Chocolate Amaretto Cheesecake (and it's lowfat!)

My soon-to-retire friend Sue gave me this recipe. She served it to her family on Thanksgiving. Sue is very health-conscious. She exercises with commitment. She only eats one slice of Pope's pizza when I have to have two. She looks for healthier versions of favorite recipes, and this one for Chocolate Amaretto cheesecake is one of them. The fact that it is low-fat is just a bonus!

Chocolate Amaretto Cheesecake

6 chocolate wafers, finely crushed (I did use more than 6)

1 1/2 cups light cream chesse

1 cup sugar

1 cup 1% low-fat cottage cheese

1/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup amaretto

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate mini morsels

Sprinkle wafers in bottom of 7 inch spring form pan. Process cottage cheese in food processer until smooth. Blend cream cheese, cottage cheese, cocoa, flour, sugar, amaretto, vanilla and salt until well blended and smooth. Add egg and blend well. Fold in mini chips.

Pour mixture over crumbs in pan. Bake at 300 for 65 to 70 minutes or until cheesecake is set. Let cool on wire rack. Cover and chill at least 8 hours. Remove sides of pan. Garnish with chocolate curls, if desired.

If you prefer, this can be baked in an 8 inch pan, just bake for less time.

Also, for chocolate mint cake, use 1/4 cup creame de menthe in place of amaretto

Photo credit: http://img.timeinc.net/recipes/i/recipes/ck/clce/chocolate-cheesecake-ck-226324-l.jpg

Katharine Hepburn's FAMOUS Brownie Recipe!

One day at work a few years ago, one of my favorite professor friends in the English Department at Skidmore College brought in a crinkled foil package and placed it on the counter in my office. Suspicions aroused, I immediately investigated the contents of the package and was hit with the most intense chocolate aroma. Asked if she'd made the brownies, she confessed she had, and said that these weren't just any brownies, they were Katharine Hepburn's brownies. The best she'd ever tasted. Knowing that this professor is a chocolate fanatic if not epicurean snob (that's a compliment), I tried the recipe and agree completely. These are the best brownies I've ever baked.

This recipe is written, from what I understand, in Katharine Hepburn's exact words! You can almost hear her distinctive voice say "and beat like mad!" Please make these. You just have to.

Seriously!

Katharine Hepburn's Brownies

2 squares of unsweetened chocolate (2 oz.)
¼ lb. sweet butter (1 stick) (aka unsalted butter)
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of walnuts
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
¼ cup flour (yes, just ¼ cup)
¼ tsp. salt

Melt unsweetened chocolate and butter in a heavy sauce pan. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Add eggs along with vanilla and beat like mad. Stir in flour, salt, and chopped walnuts – not smashed up, you know, but just chopped into fairly good sized pieces. Now mix that all up. Butter a square tin (8x8 inches) and dump the whole thing quickly into the pan. Stuff this pan into a preheated 325 degrees oven for 40 minutes. Take out the pan and let it cool. Cut into 1 ½ inch squares.

Photo credit: http://www.katharinehepburntheater.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/chs_nn_katharine-hepburn-seated-possible-with-golf-club-4.jpg