Sunday, October 31, 2010

Ricotta Cheese Cake with an Almond Meal Crust

FOR THE HOLIDAYS - A PERFECT DESSERT

I have been reading up about the health benefits of Ricotta Cheese and while I admit that this cheese is high in saturated fat, a controlled portion can contribute to your daily intake of B-vitamins, selenium, protein and calcium. I came up with this recipe for a cheese cake when I was looking for wholesome and nutritious non-Indian dessert recipes. I used almond meal (from Trader Joe's) to make the crust of the cake. The end product was an immensely satisfying dessert that you can whip up in less than an hour of prep time, about 30-40 minutes of bake time and more importantly, it can be made the day before you entertain family or friends because it stores very well in the refrigerator. Just bring it to room temperature before serving and make the berry sauce fresh! Some of the photographs below are courtesy of my spouse.

Here are the ingredients:

Cheese filling:
1.5 cups Ricotta cheese
1.5 - 2 tbsp all purpose flour
3 egg whites
6 tbsp honey
3-4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp cinnamon powder
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Crust:
1.5 cups almond meal
1.5 tbsp fresh melted butter
2 tbsp brown molasses sugar

Berry Sauce:
1/2 cup frozen blueberries (strawberries will do to, or you can try a mix of frozen berries)
1/2 - 1 cup water
1 clove
1 small piece of cinnamon bark
1 tbsp brown sugar

To make the crust, brown the almond meal slightly in a pan. To this add the butter and sugar. Mix thoroughly. Once the mixture is cool enough that you can touch the flour, place the mixture in a pre-greased (with very little melted butter) pie dish.



Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Then, in a large bowl, beat the egg whites and add the ricotta cheese. Blend thoroughly. Then sequentially, add the fl our, honey and vanilla extract, blending at each addition. I used a spatula to blend the ingredients. Finally add the spices.



Now, pour this cheese filling onto the pie crust and bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes or until when a fork, when inserted into the cheese filling comes out clean.

In the mean time, make the berry sauce by combining all the ingredients in a sauce pan and cooking the berries un til they are soft (but nor squishy!). Make sure you have some liquid in the sauce pan, it can be handy for decoration.

Serve a piece of the cheese cake in a serving dish and decorate with the berry sauce.





ENJOY
!





2 comments:

  1. Sounds delicious. Can Ricotta be substituted by Paneer or Khava?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Paneer yes, perhaps made from low fat milk. Khoya may be too dense and the texture may not be right.

    ReplyDelete