The best of A Greedy Piglet: Yoghurt and Ricotta Mini Cheesecakes

I love cooking with yoghurt, and have been meaning to pop some of my favourite recipes here for a while now, so forgive me for suddenly popping several on at once.

These little cheesecakes I made using my straight sided mini Victoria Sponge tin, which I love very much. The cake size is perfect for individual cakes, and the straight sides give a better finish than using a sloping muffin tin. The nonstick coating on this tin is amazing too, no lining of the sides, and the loose bases just push up the cakes easily when they cool down.

I used Total Yoghurt Fruyo for these, it is already sweetened and so I didn't add any extra sugar, but I think the recipe may need just a smidgeon. Not a lot, nowhere near as much as you would put into a normal cheesecake recipe. I also used part ricotta to lighten up the mix, (and because I had some in the fridge...)

The base is a mixture of ordinary digestive biscuits, some Lizi's granola that I am liking at the moment, and a little bit of crushed Lotus biscuits to add a caramel flavour. The topping is just crushed Lotus biscuits on some and Lotus biscuits and granola on others.

I served these for dessert with some sliced strawberries and vanilla syrup (the kind you can get in bottles for making flavoured coffee - I find this very useful for desserts)

Recipe: to make 12 small cheesecakes

Base:

• 6 digestive biscuits crushed
• third cup of granola (I used Lizi's Original)
• third cup of Lotus biscuits crushed
• 50g melted butter

Filling:

• 150 g ricotta
• 150g full fat cream cheese
• 1 170ml tub Total Greek Vanilla Fruyo
• 1 170 ml tub any fruit flavour Fruyo (I used peach this time, all are good)
• 100 ml double cream
• 2 eggs (medium or large)
• 1 tablespoon cornflour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• juice of one lemon
• Sugar to taste

Topping

• crushed Lotus biscuits, mixed with granola if desired.

Method:

• Mix all the base ingredients together and put one dessertspoonful in the bottom of each of the tin cavities. Press down firmly. Bake for 10 mins at medium temperature Gas mk 6/400/200. Remove and allow too cool slightly. Lower the oven temperature to Gas mk 4/350/180.
• Using an electric whisk (hand held or stand, no matter) or a wooden spoon, beat the cream cheese and the ricotta until smooth. Beat in all the other ingredients, taste the mixture and add the optional sugar if you think you would prefer it slightly sweeter - it isn't important to the structure of the cheesecake, it is purely for flavour. Don't over beat, you don't want too much air in the mixture, it should just be well blended and very smooth.
• Using a small ladle, fill each of the tin cavities to about half a centimetre below the rim. Rap the tin on the table to knock out any air bubbles.
• Bake for 20 minutes until there is just a little wobbly bit in the middle of the cheesecake. Remove and allow to cool in the tins until you see the sides shrinking away from the tin. Remove and allow to cool, chill if you like.
• Sprinkle with topping crumbs, and serve with fresh fruit.

I found they lasted about 3 days happily in the fridge. They might have lasted longer, but they were all eaten by then!