Yogurt cheesecake (no baking)

This is altered from two recipes. 

Crust:

100g Oreo cookies without frosting

40g unsalted butter

Cream cheese layer:

5g gelitin powder

50g water

225g cream cheese

200ml heavy cream

60g granulated sugar

24ml lemon juice

A pinch lemon fillings

Some cocoa powder for coloring

2g salt

A few drops of vanila extract

Yogurt layer:

5g gelitin powder

35g water

120g original yogurt

30g granulated sugar

100ml heavy cream

12g lemon juice

Dissolve 5g gelitin powder separately in 50g and 35g cold water.

Scratch off the frosting from Oreo cookies. Roll the cookings in a ziplock bag using a rolling pin to make crumbs. Heat up 40g butter using microwave oven for about 30 seconds or until it melts. Mix the cookie crumbs and butter well. Press it in the bottom of an 8' bakeware. Do not press too hard. This will make the crus very hard to cut later. Try to make it even by padding the surface gently using a spoon. Refridge the crust at 4 degree centigrade.

Beat 300ml heavy cream until slightly firm. Put into fridge or on ice to chill.

Melt 225g cream cheese I water bath. Mix all the ingredients well (and 2/3 of the cream) with hand mixer except for the gelitin. Melt the 55g gelitin mix in microwave oven 9 second for 2 or 3 times. Add it into the cream cheese batter after filtering. Mix well. Pour into the bakeware. Let it fall for several times on the counter to remove bubbles. Make the surface even and put it into freezer to cool down for 1 hour.

Mix up the rest cream and other ingredients in the yogurt layer except gelitin. Heat up to melt the gelitin. Mix well with the rest of the batter. Pour on top of the cream cheese layer. Let it fall for several tie on the counter to remove bubbles and even the surface. Chill in fridge for at least four hours before serving. 

Yogurt cheesecake

I found another recipe for light cheesecake lately. It used yogurt instead of lemon for the sour taste. And it's even simpler than the one I shared before. Unlike the traditional New York cheesecake, it has no crust, no butter, less cream cheese and less sugar. It's by far my favorite recipe for light cheesecake. 

Here is the original recipe in Chinese: http://blog.sina.cn/dpool/blog/s/blog_4a5089ff0100dgs5.html

Ingredients (for a 8' cake. Use half the amount for a 6' cake)

Egg yolk batter:

Cream cheese   250g

Geek yogurt   150g

Whipping cream   100g

Egg yolks   4

Cake flour   66g

Meringue:

Egg white   4

Sugar   80g

1. Warm the cream cheese in a mixing bowl. You may use microwave oven in appropriate continers. I usually use hot water.

2. Separate egg white and egg yolks. Put the egg white into fridge to chill. This will make the meringue finer.

3. Beat 250g softened cream cheese until fluffy. 

4. Mix in 150g plain yogurt. I used this Greek yogurt.

5. Add 100g whipping cream. Mix well. I used heavy cream this time because my husband bought the wrong type... But it worked.

6. Mix in the egg yolks. 

7. Sift in 66g cake flour and mix well. 

8. Grease the bakeware using unsalted butter.

9. Make meringue. Chilled egg white will take longer time to become fluffy. But the foams will be finer. So it definitely pays off. Get your mp3 ready. :)

This is how the meringue should look like. When you pull out the mixer, the peak is firm but will bend. It will be harder to mix with the egg yolk batter later if the peaks are too stiff. If the peaks are soft, the cake will collapse after baking. So be careful for this step.

10. Preheat the oven to 320F. Put a plate of 3 cm water on the lower rack. 

11. Scoop 1/3 of the meringue into egg yolk batter. Mix well with a spatula. Do not make full circles because it will defoam the meringue. Scoop the batter from the bottom and make a quarter circle each time. 

12. Dump the mixed batter into the other meringue. Mix well in the same way. 

13. Pour the batter into the bakeware. Put a towel under the bakeware. Let it fall from a small distance above the counter to remove big bubbles. You may skip it if you don't feel comfortable to do so.

14. Bake the cake using water bath for 70 minutes on the lower rack of the oven. You might need to wrap your bakeware with aluminum foil if the bottom is removable. Mine does not leak so I can put it directly in water. 

The surface cracked this time. Last time I baked a 6' cake for 65 minutes and it turned out perfect. But Its ok since it's not terribly cracked.

15. Put the cake in fridge to cool down for at least 4 hours before serving. 

It's very delicate and moist and delicious. Good luck! 

Japanese style light cheesecake

I'm always a big fan of the spongy light cheesecake. When I was still an undergrad, I would finish one in a Sunday afternoon after a long week's heavy work of study and research. Although it is almost everywhere in Asia, it is very difficult to find in US. I finally found a recipe that is easy to follow. If you can read Chinese, please go to the original recipe here: http://blog.sina.cn/dpool/blog/s/blog_553549120100iggq.html

My 1 year old loves it, too. I gave him a piece sometimes for the afternoon snack. You may put even less sugar to make it healthier for the tiny ones.

Ingredient:

Egg yolk batter:

Cream cheese    100g

Egg yolks   4

Milk   100g

Lemon juice   1 tsp

Cake flour   60g

Corn starch   30g

Unsalted butter   50g

Egg white batter:

Egg white   4

Granulated sugar   60g

1. Soften 100g cream cheese in water bath.

2. Seperate the egg yolks and egg whites. Leave the yolks in a cup for later use. Put egg white in fridge to cool down a little bit.

3. Grease your bakeware. I usually use an 8" round cake pan or sometimes a 9"*5" square one. 

4.   Beat the half melted cream cheese using a hand mixer till no granules left.

5. Put 50g unsalted butter in a cup in the water bath to melt. 

6. Add egg yolks one at a time and mix well. 

7. Mix in 100g milk and 1 tsp lemon juice. Mix well. I sometimes use whole milk, sometimes use 2% fat reduced milk 50g with 50g heavy cream... They both worked fine.

8. Sift in 60g cake flour and 30g corn starch. Mix well. 

9. Cool down the melted butter a little bit and then mix into the egg batter.

Here is the egg batter. Put it into fridge while you are making egg white part.  

10. To make egg white batter, take the bowl of egg white out and add 1/2 tsp lemon juice.

11. Beat the mixture till big bubbles form.

12. Add 1/3 of the sugar. Keep beating till foams form.

13. Add another 1/3 sugar and Beat the egg white till soft peaks form. 

14. Add all the left over sugar and beat the egg white till firm peaks form. Try not to over beat it because it will be hard to mix up with the egg yolk batter later. The peaks should drop a little bit when you pull the mixer out. 

15. Take 1/3 of the egg white batter and mix it up with the egg yolk batter. Do not use the mixer. Use a spatula instead. Every time scoop up the egg yolk batter from the bottom and push it to the center top. Do not make circles.

16. Transfer all the mixed batter into the 2/3 egg white batter. Mix well with the spatula. If you over stir the batter, the tiny bubbles made by egg white will break. You will get very soft batter and the make would not be successful. So be careful and not to over-stir.

17. Heat up the oven to 455 F. 

18. Pour the batter into the greased baking pan and then put it into water bath. Bake for 5 minutes. 

19. Change the temperature to 300 F and bake for another 60 minutes. Add cold water half way to prevent the surface from cracking. 

20. When the baking is over, Cool the cheesecake down in fridge overnight before serving. 

I made one for my LO's 1 year birthday. I ate most of the part of course. :)