Grandma's Cheesecake Recipe

This is the lightest, 'healthiest' cheesecake recipe ever!  So easy to make too!  This recipe has been passed down through the generations, each generation making her own amendments as needed.  I too have tweaked a few things and thus made it my own to hand over to my daughter (God-willing) one day.

Base

150 g cake flour

3 g baking powder

65 g sugar

65 g butter

1 egg yolk

1 T milk

1.   Beat the butter until smooth.

2.   Add the egg yolk and sugar and, if necessary, a bit of milk.

3.   Add flour and baking powder.

Filling

375 ml milk

150 g flour

750 g cottage cheese

3 egg yolks

180 g sugar

Peel and juice of 1 lemon

4 egg whites, beaten to stiff peaks

1.  Mix milk and flour.

2.  Add cottage cheese, egg yolks, sugar and lemon.

3.  Gently fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

4.  Bake at 180 ºC for 30 minutes, turn oven down to 160 ºC and bake for a further 30   minutes.

5.  Leave to cool in oven with the door open.

Because this cake is made with cottage cheese instead of the usual cream cheese, it is delightfully light and tangy.  The flour (also an unusual ingredient in a cheesecake filling) helps to stabilise the cottage cheese when baking.  Cottage cheese has a higher protein and water content and a lower fat content in comparison with cream cheese.  This is a very old recipe and it was used when wood-fire ovens were the only option.  Temperature control wasn't exact, so recipes that could withstand various temperatures for varying lengths of time were developed! Makes this a pretty much fool proof recipe to follow!

Happy Weekend :)