Let’s press pause on real food for a second and highlight one of the best desserts I have tried all year. Using greek yogurt we modified a classic Cheese Cake recipe and it is seriously good. You want the details? Check out this post:
So now that we are talking “out of this world good” Cheese cake lets get into specifics. Perfectly creamy dense filling, crunchy taste accenting graham cracker crust, and to top it all off our traditional Berry fruit sauce. This would be the perfect thing to serve at a garden party, birthday, or date night. Just change it up a little!
Just a heads up this recipe may seem a little intimidating reading through the first time, but don’t fret you have the skills to make this and you will be so proud of yourself when you do. The biggest part of the recipe is making sure you have the equipment needed for Cheese cake, which would be either a hand held or a stand mixer. Maybe if you have biceps of steal you could make this work but trust me cheese cake takes a lot of thorough mixing power, you don’t want to try that by hand. It would be like the time I tried to hand whip meringue. So essentially a bowl of violently stirred eggs and a sore shoulder for a week, let’s just skip that chaos shall we?
- 32 ounces cream cheese
- 1/2 cup greek yogurt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 whole eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 12 graham crackers
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 6 tbsp melted butter
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In large plastic storage bag, add graham crackers. Roll and crush until fine crumbs. Add sugar and shake to mix.
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Pour in melted butter, seal bag and mix/knead with hands until all ingrdients are well combined.
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Grease bottom of 10 spring form pan. Pat crumb mixture in bottom firmly. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until just starting to darken. Remove from oven and cool.
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When crust is cool. Wrap bottom of pan and up sides a bit in 2 layers of heavy duty foil, to prevent water seeping in during water bath baking.
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In stand mixer(hand mixer could be used) add cream cheese, sugar, salt, and corn starch. Mix on medium speed mix until VERY well combined. It should smooth and thick
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Scrape down sides before next step
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Add greek yogurt, lemon juice and vanilla. Mix until well combined.
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Scrape down sides before next step
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Add eggs one at a time and mix thoroughly after each addition. Add whole eggs first and egg yolk last. Scrape down sides, and mix for another 30 seconds
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Pour onto crust, smooth top. Place large roaster pan in oven. Fill with 2-3 inches boiling water. Gently place cheese cake pan in water to bake. Baking in a water bath will prevent cracking. Pssst....cracked cheesecake still tastes delicious!! Bake 350 degrees in water bath for 50-60 minutes. The outer edges should be solid but the center should still jiggle a little. It will not brown.
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Shut off oven and leave cheesecake in oven to cool for 1 hour. Remove cheese cake from water bath and oven. Remove foil from pan. Refredgerate for at least 4 hours until completely chilled. Run a knife around edge of cheesecake and gently remove spring pan sides.
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Slice and serve with fruit sauce if desired
If you have any questions about this recipe or would like to see any specific dessert recipe or variation, let us know below! We hope you are enjoying your spring. I know we are, the inspiration has struck and we can’t wait to transition to summer meal feels.
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