Zivila Kata Cheesecake

by: Ally

Rating:
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Category: Desserts
Level: Medium
Total Time: 1 hr 40 mins

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Ingredients
Prep
Info
Reviews

Here’s what you need:

CRUST
1 ½ packages of graham crackers (honey) crushed

(NOTE: Once I didn’t have graham crackers, so I substituted crushed HoneyNut Cheerios…worked fine! Be daring and versatile!)

1 cup ground flax
1 cup GrapeNuts cereal
1 stick butter melted

(NOTE: This crust is not meant to be refined…it’s ‘rustic’. Mom didn’t have a food processor back in the day!)

FILLING
1 12oz carton Ricotta
1 12oz carton cottage cheese
1 small carton sour cream
2 small containers yogurt (one plain/one lemon)
6 eggs (beaten)
1/3 to ½ cup sugar
2-3 lemons/fresh squeezed juice—include the pulp but no seeds
2-3 tbl of fresh lemon zest

(NOTE: When you combine all these ingredients for your batter, taste it and if you like more lemon flavor, add more juice and/or zest. This cheesecake is not intended to be real sweet, so sample batter. Finally, it’s supposed to be ‘rustic’ so don’t worry about the cottage cheese lumps!)

Here’s what you do:

1. Preferably use a deep pan. I actually use a deep round skillet. Makes the cheesecake tall and thick. A baking dish is fine, too.

2. Combine the melted butter and ground dry ingredients. If you need a little more butter, go for it. Pat into the bottom of the pan/dish. Work up the sides slightly, not completely. The edges do not have to be perfect. This is a ‘rustic’ version of cheesecake.

3. Combine the ricotta, cottage cheese, sour cream, and yogurts. Blend. Beat eggs and add folding in. Add sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest. Taste for lemony flavor and sweetness.

4. Pour into pan/dish over crust. Zest on top some fresh lemon rind.

5. Bake at 300 to 325 pre-heated oven. To test for doneness, slide a knife or toothpick (long one!)…should come out pretty clean. It’s done. Let it rest for about an hour.

Yield:	10 servings
Prep Time:	0 hr 25 mins
Cook Time:	1 hr 15 mins
Ready In:	1 hr 15 mins

Category:	Desserts
Main Ingredient:	Cheese & Dairy
Cooking Method:	Baking
Nationality:	Croatia
Occasion:	Christmas
Recipe Tags:	cheesecake	lemon zest	ricotta cheese	Cottage Cheese

Chef's Note & Story

My dear Croatian mom, Katie, made this as a treat when we kids were growing up in the hollers of sourthern WV. It didn't happen often (that she made this delectable masterpiece because of economics!) and when it did, we were thrilled! Rustic and healthy, it's named in her memory, Zivila Kata...which in Croatian is roughly translated to mean, "long-live Kathryn." She was a helluva woman, a single mom who raised 4 kids on her own and who could stretch a buck further than I can 100! Way ahead of her time and before cooking became chic, she had the talents, resourcefulness, and creativity that would today turn the heads of today's icons of the culinary world like Martha Stewarts, Rachel Ray, Emeril, etc. Every time I make this amazing cheesecake, her voice, her antics, her smiles, her instructions and her love keep me so very close and keep her alive! Zivila Kata, Mom! :)