"Sublime light cheesecake; juicier melons" by Food Forum

Cutting the fat, keeping the flavor

Cheesecake is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. But it’s hard to be pleased with the amount of fat in many classic versions — usually more than 30 grams per serving. But happily, a delicious lighter cheesecake is possible.

Typical cheesecakes contain as much as three-quarters of a pound of fat, most of it from the cream cheese and heavy cream or sour cream in the filling. In addition, a traditional graham cracker crust can add an entire stick of butter.

Making a healthier — yet still satisfying — cheesecake is just a matter of choosing the right ingredients.

Nutritionist Ellie Krieger, host of the Food Network show “Healthy Appetite,” recommends reduced-fat rather than non-fat ingredients because they significantly cut fat, saturated fat and calories without sacrificing taste and texture.

In most cheesecake recipes you can, at the very least, replace regular cream cheese with Neufchatel (reduced-fat cream cheese), which has fewer calories and about a third of the fat.

Additionally, you can replace about half the cream cheese with a smooth puree of reduced-fat cottage cheese, which will cut fat and calories even more.

If you’re adapting a recipe that calls for a graham cracker crust, you can cut fat and calories quite a bit by using a small amount of canola oil rather than a lot of butter to bind the crumbs together.

In her recipe for ricotta cheesecake with fresh raspberries, Krieger uses a blend of Neufchatel and pureed part-skim ricotta cheese. The resulting cake is creamy and has all the delicious cheese flavor you would expect.

A trick for juicier watermelon

If the watermelon you picked up at the market is not quite as juicy and full-flavored as you hoped, don’t panic.

While it’s not going to ripen further once picked (that’s why picking a good melon is paramount), a small sprinkling of salt — kosher salt is fine, but large-crystal sea salt is better — will sharpen the flavors and add a delicate crunch.

Salt your melon immediately before you plan to eat it; too soon, and it will begin to lose moisture.

Reader feedback is always welcome. Add your comments below or write to Gazette reporter Elysia Nest at nest@dailygazette.com