Curd Cheesecake

Cheap curd cheese in waitrose and memories of my polish friend's mother's cheesecake inspired me to make this recipe. I found the recipe on http://nami-nami.blogspot.com/2006/05/cheesecake-with-curd-cheese-and-lots.html . If you only have one set of beaters for your hand whisk, beat the egg whites first off, its a real job to clean the cheese mixture off the beaters, and for beating egg whites, they need to be really squeaky clean. The end result was really tasty - but not the same as the one I remember - the quest continues....!

150 grams butter, softened
175 grams caster sugar
2 to 3 juicy lemons (depending on your taste), juiced and zested
3 medium eggs
250 grams low-fat milk curd cheese or ricotta
125 grams plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
Cream the soft butter with caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, whisking thoroughly each time.Mix in lemon juice, grated zest and curd cheese. Sift in flour and baking powder and mix the dough until combined.Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then fold into the dough, little by little.Pour the dough into a buttered and floured 20 cm cake tin.Bake in the middle of 180C oven for 40-50 minutes, until the cake has risen and is lovely golden brown.Let it cool for an hour in the tin before cutting into pieces and serving.

Lemon Cheesecake

This is a great one to make with toddlers - my sister in law gave me the recipe.

200g digestive biscuits
55g butter
250g mascarpone cheese
175ml tin condensed milk
2 juicy lemons
fresh fruits or grated chocolate to decorate

20cm shallow loose bottomed tin
Put biscuits in to a plastic bag and bash them with a rolling pin until they look like breadcrumbs

Tip into mixing bowl
Melt butter in a smalll suacepan and pour over the biscuit crumbs and mix
Press evenly in to the tin and leave to rest in the fridge for 1hr
Put the mascarpone and condensed milk into a large bowl. Carefully grate the lemon skin and add the zest then squeeze in the juice as well.
Beat everything together until the mixture is smooth then spread it over the biscuit base and chill in fridge for at least an hour. Decorate just before serving.