Light and Luscious Strawberry Cheesecake with Fresh Strawberry Sauce
Delicious light, fresh strawberry cheesecake.
Preparation Time: 50 mins
Cooking Time: 1 hr
Extra Time: 2 hrs
(for cooling and freezing)
Yield: 1 x 9-inch cheesecake
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 3 Tbsp melted butter or margarine
- 1 carton (15 oz.) part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1 cup sugar, divided
- 2/3 cup flour
- 4 eggs, separated
- 2 Tbsp grated lemon peel
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup nonfat light sour cream substitute
- 3 pint baskets California strawberries, stemmed
- 4 tsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup red currant jelly, melted
Directions:
Preheat oven to 300ºF.
In medium bowl mix crumbs and butter. Press onto bottom and 2 inches up sides of lightly greased 9-inch springform pan; set aside.
To make filling, in mixer bowl beat ricotta cheese until smooth. Add 3/4 cup of the sugar, the flour, egg yolks, lemon peel, and vanilla; mix well. Stir in sour cream substitute to blend thoroughly.
In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry; fold into cheese mixture.
Pour into prepared crust; smooth top. In a preheated oven, bake for 1 hour. Turn off oven; cool in oven 1 hour with door ajar. Remove from oven; chill thoroughly.
Meanwhile, to make strawberry sauce, in blender or food processor purée 2 baskets of the strawberries with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the lemon juice; strain sauce to remove seeds. Cover and chill.
To complete the cake, halve remaining strawberries; arrange on top of cake. Brush strawberries with jelly. Cut cake into wedges; serve with sauce.