Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake

Guest Post Spotlight Thursday

This week I am happy to introduce a fellow Florida foodie.  Claudia from What's Cookin' Italian Style Cuisine is one of the sweetest and most supportive bloggers I have come across.  Every week she shares with us her family recipes for some fantastic traditional Italian food.  I have enjoyed following Claudia's kitchen adventures and was very happy when she decided to share her talent with us.

Please check out Claudia over at What's Cookin' Italian Style Cuisine.  Not only will you find a new blog to read, but you will also make a friend.

Enjoy...

Hi Everyone! I'm Claudia from What's Cookin' Italian Style Cuisine, a blog about family traditions with grandma's, mom's, and my own versions of Italian foods that are always cooked with love and fond memories! My mission had started out to build recipes on my blog to leave behind the family secrets to my two sons. It has now become a passionate obsession and hobby that I couldn't stop after completing those favorite childhood memories of their fabulous foods that lingers in my mind forever. With all that reminiscing and compiling all those memories it became and intoxicating love affair for food, I love blogging about food and family! So enough about me!


About a month ago, I was shocked and very flattered that Lazaro asked me to write a guest post on his blog. I had no idea on what to post about, looking at the lineup of fabulous talent he has on his site weekly along with his own outstanding culinary talents. My blogging and technical expertise are very limited yet, still learning. I decided to post about one of our favorite old fashioned Italian desserts, and he was gracious enough to help me deliver this to you all, plus I couldn't say no to such an amazing blogger buddie like Lazaro, his presentation, delicious recipes and his strong for family speaks for itself with his background. Thank you to both you and your wonderful wife and their adorable kitty children...I love all his cat pictures !

I decided to give this a try. So with that said, I am going to post my Mom's Italian Ricotta Cheesecake Recipe

Ricotta Cheese 32 oz or 2lb container or homemade

2/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
5 eggs
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp lemon extract
3 tsp of the juice of a fresh lemon or concentrated can be substituted
1/8 teaspoon salt

Prep work:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees . Set rack in the middle of the oven. Butter and flour a 9 1/2 inch spring form pan, and tap out excess flour or if you prefer use a piece of parchment paper cut to fit the bottom. Wrap the entire pan in aluminum foil just around the spring form pan, to preserve integrity of the pan..... this is in preparation for the water bath. The water should be no more than 1/4 inch below the top of the foil not above the foil.

You must have patience for this recipe as the longer you beat this and make sure its completely smooth as directed the better the results are.

Directions:

Place the 2lbs of ricotta in a large mixing bowl, and beat it as smooth as possible with an industrial mixer, beat with flat beater for 7 to 8 minutes..... on stir mode. If your are doing this by hand using a rubber spatula it will take at least 12 to 15 minutes. Stir the sugar and flour together thoroughly into the ricotta, beat another 3 minutes. Stir in the one egg at a time until each egg is well blended around 1 minute per egg, beating a little faster than a stir mode. Blend in the flavorings, zest, and salt. Pour batter into the prepared pan it will be medium thickness in consistency not runny or thin. Bake in the center of the oven in water bath about 1/4 inch of water (refer to picture) for about 1 to 1 1/4 hours on 300 degrees, until a light golden color. Cook making certain the center is fairly firm, insert a knife in the center to see if the batter is solid. Cool completely. Chill till serving time. Serve with powdered sugar, a dab of whipped cream or a raspberry puree sauce over the top ( any fruit puree cant be substituted).

Note: If you prefer a crust. Line bottom of this pan with crushed shortbread cookies add 1/2 stick melted butter, dash of cinnamon and mix. Add to the bottom of lightly greased spring form pan.

Raspberry Puree Sauce
2 - 12 ounce bags of frozen raspberries unsweetened)
1/2 cup ) granulated white sugar, or to taste
1 teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice (optional)

Put raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in food processor until pureed, use for topping.

Please check out Claudia at What's Cookin' Italian Style Cuisine.