Greek Lemon Ricotta Cheese Cake

Something I've been wanting to make ever since I tried a delicious slice of Lemon Ricotta Cheese Cake at a great local Italian Restaurant two weeks ago. Will certainly give you my taste test...

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Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake

3 lbs ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon softened unsalted butter for the pan
1 teaspoon sugar for the pan, plus 1 1/2 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 cup Greek Yogurt
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
juice from the fresh lemon
TOPPING, optional:

1 pint whipping cream
1 cup crushed pineapple
Fresh berries for garnish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 10 inch springform pan, coat with 1 tsp sugar. Beat ricotta at slow speed until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, then blend in remaining sugar. Blend in yogurt, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla. Pour mixture in pan and smooth out top.

To prepare the pan for “water bath” baking, create a waterproof seal on the bottom by wrapping bottom and sides of pan in heavy-duty WIDE aluminum foil. Place cheesecake pan in another larger pan filled with water within an inch of the top.

Cover loosely with foil and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil, continue baking until top is golden and center jiggles, total baking time about 90 minutes.

Remove cake from oven but keep in the water bath; cool to room temperature. Remove pan from water, remove foil from pan and cool on a rack. Cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

To serve with topping: whip cream until stiff, spread on top of cheesecake. Garnish with fresh berries. Serves 8 to 10.

Taken from "Worth The Whisk"

China head Antique or Reproduction

I adore this China head doll, she is what they call pink tinted due to the soft pink skin tone. Her clothing has the appearance of vintage antique, lots of hand stitching, fading, and made with fabrics no longer available except on the secondary market. Her boots are flat (a tad unusual) and her lovely dress, that may have been pink, is a swiss dot fabric with lovely delicate details. Her hair, I believe, is similar to what is called, "waterfall."

Click on photos to enlarge

Nonetheless she is a beauty in the world of China Head dolls, and I would love to think she is a true Antique but there are concerns that point to no.

The main concern is her crazing, which is said not to be indicative of the original antique dolls to be made in the late 1800's and early 1900's. China head dolls of this time period were made with such excellent quality in the manufacturing of the porcelain, it would be quite rare to see. But then she does have that little dark spot called, "peppering." (small black specks embedded in the glaze, it is dust that settled on them during the final firing process.)

I love her all the same, she's so perty

China Head Dolls

Visiting my local antique shop last week, I came home with the sweet little China head doll (not so little) below.   I never thought I would be such a fan of these lovely dolls, but I am. Although they seem very similar, what makes these dolls so unique, to me, is the lovely individual styles of clothing, hair, and believe it or not the lovely delicately lace lined undergarments which include a chemise, petticoat, & pantaloons. A china doll is a doll made partially or wholly out of glazed porcelain. The name comes from china being used to refer to the material porcelain. The term china doll is sometimes used to refer to any porcelain or bisque doll, but more specifically it describes only glazed dolls.

China Head Dolls

A china head doll consists of a glazed porcelain head with painted molded hair and a body made of cloth or leather. They range in size from more than 30"  tall to as tiny as and inch. Produced in Germany, approximately between 1840 and 1940.  What's fun in collecting and identifying these sweet dolls is by their contemporary hairstyles: sausage curls, ribbons, headbands, Dolly Madison,  flat top, high brow, low brow, covered wagon, and the list goes on.

Both dolls are what would be called a low brow China Head Doll.