Slender Orange Cheesecake

1. Lightly spray an 8 inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside. In small, heavy saucepan, combine gelatin, sugar and salt. In small bowl, with wire whisk, beat egg yolks with milk until smooth; gradually stir into gelatin mixture, mixing well. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until gelatin is dissolved and custard is thickened slightly (should form coating on spoon) remove from heat. 2. Transfer custard to medium bowl; place bowl in larger bowl with ice water. Stir the custard frequently until it has the consistency of unbeaten egg white or mixture mounds when dropped from a spoon, 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, in electric blender or food processor, blend or process cottage cheese, orange and lemon juice and vanilla until smooth. Slowly add cottage cheese mixture to cooled custard; stir in orange and lemon peel. Continue to stir mixture over ice water until mixture mounds when dropped from a spoon. 3. In small bowl, with electric mixer at high speed, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form when beater is slowly raised. With rubber spatula, gently fold beaten whites into cottage-cheese mixture until combined. Pour mixture into prepared springform pan. Refrigerate until firm, 3 hours or overnight. 4. To serve: With knife, loosen cake from side of pan. Carefully remove side of springform pan. Invert cake onto serving plate. Remove bottom of pan. Decorate top of cake by arranging grapes, stem end down, in two layers to resemble a bunch of grapes. (If grapes are large, cut and discard a thin slice from stem end.) Cut unpeeled orange in half lengthwise; cut crosswise in 1/8 inch slices. Place orange slices on plate around cake. In small saucepan, heat apple jelly until slightly warm. With pastry brush, gently brush over grapes to glaze. Garnish with small citrus leaves or nonpoisonous green leaves and orange peel "vines", if desired. busted by sooz Recipe by: Key Gourmet Posted to recipelu-digest by sooz on Mar 23, 1998