Almond cheese cake

For the cheese portion of the cake I make yogurt cheese.  The yogurt cheese takes 4-8 hours.  So beware of that before getting too excited.  This is not a difficult recipe, but it is certainly for the more patient.  I just hang my yogurt as soon as I get home from the store so that I have it ready to go since I can throw it back into it's original container and keep it refrigerated until time of use.   The awesome part is that the total active time on this dessert is maybe 30 minutes.  So it isn't time consuming, it just requires patience.  And the reward couldn't get much better.

Oat flour oil pastry:
Which is flaky, delicious and alright for those avoiding cholesterol or animal products (for other pies and tarts).

• 1 heaping Cup oat flour  (pulse rolled oats until fine in a food processor)
• 1 shallow cup of whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/3 Cup -1/2 Cup olive oil
• pinch of salt

Blend all in a bowl until well combined the oil makes the flour stick to itself and you can pat out 4 small tart shells or one large one.  It is pretty easy to just press it into a tart pan without trying to roll it out which can take a little bit of wizardry to succeed.  Preheat oven to 450 bake 12-15 minutes checking to make sure its not over browning.  Take out let cool. Once the shell is cool - fill it with the blended filling.

Cheesecake soft filling:  (which you'll need to adjust for your tart pans size)

3/4 Cup whipping cream (liquid state)
3/4 - 1 Cup yogurt cheese  (solid state)
3 TBSP light brown sugar
1-2 TBSP honey or agave (agave is better for diabetics and can replace brown sugar as well in a slightly smaller amount)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract   (if doing fruit topping just use vanilla and leave out the almond)

Approximately 10 almonds for topping, chopped until able to be eaten easily with the cheesecake.

Beat the hell out of the whipping cream until smooth but quite thick, too much and it starts to look like it has curds.  In a bowl put your yogurt cheese, sugars, extracts and beat so that the sugars are well combined and smooth with no chunks. Fold in the whipped cream until thoroughly combined.  Spoon into your tart shell and cover with almond pieces.  Place into the refrigerator for at least one hour.  More time is better but I know it is difficult to wait.  2-4 hours is ideal.  It makes a really lush texture.

Even though the yield for the recipe above is for an 8 inch by 2 and 1/2 inch deep cheese cake... the pieces are rich, creamy and satisfying. Making 8 pieces like the one shown. So share it or horde it!