This baked cheesecake without cream cheese is everything that is delicious and decadent. I promise you won't even notice that it has no cream cheese in it unless told about. The secret to the thickened, creamy and luscious cheesecake filling lies in the combination of cottage cheese, fresh cream and condensed milk. If you have these three ingredients in your pantry, you are pretty much ready to make this no-cream cheese cheesecake recipe.
400gmsCottage CheesePaneer/Chenna - either store bought or homemade, both will do
100mlCondensed Milk
½cupFresh Cream - alternate would be full fat milk
12nos.Digestive Biscuits or Graham Crackers
3tbspButter
2Eggs
1tbspVanilla Extract
1Lemon Juice & Zest
Instructions
Make sure that all your ingredients are at room temperature. This means your Butter and Cottage Cheese should be soft, Condensed Milk should be free flowing and Egg not cold
Start by processing the Digestive Biscuits into a coarse powder. Take it out in a mixing bowl and add the butter to it. Rub it in so that you get sand-like texture
12 nos. Digestive Biscuits or Graham Crackers, 3 tbsp Butter
Dump it in a Springform Pan and using a flat bottom glass press it to get a levelled base
Bake it at 170C for 10 mins. Once done, take it out and allow it to cool down completely
In another mixing bowl, crumble the Cottage Cheese nicely. If needed whisk it to make it smooth. My advice would be dump it in a blender jar and give it a couple of buzz to blend it smooth.
400 gms Cottage Cheese
Add in the Condensed Milk and whisk it till it gets smooth. Now, add the eggs, lemon zest and juice, fresh cream and vanilla extract. Give it a quick mix till you get a free flowing batter
100 ml Condensed Milk, ½ cup Fresh Cream - alternate would be full fat milk, 2 Eggs, 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract, 1 Lemon Juice & Zest
Prepare the springform pan by wrapping the base with an aluminium foil sheet
Pour the prepared cheesecake batter over the base. Tap the pan a couple of times on the kitchen counter to knock out any air bubble which may cause the cheesecake to crack. This step is very important, do not miss it
Place the pan in another bigger baking pan with high rim. Fill the outside pan till halfway with boiling water
Now put this in the oven and bake it at 160C for 50-55 mins. Without opening the door of the oven, see if the top of the cheesecake looks dry-ish and levelled. If so, let it remain in the oven for another 10 minutes.
Take it out and gently take the springform pan out of the water bath
Wipe the base and sides and let it cool down for another 5 minutes or so
Run a knife along the edge of the cheesecake to loosen it. Release the bottom and push it out.
Refrigerate the cheesecake for at least 4 hours or overnight to allow it to set before serving