Vanilla Bean Cheesecake (Lowfat)

Adapted from an old newspaper clipping by food writer L. Pappas, posted for safekeeping. I made it without the water bath; left cheesecake in turned off oven until oven completely cooled. A keeper! This is the source recipe for my Breakfast Cheesecake (South Beach Diet, Phase 1) “Breakfast Cheesecake” for South Beach Diet, also posted here.

• Ready In: 50 mins
• Serves: 6-8
• Yields: 1 cake

Ingredients

• 1  pint low fat cottage cheese or 1  pint ricotta cheese
• 1⁄2 pint yogurt
• 4  eggs
• 1⁄2 cup sugar
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Blend all ingredients in blender just until smooth.
3. Pour into lightly buttered 9” square pan.
4. Place in pan of hot water and bake 40 min or til set.
5. Let cool and chill.
6. NOTE: The original recipe called for a 1-inch piece of vanilla bean, scraped. I substituted vanilla extract for the vanilla bean but kept "Vanllla Bean" in the recipe title.