Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake

I have never made a cheesecake before and this recipe seemed simple enough. Since I don't have a giant food processor I had to make my mix in small batches but it was easy enough. The hardest part was getting the egg whites firm. They blended forever and still only looked like a thick soup. I only made half the portions that this recipe called for and I also only had one giant pan to cook it in so it came out really thin - I practically made cheesecake-crepes! If you do a smaller cake, use a small pan!

6 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons honey
2 tsp cinnamon
Two 15-ounce containers ricotta cheese (whole works better but I used part skim)
2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. If you have one, spray a springform pan with cooking spray. Otherwise, just spray a cooking pan. Separate the eggs, placing the whites in one of the large bowls and the yolks in the work bowl of a food processor.

Add the sugar, cinnamon and honey to the work bowl of the food processor and process until thick and light yellow, about 1 minute. Add the ricotta and zest and process until smooth, another 30 seconds. Scrape the mixture into the other large bowl.

Beat the whites on high speed with the mixer until they hold stiff peaks. Fold the whites into the ricotta mixture and scrape into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the spatula.

Bake until the cake is deep golden brown and the sides begin to pull away from the pan, about 1 hr 20 minutes. Transfer to the rack to let cool completely. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until serving, at least 6 hours and up to 1 day. To serve, release the sides of the pan, dust with confectioners' sugar using the strainer, and cut into wedges. To make smaller bigger cake, do half the recipe portions and cook less time - about 50 minutes checking it every 5 after 45 min. The cake should rise and then fall during cooling.