Homemade Ricotta Cheese & Ricotta Cheesecake

I think I had my most successful home baking endeavor ever this past week. Inspired by childhood memories of deliciously light Japanese cheesecake, a yummy ricotta cheesecake from Pepolino and a bad but beautiful cheesecake from Jean-Paul Hevin - I ventured to make my own version of the perfect cheesecake. And not only did I make the cheesecake from scratch, I made my very own homemade ricotta cheese too.

So, making your own ricotta cheese is actually ridiculously easy. But, to make a long story short - DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MAKE CHEESE WITHOUT CHEESECLOTH. Ever. And more importantly - t-shirts can not substitute for cotton muslin, which can not substitute for cheesecloth. Enough said.

But with cheesecloth - your own ricotta can be just as beautiful as mine - without the t-shirt buckets, and baby-barf looking milk curds all over your kitchen.



After my cheesemaking debacle - the cheesecake itself was actually quite easy to make and assemble as well. It takes some time - to let the crust cool, and let the cake cool etc - but all very simple and easy to follow.

I found that the key to making this cheesecake as beautiful to eat as it was to see as the cheesecake of my dreams was two things:

1) Whir homemade ricotta into perfectly creamy cheese with hand blender (a food processor would work fine here, but a pain to clean. Pushing the cheese through a sieve as the recipe called for would just have not been enough.

2) Separate eggs. Soft-peaked egg whites gives this cake a souffle like lightness you won't get any other way.



I also substituted half the flour of the crust with almond flour, which was yummy and nutty. I thought about making a graham cracker crust since I don't have a food processor to make a real crust, but I read that graham cracker crusts can be quite grainy and tend to fall apart after baking. My mini-food processor (normally used for chopping and or sauces) actually worked perfectly to make the thin crust.



Lots of citrus zest is key to giving the cake flavor - and I think next time maybe I'll even add some liquor or cognac or something to give it a bit more kick.





But overall - the cake was delicious. It sinks a bit from the gorgeous puffy thing that comes out of the oven, but it's fine. It has a wonderfully rustic look after it's settled, but still tastes light as can be. I had friends over who didn't even like cheesecake and they loved it. This cheesecake is easy to make, absolutely worth the time and effort, and so so yummy to eat. I will definitely make it again.





Fresh Homemade Ricotta
Adapted from Epicurious.com
Double recipe for enough ricotta for an entire cheesecake

2 quarts whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Line a large sieve with a layer of heavy-duty (fine-mesh) cheesecloth and place it over a large bowl.

Slowly bring milk, cream, and salt to a rolling boil in a 6-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. Add lemon juice, then reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring constantly, until the mixture curdles, about 2 minutes.

Pour the mixture into the lined sieve and let it drain 1 hour. After discarding the liquid, chill the ricotta, covered; it will keep in the refrigerator 2 days.

Makes about 2 cups of ricotta, which = around 1lbs of cheese.
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Ricotta Cheesecake
Adapted from Gourmet, November 1999

For crust
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup almond meal/flour (if you don't have almond meal, just use normal flour)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice


For filling
2 lb fresh homemade whole-milk ricotta
5 extra-large/jumbo eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Make crust:
Pulse flour, sugar, salt, and butter in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add yolk, vanilla, and lemon juice and pulse just until mixture begins to form a dough. Spread dough with a small offset spatula or back of a spoon over buttered bottom of a 9-in springform pan and prick all over with a fork. Chill 30 minutes.

Bake crust in a shallow baking pan (to catch drips) in middle of oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes, and cool on a rack.

Increase temperature to 375°F.

Make filling and bake cake:
Puree ricotta with a handblender until completely smooth. Beat yolks and sugar with an electric mixer until thick and pale, then beat in ricotta, flour, and zests. Beat whites with salt in another bowl until they hold soft peaks, and fold into ricotta mixture.

Butter side of springform pan and pour filling over crust (pan will be completely full). Bake in baking pan in middle of oven until cake is puffed and golden and a tester inserted 1 inch from center comes out clean, about 1 hour.

Run a knife around top edge of cake to loosen and cool completely in springform pan on rack. Chill, loosely covered, at least 4 hours. Remove side of pan and transfer cake to a plate. Bring to room temperature before serving.