Cottage Cheese & Blueberry Cheesecake
Lighter than a regular cheesecake, and as tasty too! So in the excuse of kitchen experiments, trying to burn those vacation calories (and tighten the belt a little, or a lot :D), I thought to give this a go. I must say, it was not disappointing at all.
But, I was unsure. I feared it might become grainy and sticky, but it is definitely light on the palate and creamy. Also, the slightly tart blueberry sauce adds a little zing to it.
All in all – I liked it! And between the four of us, it was polished off in no time. I used oatmeal and almond mix for the base, but a digestive or ginger cookie base would be perfect too.
In order to give it some body, and for a creamier texture, I hung up some yogurt and squeezed out the water. You can also use thick Greek yogurt. We don’t want the mixture to be too runny.
I am forever in a battle with desserts. I love them! I can begin, and end a meal with them. But a cheesecake, is well, a cheesecake! Too rich, and too heavy, and all that sugar is not going to help tighten any belt. So, storing the ‘rich and regular’ recipes for special occasions, (like birthdays, anniversaries and ahem…. the weekends) I went in search of ‘light and delicious’ variations. This recipe is yummy, and although creamy, it is also light.
Where cream cheese is made with a combination of milk and cream, cottage cheese is made using milk. It contain almost half the calories of regular cream cheese used to bake a cheesecake. Cottage cheese has a grainy texture and it’s made by curdling the milk. This is done by heating up the milk and adding an acid like white vinegar or lemon juice which starts the curdling process. The curds separate and a liquid known as ‘whey’ remains. This is further drained to leave the cheese behind.
There are several variations to make cottage cheese, but I follow this one.
RecipeCottage Cheese 200 gmsHung Yoghurt200 gmsCream Cheese50 gmsEggs whole1Eggs separated2Blueberries100 gmsVanilla1 tspSugar caster130Corn flour50 gmsLemon rind1 lemon
For the baseOats125 gmsAlmond meal50 gmssugar40 gmsbutter55 gmsOptional would be digestive or ginger biscuit base. This needs no baking, of course, and saves time
For the toppingBlueberries 1 cupsugar1/4 cupLemon juice1 tbspCorn flour slurry1 tbsp + 2 tbsp waterwater1/4 cup
Method
Preheat oven to 175 -180 c
First to get the base ready. If using biscuit base, simply crush biscuits and mix with melted butter to get a sandy mix. Then spread it out on a loose-bottomed baking pan, press it down and make sure it has spread evenly to all sides.
If using an oatmeal base, then first pulse the oatmeal and sugar in a food processor and combine almond meal and the melted butter and pulse till it looks like wet sand mix. Press it down on the base of the loose bottomed cheesecake tin bake in 175 c oven till lightly browned and firm to touch. This could take maybe 7-10 mins. keep an eye on it though.
To make the cheesecake
In a food processor, add your cottage cheese and blend till its a smooth consistency.
Then add in the whole egg and 2 egg yolks, hung yogurt, corn flour, lemon zest. Blend only till it comes together.
The 2 egg whites that we kept separate, put into a clean bowl and start whisking till it forms soft peaks, slowly add the sugar a little by little till all the sugar is used up and the meringue is shinny and thick.
Take a little bit of the egg whites and fold into the cheese batter. slowly mix the remaining egg whites into the batter. Don’t over mix.
Pour into the prepared tin and scatter the blueberries.
Bake for 30-40 mins or till the center of the cheese cake has a light skin over the top or beginning to sit. Cover with a foil and reduce temperature down to 165 c and bake for further 20 mins or till its set in the center.
Once done, don’t take the tray out of the oven immediately. Turn the oven off and leave it in for 20 mins. you can leave the oven door ajar.
Don’t worry if its slightly sinks in the center. Chill. Take out of the tin before serving and spread the blue berry topping generously. You could also use blueberries and icing sugar to serve if you don’t have the sauce.
Blue berry topping
In a pan take together the blueberries, sugar, lemon and vanilla if you like. bring it up to a boil then add in the corn flour slurry. cook till it thickens. Don’t mash it too much.
The sweetness can be adjusted to your taste.
Let it cool before you pour on top of the cheese cake. If the sauce is too thick thin it down with a little water.
Slice out a slice or two, and enjoy! 🙂