Last week was my week of freedom between my last final and before bar review began. So I had many ambitions to cook and bake things that I've had bookmarked such as, Paula Deen's Cheesecake cookies, and Penne with cherry tomatoes, asparagus, and goat cheese. So at the beginning of the week, I went to the supermarket, and bought, among other things, cream cheese for the cheesecake cookies, and ricotta cheese for the penne and goat cheese dish. Ricotta cheese, you ask? Well, I couldn't find goat cheese at the supermarket, so I thought ricotta cheese would be a good substitute.
Needless to say, neither of these dishes materialized between running errands, seeing friends I wouldn't get to see during the summer, and graduating from law school. Many of the other ingredients, such as the cherry tomatoes and asparagus, got eaten up by my parents, leaving me with a lot of ricotta and cream cheese. One google search later, and I had a recipe for "Heavenly Cheesecake" - which calls for both ricotta and cream cheese.
Now, this was the first cheesecake I have ever baked, so it's not so pretty. But don't be fooled by its appearance. This cake turned out to be a light and fluffy custard, like eating a cloud in a crust. The topping adds a sweet tangy flavor, but it's good even without it. I used a store-bought crust since I was pressed for time, but making your own as the recipe describes seems easy enough. Plus, it's low-fat! All in all, I would call this a success and I would make this cake again. Except next time, I will work on folding the egg whites into the batter better, which I believe is what caused the brown blotches.
For the recipe, click here.
