Italian Cheesecake II

Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 50 min
Servings: 48
Yield: 48 servings

Description

This is a sweet, moist chocolate chip cheesecake with a hint of citrus and anise flavors. It is made with ricotta cheese instead of cream cheese.

Ingredients

8 eggs
4 cups white sugar
2 tablespoons imitation vanilla flavoring
1 teaspoon anise extract
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
4 pounds ricotta cheese
1 (12 ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
6 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crusts

Directions

1 Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2 Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl, then mix in the sugar, vanilla flavoring, anise extract, lime zest, lemon zest, and ricotta cheese until smooth. Toss the chocolate chips with the flour in a plastic bag to coat. Fold in to the ricotta batter until evenly blended. Place the graham cracker crusts onto baking sheets. Evenly divide the batter among the crusts.
3 Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, then rotate the cheesecakes 90 degrees, and continue baking until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate at least 2 hours until cold before serving.