You heard it here the first time. One of the latest — and potentially the best — new recipes to take the internet by storm is this three-ingredient strawberry cheesecake “creamy nice” with a rather unexpected ingredient: cottage cheese.
Before you run for the hills and say “no way” for that ice cream, hear us out. It is a complete source of protein, packed with many essential nutrients and gives this dessert the most sumptuously creamy texture. Not sold yet? Don’t worry; cottage cheese is totally not found in the final product. So get the ice cream scoop ready, because it’s about to be your new frozen dessert all season long.
How to Make the Easiest Homemade Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream Ever
In a recent Instagram post from @lainiecooks_, Lainie Kates shows how to make the world’s easiest homemade ice cream using three simple ingredients: strawberries, maple syrup and cottage cheese. To do this, she starts by adding a 16-ounce container of Good Culture Whole Milk Cottage Cheese to a large bowl and topping it with a quarter cup of your sweetener of choice (she uses maple syrup but also suggests other options like honey). Then she adds about six to eight fresh, clean, chopped strawberries, reserving about half of them to blend in later.
Now for the fun part: turning lumpy cottage cheese into a creamy batch of homemade ice cream. To do this, Kates uses an immersion blender – although you can also use a blender or a powerful food processor – to whip the ingredients until they’re smooth, silky and, most importantly, the cottage cheese is undetectable. . Once the ice cream base is ready, she mixes in the rest of the chopped strawberries to add texture. And, while this part is optional (but highly recommended), it incorporates crushed Simple Mills Sweet Thins Honey Cinnamon Cookies (aka Graham Crackers) into the mix for a Cold Stone Creamery effect.
Finally, she puts everything back into the empty cottage cheese container (duty sustainability act, check) and throws it in the freezer for a few hours until the mixture solidifies. Then she takes out the scoop, adds a few scoops of ice cream to a bowl, and tops it off with even more crushed graham crackers. Very easy.
But wait. If you thought Kates would stop after creating just one delicious flavor and her awesome ice cream trick, you were wrong. In another recent video, Kates demonstrates how to make another delicious twist on her cottage cheese ice cream: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cheesecake. Swoon.
To make this version, it follows the same steps as the previous recipe; however, she substitutes strawberries and graham crackers with peanut butter and chocolate chips. However, it really is impossible to go wrong no matter what delicious ice cream toppings you choose to mix up.
Health benefits of cottage cheese in all its forms, including ice cream
Although the name “cottage cheese ice cream” may make you think, after one bite of this sweet homemade ice cream, you will be convinced by the idea forever. Plus, this sweet treat has plenty of awesome health benefits thanks to its star ingredient: cottage cheese, obvi.
Although the name “cottage cheese ice cream” may make you think, after one bite of this sweet homemade ice cream, you will be convinced by the idea forever.
For starters, cottage cheese is a protein star. A half-cup serving of cottage cheese used in the video contains 14 grams of protein (27% of your daily intake). “The protein in cottage cheese is considered ‘complete’ because it contains all nine essential amino acids. Not to mention the fact that it’s also an excellent source of vitamin B12, phosphorus, calcium, and selenium, to name a few,” Leah Johnston, RDN, Culinary Nutritionist, Registered Dietitian at SRW, previously shared with Well + Good.
A half-cup serving of cottage cheese contains 14 grams of protein, or 27% of your daily intake. “The protein in cottage cheese is considered ‘complete’ because it contains all nine essential amino acids. Not to mention the fact that it is also an excellent source of vitamin B12, phosphorus, calcium and selenium, to name a few. —Leah Johnston, RDN
Plus, cottage cheese is packed with calcium. You know, the really good stuff for your bones. “Calcium and phosphorus work to maintain bone health, which reduces the risk of injury,” says Johnston. And, as if that weren’t enough, cottage cheeses, like those from Good Culture, contain probiotics to help bring good bacteria to the gut, which can positively impact the health of your microbiome. Seriously, this deserves a chef’s kiss.
A dietitian talks about healthy ice cream options:
Our editors independently select these products. Making a purchase through our links may earn Well+Good a commission.
