I experimented with ricotta cheesecake today. I made up my own recipe, based on a couple real recipes for cheesecake, both ricotta and regular. I won't know for sure about the flavor until tomorrow when it's had a chance to chill overnight. I already had one slice, but the flavors have not yet bloomed, so I am not certain about the flavor.
For an experimental recipe, it worked pretty well. The one problem was that the cheesecake took forever to set. It baked for an hour and fifteen minutes in a 325 °F oven with the pie pan sitting on an insulated cookie sheet (I used an eight inch, store-bought cookie crust in a foil pan). It got browner on top than what I'm used to for cheesecake, and was maybe not quite as set as I would have liked in the center. So, all you bakers, what would you advise? A higher temperature and a shorter baking time? Or would that just compound the problem and leave me with burned edges and a mushy middle? Inquiring minds and all that.
Sparky watched me mixing up the batter. Considering that he bit me the last time he watched me make a cheesecake, I found this rather unnerving. I put out some extra cat food so he could chew on that instead. He ate it up and kept watching me. I gave him some bits of ricotta which fell on the counter and let him lick the spatula (when I was cleaning up after the pie was in the oven). I gave him a smidge of the finished cheesecake too and it's certainly passed the cat taste test.
He's had some lactose intolerance issues in the past.
I hope this indulgence doesn't come back to haunt me.
296 words | July 20, 2006 11:18 PM | Kitchen