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Baked Chocolate Banana Cheesecake—Prototype 1:
2-to-1 Blend of Yogurt Cheese and Cottage Cheese:
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 one 16-ounce container of whipped, lowfat cottage cheese.
Grease a 9 1/2" (or 9") pan, but do not wrap any foil around it
yet—see below for that step (spreading the crust in an already wrapped pan can
result in greater disturbance to the foil, thus increasing leakage risks).
Chocolate Crust:
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
8 oz. (1 cup) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above)
3/8 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 oz. All-Bran, ground up
Place the resulting mixture into the greased pan. Allow this mixture to get firm
(if needed, chill it for this purpose, perhaps about 30 minutes minimum).
Chocolate Batter:
2 tablespoons melted/softened butter
7/8 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons arrowroot
20 oz. (2 1/2 cups) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
Wrap the pan in foil, and carefully pour the chocolate batter on top of the crust.
Then place all this in a tub—filled only about halfway, or about half an inch,
with boiling water. Bake at 325 degrees for about 40 minutes. Afterwards, take the
whole pan-and-tub setup out of the oven, and carefully get it to a comfortable place.
Promptly add the banana batter as indicated below.
Banana Batter:
2 tablespoons melted or softened butter
5/8 cups granulated sugar
8 ounces of banana puree
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons arrowroot
20 oz. (2 1/2 cups) 2-to-1 blend of yogurt cheese and cottage cheese (see above)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
Carefully scoop this on top of the chocolate batter.
Here is a decorative option for the upper layer at this point. Add some
chocolate syrup (Trader Joe's Organic Midnight Moo is recommended) on
the top surface. Squirt thick, parallel stripes of this syrup, about a couple
of tablespoons altogether (close to 1 1/3 ounces by weight if using TJ's),
throughout the pan (the TJ's syrup, as of this writing, comes in a squeezable
bottle with a squirt nozzle). Then pull a knife in perpendicular directions
through these stripes in the batter (just deeply enough for the upper layer's
surface) in order to produce a wavy, swirl pattern (see photo below for an
example). Do all this as neatly as possible (avoid cutting into the chocolate
layer underneath).
Next, return the pan-and-tub setup to the oven, this time at only 300 degrees, and
add more hot water to the tub (at this point, go ahead and fill it all the way).
Bake for about 80 more minutes.
Turn the oven off, leaving the cheesecake in it (still in its tub as well), with
the door slightly ajar, for another 60 minutes.
Then remove this cheesecake from the oven and tub. At this point, a border of
chocolate chips can be added to the cheesecake's top surface around its outer edge,
if desired (but use care in avoiding burns—the pan's sidewall may still
be hot). Continue letting the cheesecake cool in its pan at room temperature for
another 120 minutes.
Afterwards, remove this cheesecake from its pan and refrigerate.
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