Competition - The Greek Gods Greek Style Yoghurt - Cheesecake

I was given a tub of The Greek Gods Greek Style Yoghurt Honey and Strawberry yoghurt and challenged to come up an original and creative recipe that would excite Aphrodite and her heavenly pals. The criteria was to use one of Greek Gods fantastic flavours and I chose Honey & Strawberry.

I decided to make a cheesecake with home made ricotta cheese made from the yoghurt.

All ready to start the ricotta

I started by making my own ricotta cheese by mixing 500g of yoghurt with 1 litre blue top milk, 2 tsp salt and 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar. Bring to the boil (no need to stir) and boil for 2 minutes.

Pour the mixture into a sieve lined with a thin tea towel or muslin and when cool enough give it a good squeeze get the remaining whey out and cool in the fridge for 12 hours. 

Sieving the curds and the whey

Ricotta going into the fridge for 12 hours to set.

Use as appropriate in your recipes. (You can use the whey in place of water when making bread and the whey keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for about 2 weeks).

Now that I have the ricotta I proceeded to make the cheesecake.

Ricotta being weighed and ready to add to the other ingredients

In a large bowl or mixer add all of your ingredients and mix well.  Pour into a buttered and floured spring form pan and bake in a pre-heated oven (325o/180o) for 50-60 minutes. When cool release from pan and chill in the fridge for 24 hours.

Ready to pour into the buttered and floured springform pan

Just out of the oven - mmmm the smell!

Ingredients for the cheesecake:-
1 kg ricotta cheese (I used 700g homemade ricotta and 300g cream cheese)
6 eggs (whisked)
rind of one lemon
1 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup Self Raising flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

Whisk all the ingredients together and pour into a buttered and floured tin. Bake for 50 - 60 mins at 180o. Cool then put in the fridge for 24 hours before slicing.

I served the cheesecake with sliced strawberries and some of the Greek Gods Honey and Strawberry Yoghurt on the side.

The finished cheesecake!

Served with sliced strawberries and some Greek Gods Honey & Strawberry yoghurt