Israeli Cheesecake (my slimmer’s version)

Yeah right you are thinking. Just like everyone else that I have told when listing the ingredients. You might be thinking, ‘what’s the point’.

I was never a fan of cheesecake growing up. I never liked the taste, found it always too rich, sometimes with a sour taste. I could count on my one hand the number of times I actually tried cheesecake.

It was a couple of years back that Efi asked me to make cheesecake to break the Yom Kippur fast, and at first I was very much apprehensive, firstly cause I did not have a clue how to even start baking a cheesecake and secondly because of my previous experience. But you know, it was for my Efi, and so I wanted to give it the best attempt.

On my third trip to Israel I found a recipe book booked ‘Sweet Secrets’ by Carine Goren. I can highly recommend this book if you are even the slightest interested in baking. This was exactly what I needed!

Now I am naturally conscious about eating healthy and always find ways to cut back on excess calories without affecting the taste much. I took a serious gamble here, and in my personal opinion, I was hugely successful.

This is my version of Carine’s No-bake cheesecake:

For the crust and crumb (do this first as it needs time to cool before adding your filling)

1 1/2 cups flour

1tsp baking powder

¾ cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 ¼ stick unsalted cold butter cubed

3 egg yolks

Preheat over to 180C

In your mixer, mix flour, baking powder, sugar, vanilla extract and butter till it resembles crumbs. Add the egg yolks and pulse just till a dough is formed.

Press half the dough into the actual dish that you will be making your cheesecake in to form the base of the cheesecake. With the other half, press into a dish, once this is baked into a biscuit you will be breaking this up into a crumble, so the dish really does not matter.

Bake for approximately 20 mins or until golden and then set aside to cool completely.

For the filling

1 cup full cream

¾ cups sugar

1 packet of instant vanilla pudding mix

3 1/2 tubs of fat free smooth cottage cheese

In a mixer, combine all ingredients for a couple minutes till well mixed through.

When the crumb base has completely cooled, scoop the filling inside and smooth over with your spatula. Gently sprinkle the crumb that you have broken up over the cheesecake and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

What I love about this cheesecake is that I can eat without feeling that it was too rich and heavy as it is so light, I have officially turned into a cheesecake junkie. I am very curious to hear what you think, so let me know if you try it!