Recipe – Italian Style Cheesecake

Italian-Style Crustless Cheesecake

South Beach Diet Phase 1

Makes 8 servings

1 lb. container part-skim ricotta cheese

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

8 packets Splenda

Handful of slivered almonds (optional)

Preheat oven to 325F. Spray a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray. Mix the first four ingredients in a bowl until fully incorporated. Turn into the prepared pie plate. Add almonds on top of mixture (optional) and bake 45-60 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack, and then chill. Refrigerate until serving time.

Your little sister can put her hair in pigtails, put on a Catholic School girl outfit and sing with her hair brush in front of the mirror like Britney Spears, but that doesn’t make her Britney Spears. This recipe is trying hard to be cheesecake, but it just ain’t cheesecake.

It’s not bad really, but I think I would like it better if it were called “Cheese Pie” or something. When I hear “Cheesecake” I get some delicious expectations which this just didn’t live up to. It’s just – off. But my family devoured it in basically an evening, so it was worth making once, though I won’t bother with it again. It also takes an hour to make, so it won’t be satisfying any impulsive dessert cravings.