Infinite Critique

My husband happens to love cheesecake. Over the past 10 years he has tried again and agin to convince me of how good this American delight is, and even though I have finally arrived to the point that I can eat a spoon or two of it, the taste remains odd, strange, foreign and just not what would make me leave the house on a cold and gray day to get at a tea shop.

Three years ago I decided to bake my first cheesecake for his birthday even though I am not a fan of it, and to everyones surprise it turned out really good. So far so good, I thought at first to myself. Looking at the levels of fat contained in same, I quickly changed my mind. My solution was to go on the hunt for a “replacement cheesecake” and I found the perfect item. Having a health conscious family here, I serve both cakes side by side each year and both disappear equally fast, the typical cheesecake and also the low fat version. Next to the fact that this cake is really yummy, the following numbers might even persuade someone who has cheesecake engrained as the ultimate dessert since childhood to give it a try:

Traditional cheesecake: Amount Per Serving = Calories: 444 | Total Fat: 30.74g | Cholesterol: 162mg | Sodium: 294mg
Lemon-yogurt cheesecake: Amount Per Serving = Calories: 230 | Total Fat: 7.28g |Cholesterol: 18mg | Sodium: 145mg

Lemon-Yogurt Cheesecake for Jerry

Recipe By: Best American Recipes 2000 (p.279)

Serving Size: 8

Ingredients:

• ***crumb crust***
• 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs, finely crushed
• 3 1/2 tablespoons butter or ghee (clarified butter), melted
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar (packed), - or - raw turbinado sugar
• ***cheesecake***
• 3 cups plain yogurt
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, - or - arrowroot
• 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest, finely grated

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch pie pan.

2) For the crust: In a medium bowl, mix all the ingredients together. Immediately press evenly into the prepared pie plate - if you wait, the ghee or butter will harden, and the mixture will be difficult to work with. (Once it’s hardened, you can never really soften it up again.)

3) For the cheesecake: Combine all the ingredients in a blender until smooth. Pour the cheesecake into the prepared crust. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned in a few places. Chill until firm; the filling will sink slightly. Serve cold.

Notes:

The trick with this cake is to avoid a lot of liquid and a soggy result. To achieve this you will want to drain the yogurt first for a minimum of 6 hours in a cheesecloth or a special yogurt drainer. The longer you let the yogurt sit, the dryer the result, but also the less yogurt per original cup and you will need to compensate for this. To use 3 cupss of well drained yogurt, calculate 6 cups of undrained yogurt. Keep some of the separated yogurt liquid and if the consistency in the blender seems too dry, mix in a spoon at a time to get it smooth.