I recently found myself with some beautiful fresh buffalo ricotta and a plump Amalfi lemon. Courtesy of The Sauce, they were part of a Campania taster box that also contained buffalo mozzarella, fennel salami, sopressata di Gioi (a cured pork sausage with a core of lard) and a Bagnoli truffle.
I wasn’t sure how best to use them but when Pete suggested a cheesecake, I was immediately excited. I had the remnants of a packet of digestive biscuits to use up and it’s the kind of recipe that I knew I could make up as I went.
The result was well balanced in both taste and texture and very quick and easy too.
I opted to make 6 mini cheesecakes in individual glass ramekins but you could make one larger cheesecake if you prefer.
(No Bake) Mini Lemon Ricotta Cheesecakes
Ingredients
- 120 g digestive biscuits
- 50 g butter
- 240 g ricotta
- 100 ml lemon juice (from 1 large or 2 medium lemons)
- 75 g icing sugar
- lemon zest (optional)
Instructions
- Crush the digestive biscuits into crumbs. I use a clear bag (so I can see how I’m progressing) and a wooden rolling pin. Don’t be too aggressive or you’ll burst the bag and get biscuit crumbs everywhere!
- Melt the butter. I do this by heating in the microwave for 20-30 seconds but you can also use a saucepan on the stove.
- Mix the melted butter into the digestive crumbs thoroughly.
- Divide the cheesecake base evenly between 6 individual ramekins and use the back of a spoon to press down and smooth evenly around the ramekin.
- Zest the lemon and then juice. I recommend using a finer grater than I did, to produce much smaller zest.
- In a large bowl combine the ricotta, lemon juice and icing sugar. You may prefer to hold some of the sugar back and add more after tasting.
- Mix thoroughly until the ricotta has broken down completely and the ingredients have formed a thick cream. You may need to beat the mixture a little to make it smoother.
- Taste and add more sugar if necessary.
- Divide the mixture between the ramekins and tap to distribute evenly.
- Sprinkle lemon zest over each dish.
- Cover with clingfilm and chill for at least half an hour.
- The cheesecakes will last 2-3 days in the fridge.
With thanks to The Sauce for my Campania tasting box.
Please leave a comment - I love hearing from you!15 Comments to "(No Bake) Mini Lemon Ricotta Cheesecakes"
Lovely! I don’t know whether or not it’s because citrus comes into season now, but I frankly find that this time of year my palate just craves that “bright” sensation that only citrus can bring. And ricotta is so wonderfully creamy. (I can never eat all the biscuits in a package, so I save them–sometimes in the freezer–and blitz them to use as cheesecake crumbs.)
I know what you mean – something very uplifting about citrus – both the colour and the taste shout sunshine and warmth!
This looks like the perfect light and bright dessert – I much prefer no bake cheesecakes to the baked sort.
Yes, me too, though I’ve enjoyed a NY baked cheesecake occasionally, the no-baked kind win the day for me.
exceptionally good dessert… I do love lemon and cream cheese… it’s got that wonderful claggy mouth but with that clean sherbet burst… gorgeous!
Yes, rich and yet the citrus makes it a cleaner taste!
Beautiful little cheesecakes! They look perfect, light and bright for spring 🙂
this looks so yummy
yummy! and I like that they’re no-bake and relatively easy hee hee. not much of a baker I regret to say.
These look fab, simple but full of lovely citrus flavour. Love making individual puds too, seems a little more special to have your very own one. Nice work! Becs
I’m inspired to try this out myself. We love lemon cheesecake in this house and this recipe looks simple enough for my 4 year old to help with. Plus we already have Gu ramekins, ricotta cheese and lemons in the kitchen, though I’ll need to get some icing sugar.
I’ll let you know how it goes x
I can’t help but agree with the other comments- a zesty, ‘Spring’ like dessert that will (hopefully) encourage the warm weather and banish the winter blues- thanks ever so much for entering these delightful desserts into TTT Kavey!
What a great idea Kavey and they seems so easy to make!
Thanks Margot x
Great recipe – can I freeze