Serves 12

Ingredients

* Crust
* 2 tablespoons slivered blanched almonds
* Vegetable oil cooking spray
* 6 chocolate wafers
*
* Filling
* 15 oz (1 3/4 cup) part-skim ricotta
* 8 oz lowfat cream cheese, room temperature
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup lowfat sour cream
* 1 large whole egg
* 2 egg whites
* 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (or to taste)
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 tablespoons amaretto (if desired)
* 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/2 teaspoon instant-espresso powder
* 3 tablespoons bittersweet chocolate chips

Preparation

For crust
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Toast almonds on a small baking sheet for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven; reduce heat to 325 degrees. Coat an 8" springform pan with cooking spray. Wrap outside of pan in foil to prevent seepage. Process chocolate wafers and almonds in a food processor into fine crumbs. Sprinkle 2 to 3 tbsp crumbs onto bottom of pan (just enough to coat bottom lightly). Shake pan to distribute evenly. Reserve remaining crumbs.

For filling
Puree ricotta in a food processor until smooth, about 1 minute. Add cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, egg, egg whites, almond extract, flour and salt; puree until smooth. Whisk amaretto, if desired (or same amount of hot water), 2 tbsp hot water, cocoa powder and espresso powder in a bowl until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Stir 1 cup plain filling into chocolate mixture. Set aside.

Assembly
Pour remaining plain filling into prepared pan. Drizzle chocolate filling in a circular pattern over plain filling. Using a knife, make circular strokes to create swirls in the plain filling. Add 1 inch hot water to a shallow baking pan; place springform pan in baking pan. Bake until cheesecake is firm around the edge and slightly soft in the center, 45 to 55 minutes. Run a knife around inside of pan. Remove foil; let cool on a rack. Chill 6 hours or overnight before removing sides of pan. Press reserved crumbs onto side of cheesecake.


The skinny

* 223 calories per serving
* 9.7 g fat* (5.4 g saturated)
* 26.2 g carbs
* 0.9 g fiber
* 8.4 g protein
*This dish is slightly more than 30 percent fat but is still a healthy dessert option when part of an overall lowfat diet.