Homey - I almost never post on this forum but I'll help you out. Ricotta can make a great cheesecake. You can simply bake ricotta actually, and don't even call it a "cake". The texture will not be smooth like with Philadelphia Cream Cheese. You can use a crust that's kind of a pate sucree - mix together some butter, flour and sugar and add an egg or two. Can incorporate crushed nuts of some sort if you want. Bake it a bit before putting in the filling - many people don't do that but they should. Matter of fact, do that with the graham cracker crust too - if you put a wet filling on an unbaked crust, the crust will never quite cook right. But be careful - it will burn fast so watch it. When you're making a cheesecake, what you're really making is a custard. You thicken a custard with eggs. When the temp gets hot enough to change the proteins of the eggs, they solidify and that's why your custard hardens. Exactly the same thing you do with flan, etc. So when you cook it, don't leave it in the oven until it's completely done. Take it out or stop cooking it when the center is still kind of gooey - the internal temp of the custard will finish the cooking itself. If you cook until done completely, you'll end up with an overcooked cheesecake and it won't be smooth. You don't have to use Philadelphia cream cheese obviously, and the better the cheese, the better the finished product. You can actually make your own and it will be delicious. Get some good yogurt, or make your own yogurt, and strain it well. That's essentially cream cheese - the commercial version adds a lot of starch and stabilizers, but the original is very common in the Middle East, Greece, and France. Whatever you use, if you whip the batter and incorporate a lot of air, you'll end up with a kind of souffle that will rise and sink, so it's better to mix by hand or with minimal help from the food processor or whatever else you're using. As always, don't worry about specific measurements in your cooking. As a rule of thumb, if you use those 8 oz packages of cheese, use one egg per package and a tablespoon of sugar. If you like it sweeter, use a bit more sugar or honey or maple syrup or whatever. Also add a pinch of salt and maybe a few drops of vanilla. From there, you can go anywhere. When they're in season, I add blueberries or raspberries or strawberries, etc. Or peaches, which are wonderful. You can put in a food processor or put in chunks. For the holidays, add pumpkin - baked not canned because it's less watery, and add some cinnamon, cloves, ginger, etc. Or dice up a jalapeno really fine and incorporate that. Or burnt butter or a banana or melted chocolate or peanut butter. You don't need a "recipe" for any of those - just add what you feel will work. It's the ratio of liquid to egg and the cooking time that is going to make the difference in your final product. You don't need to add sour cream, and I wouldn't. Or you can make a savory cheesecake - forego the sugar and add chunks of blue cheese, mushrooms, herbs, or whatever. It's essentially a kind of quiche at that point. What you should NOT do is use condensed milk. That's way too sweet and has a grainy texture that's horrid. If you want something similar, make dulce de leche or confiture du lait - you can do it in a crock pot. Use about 1/2 cup of sugar for every 2 cups of milk and add about a quarter spoon of salt. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down way low and simmer until it's reduced to a fraction of what it was. You decide how thick you want it. Good luck and happy baking!

Sounds yummy! Mom's in charge of the Pumpkin Cheesecake though! I may save to make later and use butternut squash and my hommade pumpkin butter. Deanna

Last time I made it it didn't leak at all and it was delicious. I line the pan over the bottom and up the sides (outside) Nothing leaked in my oven or on the cookie sheet, but it leaked outside the springform within the foil. It is possible that the springform broke on general principles because I didn't try it out first. Just used it closed and it was old. I wonder if I could do a layer of cheesecake, then the caramel and then another layer of cheesecake to keep it off the bottom or would it just mix up or leak down. Probably putting it on top is the best solution, but I am going to try again as the recipe states.

I try not to put in a comment if I don't have something particular to contribute. I liked looking at your recipes. There are a lot of somewhat similar (but not) cheesecake recipes that are basically a block of cream cheese with a heap of sugar, and just reading the ingredients is a turn off for me. While your recipes have a lot of cream cheese, there's far less sugar by proportion, and some finesse. I will say, however, that the reason people use pudding is that the mixes have conditioners, thickeners, colorants, flavors, and preservatives. That makes the recipes very forgiving. And then, of course, the recipes are passed to people who could do without it, but that's the recipe, even though it was originally for people who don't know how to bake. The plain gelatin as a thickener, and none of the other chemicals, might require some sense and knowledge, such as if the cream is too watery, or the cheese too stiff. So there's my something added. I've only ever made baked cheesecakes, but if I had occasion to make a chilled one, I'd try one of your recipes. Thank-you for posting.