ice cream. Imagine that.

Lessons Learned
I added the vodka to the recipe in hopes of keeping it softer, as the alcohol would inhibit the freezing process. This did work, in that compared to my previous attempts, it was slightly more pliable when I took a chisel and hammer to it. That said, it wasn't enough; next time I think I'll bump up the mixer speed (to incorporate more air) and add an additional tablespoon of vodka to see if the combination helps. However, I'll probably try a different recipe, as I actually wasn't blown away by this one. The lemon zest came out far too stringy (as it is wont to do) and gets stuck in my teeth. I think lemon ice cream works best as a side to a different dessert, which makes sense, as the Kitchn folks were having it alongside wedding cake. Having the ice cream straight up seems to lack balance; it needs something sweet to even it out.

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.

Lemon Meringue Pie

As my mom can attest, I have had a lifelong infatuation with this particular dessert, and she has always been a fairly willing party to it, despite the fact that making lemon meringue pie is a good way to "dirty up every dish in the kitchen", to use her words. Consequently, I determined to put this theory to the test by making it as a surprise for mother's day when she came to visit. I realize that making one of *my* favorite desserts for a day dedicated to her is probably not the most thoughtful thing I could've done, but she likes it too, so everyone's happy.

From what I recall from my youth, making the pie was somewhere around 1-2 hours of actual work, excluding cleanup. Despite my best efforts at cleaning implements as I used them, this *did* indeed get a lot of different pans, bowls, and utensils dirty, but I didn't particularly mind this because it's truly a fascinating dish to make. It incorporates two very different baking staples (foam and custard) and thus provides a great deal for fledgling bakers to learn from. Of course, this also means there are plenty of potential stumbling blocks to encounter; thankfully, I didn't hit too many of these and those few that I did didn't have a huge impact on the final product.

But enough rambling. As with many of my recipes, I heisted my base from Good Eats, borrowing heavily from the actual episode ("I Pie") for the timing of certain steps. These instructions were particularly important for avoiding the soupy or watery problems with the custard that I have seen in any number of restaurant-produced versions.

Ingredients:
Lemon Custard
4 egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue)
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

Meringue
4 egg whites
2 tablespoons sugar

1 Pie Crust (blind-baked)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375F (I always perform this step first, as it allows me to ensure that the oven retains much temperature after I open the door and let all the hot air out). The pie must be constructed in three distinct phases, and in a particular order: crust (if not using premade--I didn't), meringue, custard. The reasoning behind this is covered later.

After creating the crust, add the egg whites to the mixer bowl and hand-whip them a little bit to get the foam started (I did this with the whisk attachment for the mixer to save a utensil from being washed). Beat the eggs on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Slowly add the sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks arise.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.

For the custard, it is important to start off with a cold saucepan (I think a saucier would work better, but I don't have one). Add the water, corn starch, sugar, and salt and whisk until the ingredients are fairly well combined. The important part in this step is to make sure that the starch dissolves completely; otherwise, clumps may form in the final custard. Place the pan on medium heat and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Once boiling is reached, the textural difference will be remarkable as the starch thickens things up to a fine goo. Boil for one minute, then remove the pan from the heat. Now comes the tricky part: tempering the egg yolks. In order to ensure that the yolks don't get heated too quickly, you must slowly bring up their temperature before adding them to the mixture. To do this, use the whisk to scoop up some of the sugar mixture and whisk it into the yolks. It's important that you don't add too much at once, which is why the whisk is used. Repeat this step until about half the sugar mixture has been added to the yolks, then dump the yolks into the pan (at this point, they are both diluted and warm enough to not cook prematurely).

Return the pan to the heat and reduce the temperature to low. Cook the mixture, stirring steadily, for at least another minute. This step eliminates an enzyme contained in the egg yolks that causes the watery condensation that destroys many a lemon meringue pie (this is due to their reaction with the corn starch, from my understanding; cooking them now effectively turns the enzyme off). Remove from the heat again and slowly stir in the lemon zest and juice. Note that it will take a few minutes to incorporate the juice, as the watery liquid will not want to mix with the fatty custard. Once the mix has reached a relatively creamy texture, pour it into the pie shell and set aside.

At this point, you *must* apply the meringue as soon as possible to ensure that the custard binds to it properly; otherwise, the meringue simply separates from the second layer and makes for a less presentable (although just as delicious) pie. Remove the meringue from the refrigerator and whisk it on the mixer (on medium-high speed) for a minute to "wake up" the meringue. Smear the meringue on top of the custard, making sure that it reaches all edges of the crust, lest it retract during cooking and not bind properly.

Bake for 12 minutes or until meringue is golden brown on the top. Remove and cool on a wire rack before serving.