Ricotta Cheesecake

Preparation steps

• Drain Ricotta (a few hours until the day before) Prepare gauze and a strainer with small slits as well as a bowl in which the cheese will be strained. Put the cheese in gauze, then in a strainer placed above a smaller bowl, cover and place in the fridge for a few hours to drain (or overnight).
• For the base:
• Preheat the oven to 175 C, place the rack in the middle of the oven.
• Wrap the baking dish (diameter 23 cm in diameter) well with aluminum foil in 2-3 layers so that water does not reach the inside of the dish (the cake is baked in a water bath). * I use a special foil that is sold in the USA called Heavy Duty, it is especially strong and double the cheese from the regular one so I only need one layer.
• Mix ground biscuits (Graham, Biscotti or other Digestive) and butter and press along the bottom of the bowl and about 1.5-2.5 cm along the sides (use a glass, it is much easier). Bake for about 15 minutes or until the color turns golden. Remove from oven and cool completely. * You can coat the dish with butter before adding the base mass, but it is not necessary - I did not.
• For Cream:
• All ingredients must be at room temperature before preparing the cream. * I usually don't have time to wait for everything to temper nicely, but I prepare a plastic bowl, pour warm water (not hot but quite warm) and put packages of cheese and eggs in it. After 15 minutes, everything is nicely warmed up. Also, prepare a sufficient amount of hot water which should later be poured into a larger enough deep container in which the container with the cream will be placed. There should be enough hot water to reach 1/2 the height of the bowl with the cream.
• Put the ricotta and cream cheese in a large plastic bowl and stir with a mixer until creamy (there should be no lumps). Add thickener, sugar and honey and continue beating until you get a compact creamy mixture. Add sweet sour cream and lemon zest and combine very briefly with a mixer. Add the egg and stir with a mixer on low speed only until the mass is even. Repeat with the rest of the eggs. * eggs can be combined with a food processor, it is very important not to overdo the beating after adding eggs because it can happen that too much air is added to the mixture which will cause the cakes to crack during baking or the mixture to flatten after baking.
• Pour the mixture into a bowl with a cooled base and place the bowl in the prepared larger bowl. As already mentioned, pour hot water so that the water reaches 1/2 the height of the smaller vessel. Bake until the cheesecake gets a golden color, the center of the cake should still ripple when the pan is shaken - it will tighten during cooling. When the Cheesecake is baked, carefully take it out of the bowl of water (remove it from the oven) and put it back in the oven for about 30 minutes, with the oven door slightly open. This prevents a sudden drop in temperature and reduces the possibility of cracking. After 30 minutes, remove the Cheesecake from the oven, cut slowly between the edge of the cake and the pan with a knife to separate the cake from the pan - which prevents cracking (if you coat the pan with butter before baking, this will probably not be necessary) and leave it for 2-3 hours temperatures to cool. Then cover it and put it in the fridge to cool well, preferably overnight and for a minimum of 6 hours. The taste is much nicer the next day. * the total baking time in my oven (gas) is about 70 minutes, the ovens are different and the baking lengths can vary depending on that. It is not desirable to open the oven during the first 60 minutes, sudden changes in temperature can cause the Cheesecake to crack. In any case - avoid opening the oven too much. * do not overcook it, after 60 minutes test it by shaking the dish slightly, the center should wave slightly. * Toasted Cheesecake is dry and usually cracks while still in the oven, which is a purely aesthetic factor and does not significantly affect the taste.
• Blueberry sauce In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients and cook over low heat, stirring, until the sauce boils and thickens. Cool and store in the refrigerator. Apply to the cut piece just before eating.