In her “adult” years, A-Tooch recently began developing a taste for new foods — among them: lemon and cottage cheese. (Also salmon, raw mushrooms and brie … but let’s focus here.)
I’ve read a few recipes in the past that call for gelatin to lighten up a regular cheesecake mix. Seems impossible though — isn’t the best part of cheesecake how decadent and bad for you it is? You can top it with fruit all you like, that cheesecake isn’t gonna be lower cal.
But wait, maybe there is a solution. I recently combined my two new favorites into what I’ll call a “Light Lemon Cheesecake.” It’s not a rich as a regular cheesecake but it’s still pretty darn filling and extremely refreshing for a summer dessert. Behold, the not-so-secret ingredients:
Angela’s Light Lemon Cheesecake
1/2 cup skim milk
16 oz. fat free cottage cheese
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 pack sugar-free lemon jello (or flavor of your choice)
1 cup boiling water
1 cup fresh raspberries or sliced peaches
2 tbsp. sugar substitute
In small bowl, stir water and gelatin. Immediately add to cottage cheese and blend in food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend together. (Note: There will still be chunks, the mixture will not be smooth.) Fill a 9″ pie pan with the mixture and refrigerate for atleast 1 hour or until solid. Top with raspberries or peaches before serving.
I’d imagine this recipe would work just as well with fat free ricotta, or full fat if you’d prefer. Reminds me a little of the Italian cheesecakes made with ricotta that are always a holiday staple at my house.
I divided my mixture up in four ramekins to make (large) individual size desserts.
Cheesecake it’s not and yes, the texture isn’t smooth and creamy. But man, is this cake good.
9 Comments
Cottage cheese used to totally gross me out. Then one year in college my friend made crepes adn served them with berries and cottage cheese. I’ve loved it ever since.
This sounds delicious. You could use any pudding too! YUM!
YES lemon cheesecake!!! YUM!!!
deliciously beautiful, can’t resist desert like this,
I’ve never been a huge fan of cottage cheese, but this looks great–and sounds like it would be totally divine with ricotta!
Looks so refreshing! A great summer treat!
My mom makes cheesecake with cottage cheese and I love it. This sounds so summery!
Oh. Em. Gee. I think you just changed my lemon life. Actually, my Lemon Life. I have one, you know, being obsessed with lemony desserts and all. (Ahem, minus the peaches.)
I bet if you blended the cottage cheese before adding the water-gelatin mixture you could make this more creamy. I am DEFINITELY going to give this recipe a try. Thank you so much for sharing!!!