Baked Cranberry Cheesecake

Okay, so I know Christmas is only just over and right now food is probably the last thing on your minds, if the amount I've consumed in the last few days is anything to go by! But I'm going to tell you about a recipe anyway. Because I've not blogged in forever and to be honest this cheesecake is so light and fluffy that it's basically like eating fresh air (but much tastier of course!) (and well actually, it's probably not like eating fresh air at all...!). Anyway, enough of my ramblings, it tasted damn good and that's all that matters.

As much as I love all the traditional Christmas desserts: pudding, cake, mince pies, stollen, etc. etc. I do get a bit sick of them after a while and they can be quite stodgy. So I thought about making something a bit different that's lighter and less rich and I came up with a cheesecake. But to make sure that it was still vaguely Christmassy I tried it with cranberries instead and I have to admit, I'm quite impressed with the result. Thankfully the rest of the fam were too! It was loosely based on this recipe here, but I made a few alterations and it tasted wonderful. So whilst cranberries are still hanging around in the supermarkets buy some and get baking!

Baked Cranberry Cheesecake (serves 10)

Ingredients:

100g Chocolate Digestives

50g Butter

1 1/2 cups of fresh Cranberries

1/2 cup Sugar

1tbsp Crème de Cassis (blackcurrant liqueur)   

3tbsp Water

1 cup Sugar

300g Reduced Fat Cream Cheese

1/2 Plain Fat-Free Greek Yoghurt

1tsp Vanilla Essence

Pinch Salt

2 Eggs

1 Egg White

Method:

1. Wrap a cake tin with a double layer of foil around the bottom and sides and grease.
2. Place biscuits in a food processor and mix until finely finely ground.
3. Melt butter in a saucepan and stir in broken biscuits.
4. Press the mixture into the cake tin and leave to cool.
5. Place the cranberries, sugar, liqueur and water in a saucepan and boil.
6. Cook for about 8 minutes until the cranberries start to pop and the mixture becomes syrupy.
7. Cool for about 20 minutes and process in a food processor until smooth.
8. Preheat oven to 160 degrees.
9. Combine the sugar and cheese in a large bowl and beat until smooth.
10. Beat in yoghurt, vanilla essence and salt.
11. Add the whole eggs, beating well after each addition.
12. In a separate bowl whisk the egg white until soft peaks form.
13. Fold the egg white into the cheese mixture carefully.
14. Pour the filling over the biscuit base.
15. Spoon the majority of the cranberry mixture over the base and swirl together using the tip of a knife.
16. Place the cake tin in a roasting dish and pour hot water into it so it is about 2 inches deep.
17. Bake for about 40 minutes until the the centre of the cheesecake barely moves when you touch the pan.
18. Allow the cheesecake to cool in the oven for about 30 minutes.
19. Remove from the oven and run a knife around the outside edge.
20. Take it out of the tin and cool on a wire rack.
21. Chill for 8 hours.
22. Just before serving spread a layer of the cranberry mixture over the top and enjoy!