Tuesday, April 1, 2014

A-Z Challenge A is for Athenian Cheesecake

In my Ancient History class, my teacher handed us a project syllabus. We had the choice of three assignments. The first said, Research Ancient Greek food and...I have no idea what the other two options were; he had me at Ancient Greek food! I didn't read anymore.  

I searched high and low and found this recipe for Athenian Cheesecake. I did tweak a few things from the original recipe. For instance, true Ancient Greeks would have used honey instead of sugar in their baking. I opted for sugar.  There were a few other minor changes I made, like using some graham crackers mixed with the nuts for the crust, but overall I did try to stick to the most authentic taste possible. The results were amazing. It's light and lemony and delicious. Like I said in my previous post, one of my teacher's portions dropped on the floor. She literally picked it up and ate it anyway!! It was that good. Hope you enjoy! 

(If anyone does try out my recipes, please pop back in and let me know what you think. Also, if you have any questions, please don't ever hesitate to ask me!) Happy A-Z!! See you back here tomorrow for B is for Banana Bread. Yum!!

Athenian Cheesecake- Faith's A Foodie Style

Ingredients:
4 eggs (separated)
1/2 cup sugar (honey was what was originally used here)
1 whole lemon, the juice and the rind
1/2 cup of flour
1 full container of ricotta cheese (or small curd cottage cheese but I recommend the ricotta)
1 cup of sour cream 

For the crust:
1 cup graham crackers 
1/4 cup of ground walnuts or almonds
2 tablespoons of butter 

In a large bowl beat the egg whites until they are stiff. (use a sprinkle of salt it helps).  Blend yolks, sugar, lemon juice, rind, flour and cheese for a few seconds.  Fold the batter into egg whites.  Fold in sour cream. 
In a separate bowl, mix graham crackers and nuts together.  Use a spring form pan (spring form is what I prefer to use but you can also use another type of pan- either way make sure to really grease the bottom and sides generously)  Mix the butter and crust mix. Press into bottom and up the sides of the pan. Pour mixture in and bake at 325 for roughly 45 minutes. Make sure you chill thoroughly in pan for at least six hours before you try and cut or serve this cheesecake. I like to make it and chill the day before, for best results. 


9 comments:

  1. Wow this sounds great. I do wonder what it would taste like with honey. My daughter will have to try this out.

    Brandon Ax: Writer's Storm

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    1. It is much lighter than traditional cheesecake. We normally make the heavy, New York style over here, but this is a much lighter, tastier version.

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    2. Oh, and I forgot to say thank you yesterday but thank you very much for following me Mr. Ax. I hope you and your daughter like my recipes!

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    3. My pleasure and she is enjoying them she is making a notebook for new recipes.

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  2. OK, I've decided I'm going to try out most of your recipes. (I'm a vegetarian, well piscatarian actually, meaning I do eat fish). So, I have a few questions. 1. What size container of ricotta cheese. And 2. What size spring form pan. This sounds amazing. I'll let you know.

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    1. YAY! Thank you for following me and for being willing to try out my recipes. I never heard of a piscatarian before. Does that mean you also eat shellfish? I love scallops and am always looking for new ways to make them.

      To answer your questions (1) I used a large container of ricotta (I think it equals 1 pound) (2) I used a 9 inch spring form pan. I hope that helps.

      This really is a much nicer, lighter version of cheesecake than what my Italian family usually makes. We do a New York style that is just so heavy on holidays it busts your gut. (Especially after eating pounds of pasta and meat) The lemon in this really brings a great additional flavor. Hope you love it.

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  3. I am the only one who will eat this if I make it so I'm glad it's a lighter version. I can't wait to see what you do with the rest of the alphabet. Great job on the directions and making it sound so appealing.

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  4. Thank you so much Miss Hinds! I am so excited to be getting comments and good feedback. This challenge is going to be fun!

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  5. I can't wait to make this and show off with a little history factoid when I serve it. Thanks!

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