Baked Plain Cheesecake—Prototype 15:
 
Continuing with my major cheesecake overhaul for 2015, I have made a particularly bold move here by mixing a type of "cream cheese" into the "cheese base". But this newcomer is actually Neufchatel cheese, which many call "light cream cheese" (Kraft Foods, as of 2015, utilizes the "1/3 less fat" reference for its version).

Also, for some reason, I felt that the plain cheesecake may have been somewhat too tart. So I included the old prototype standby, cottage cheese, as well.

Due to the probability of future, additional combinations of 3-cheese blends, I have added an abbreviated identifier for the cheese blend presented below. 1CT = 1 part cottage cheese, 1NC = 1 part Neufchatel cheese and 4YG = 4 parts yogurt cheese.
 
3-Cheese Blend (1CT-1NC-4YG):
Prepare ahead of time 32 ounces of yogurt cheese, derived from two 32-ounce containers (that's 64 ounces altogether) of nonfat yogurt. If the resulting yogurt cheese falls below 32 ounces, add back enough of the whey (that was strained out from the yogurt) to make up the difference. To this yogurt cheese combine 8 ounces of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese and 8 ounces of softened Neufchatel cheese ("light cream cheese").

Crust:
2 oz. melted, white chocolate
8 oz. (1 cup) 3-cheese blend (see above)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 oz. All-Bran, ground up

Place the resulting mixture in the greased pan and pre-bake without tub at 300 degrees for 5-10 minutes, depending on the mixture's thickness (closer to 10 minutes if thin enough to be fully distributed across the pan's bottom by gentle shaking, closer to 5 minutes if thick enough to require spreading out this mixture by pressing on it with a utensil and/or fingers), then cool enough to comfortably touch at least the pan's upper sidewall.

Batter:
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
40 oz. (5 cups) 3-cheese blend (see above)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon (5 tablespoons altogether) arrowroot
5 eggs

Wrap the pan in foil just before adding the batter (to minimize the foil's disturbance and therefore its leakage risk, do not put it on any earlier).

Next, pour the batter over the crust and bake this cheesecake in a hot water tub at 300 degrees for 120 minutes (if using a 9 1/2" pan). Then cool the cheesecake down while still in oven (with this oven shut off) and in tub with door slightly ajar for an hour. Afterwards, remove from oven and tub and continue to cool down at room temperature for another 120 minutes, then remove from pan and refrigerate.

Plain Cheesecake—Prototype 15

I felt that the batter taste was very likely right on target. More specifically, I did not sense any need to increase or decrease the tartness. However, I felt that the crust's cinnamon was somehow too strong.

I used Kraft/Philadelphia "1/3 less fat" Neufchatel cheese, and the stabilizers (xanthan, carob bean and guar gums) in this "light cream cheese" product seemed to make a good, noticeable difference in the firmness. Not only was this prototype sufficiently firm, but I felt that the texture was nearly bordering on "rubbery". Perhaps I shouldn't have baked this cheesecake for so long.

This one was served in early September of 2015 at Living Hope Church, which had a combined service with Christian Renewal Church earlier that morning. During the joint barbecue lunch that followed, a large assortment of desserts were available along with my cheesecake, which itself ended up being almost 3/4 gone. I took the rest home, had a slice later and brought what was left of it the next day to my workplace—and a Labor Day cookout there—where some of my fellow Home Depot associates quickly finished the dessert off. For me personally, this was a double barbecue weekend.
 

Back to my bushy homepage