My sister Gail loves to try out new recipes. She brought this cheesecake for our Easter dinner. It has the texture of the traditional type of cheesecake, not so smooth and creamy as modern cheesecakes.
Rosemary Lemon Cheesecake
2 15-oz cartons ricotta cheese at room temperature
1/3 c butter at room temperature
3/4 c sugar
1/3 c flour
1 T baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
3 slightly beaten eggs
1 T snipped fresh rosemary
1 T plus 1 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
Preheat oven to 300°.
Grease and flour a 9 inch springform pan
1. Beat butter and sugar until light.
2. Beat in ricotta cheese, flour, baking powder, and vanilla.
3. Stir in eggs, rosemary, lemon peel until just combined. Do not beat.
4. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake 40 minutes. Turn oven off. Leave cheesecake in the oven for 1 hour.
Remove from oven, cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife arond the sides of the pan. Allow to cool for another 30 minutes. Remove sides of pan and allow the cake to finish cooling.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving. Top with a sprig of rosemary.
