Martha's Easy Light Cheesecake

heavy holidays are on the way...

you might want to lighten things up a bit.

start with this absolutely delicious light cheesecake.
so easy to prepare.
ALL DONE IN THE FOOD PROCESSOR
and baked with NO WATER BATH
no one will suspect the ingredients.  friends and family had no idea the main ingredient was cottage cheese.  don't say anything...

LET THE TASTE AND TEXTURE WIN THEM OVER.

the original recipe is for a 9" cake, but i made mine in an 8" then made 2  individuals in small mason jars with cookie crumbs at the bottom.

THESE WERE BAKED FOR 30 MINUTES.

CHOCOLATE COOKIE CRUST

28 Nabisco Chocolate Wafers
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
4 Tbsp melted butter

put wafers in possessor and pulse until crumb texture.  add sugar and butter and process again.  pour crumb mixture into springform pan and tamp down with something flat.  gently press mixture up the sides.  it's a bit crumbly, but as you can see...it's do-able.
this Martha original recipe does not require going up the sides, but i found it to look more attractive.  (you shall see an example in my Lightened Up Pumpkin Pie recipe soon)

MOST OF THE CALORIES ARE IN THE CRUST SO YOU BE THE JUDGE...

bake at 325 for 12-15 minutes.  remove to cool.

NOTE...i did not use all the crust mixture and as you can see i had a nice thick crust all the way up the sides of an 8 inch pan.  better to have too much than not enough.

simply wipe out processor and begin to prepare mixture  for cake.

MARTHA'S  LIGHT CHEESECAKE 

from Martha Stewart. 

3 cups low fat cottage cheese

8 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, room temp.

3/4 cup  granulated sugar

1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream

4 large eggs

2 Tbsp all purpose flour

2 tsp vanilla extract (Martha called for 1 tsp)

1/2 tsp salt

preheat oven to 325 degrees.

have prepared crust as noted above, or crust from original found in link.

as noted i used an 8" springform pan and had leftover.

blend cottage cheese and cream cheese until very very smooth and glossy, scraping down sides as necessary, about 4-5 minutes.  add 3/4 cup sugar, sour cream, eggs, flour, vanilla, salt and blend until filling is completely smooth.

pour filling into prepared crust.  bake until barely set in the middle, ABOUT 1 HOUR.  there should be some "jiggle".  TURN OFF THE OVEN and let the cake cool in the oven for 1 more hour.  i left the oven door slightly open...very slightly!  transfer to wire rack and let cool to room temp for 2 hours, then refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours and up to 2 days.

Semi-Homemade Raspberry-Lemon Cheesecake Bites

Why do I love mini food so much? Is it because I'm mini? At 5'0, I rarely get to look others in the eye. Is it because I have mini kids? Or maybe mini food makes me feel better about eating ten? Regardless of what it is, the smaller food is, the happier it makes me.


This idea came after making those mini quiches. The little pie crusts were so easy to make that the possibilities became endless. Then I discovered that you can buy premade cheesecake filling that requires no baking.



That combined with a layer of lemon curd, and a bright raspberry, and you have one (or ten) tasty little bite!

Semi-Homemade Raspberry-Lemon Cheesecake Bite
A Blog About Food

Ingredients (Makes 48)

2 refrigerated rolled pie crusts
1 tub cheese cake filling
1 jar lemon curd
1 container of raspberries, washed (just about any berry would work)

Directions

Preheat oven to temperature on pie crust box. Unroll pie crust, flour on either size and roll out to almost twice it's size. Use a round glass or biscuit cutter to cut out circles to fit a greased mini muffin pan. Bake according to directions. (You'll do this twice). Allow to cool.

Fill each pie crust with cheesecake filling, a layer of lemon curd and top with one berry.

Lemon Curd Marbled Cheese Cake

I really wish I could take credit for this thing of beauty, yet alas, the credit for this marvelous cheesecake goes to another friend of mine. My only regret is that I didn't get a picture of the whole thing, it's so pretty.

I like cheesecake, but I don't love it. Usually it's too thick, or it's too rich and I can't eat much of it. But I could honestly eat this cheesecake all day and then dream about it at night. It has the perfect consistency, it's rich, but not overwhelming, and don't even get me started on how much I love the lemon/berry combination.

This recipe comes from Epicurious.com, and my friend clued me in on a few changes. She didn't add salt to the crust, to keep it from tasting like a pretzel (as some reviewers claimed it did). She also changed the baking time to a full hour, turned off her oven and let it sit for 20-30 minutes. She said to bake until the outer edge is firm and the center is wobbly. She also said that it's very important to run your lemon curd through a sieve to get out any lumps or rogue pieces of zest. Thanks again lady, it was to die for!

Lemon Curd Marbled Cheese Cake

Epicurious

Ingredients

For lemon curd
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

For crust
1 1/3 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs (5 oz)
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For filling
3 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
Special equipment: a 9- to 91/2-inch (24-cm) springform pan
Accompaniment: blueberries (or any berry you prefer)

Directions

Make lemon curd:
Whisk together zest, juice, sugar, and eggs in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Add butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubbles appear on surface, about 6 minutes.

Force lemon curd through a fine-mesh sieve into a wide shallow dish, scraping bottom of sieve, then cover surface with wax paper. Cool completely, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Make and bake crust:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Invert bottom of springform pan (to make it easier to slide cake off bottom), then lock on side. 3Stir together crust ingredients in a bowl, then press onto bottom and 1 inch up side of springform pan. Place springform pan in a shallow baking pan and bake 10 minutes, then cool crust completely in springform pan on a rack.

Make filling and bake cheesecake:
Reduce oven temperature to 300°F.

Beat together cream cheese and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add eggs 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Beat in sour cream and vanilla until combined.

Pour two thirds of cream cheese filling into crust, then spoon half of lemon curd over filling and swirl curd into filling with a small knife. (Avoid touching crust with knife to prevent crumbs getting into filling.) Repeat with remaining filling and curd.

Bake cheesecake until set 1 1/2 inches from edge but center trembles when pan is gently shaken, about 45 minutes. (Center of cake will appear very loose but will continue to set as it cools.) Transfer springform pan to a rack and immediately run a knife around top edge of cake to loosen. Cool completely, about 2 hours, then chill, uncovered, at least 4 hours. Remove side of springform pan before serving.