The wonder that is cottage cheesecake.

I just donated $80 to the Seattle Public Library. And, by that, I mean I just paid my library fines because they sent me a very threatening email. Well, a threatening email by library standards. Fortunately for them, I’m easily intimidated and don’t like paying bills late. Unfortunately for me, I am now $80 poorer than I was ten minutes ago. Le sigh.

Work was unusually stressful today, as is almost always the case the day after a three-day weekend. I had done some serious baking this weekend, which produced, among other things, my first cheesecake. Prior to the cheesecake creation, I finally procured my first set of springform pans, courtesy of Ross, of all places. $9.99 for three springform pans! It would be a miracle if Ross happened to be a more pleasant place to shop. Alas, it is not, but I’m not above conducting a treasure hunt for cheap housewares.

This, however, was not just any cheesecake. This was a cottage cheesecake. Why use cream cheese when you can use cottage cheese?

Cottage Cheesecake

Ingredients:

For the crust
A bunch of leftover cookies (I used a chocolate cookie recipe I’d invented on Sunday)
1/2 to 1 cup olive oil, adjust depend how many cookies

For the cheesecake filling
2 cups low-fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup almond milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup stevia or Splenda
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the chocolate cheesecake swirl
1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese
2 tablespoons almond milk
1/2 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 cup stevia or Splenda
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325˚F.

2. Crumble the cookies in a small bowl. Mix the olive oil into the cookie crumbs until the crumbs are close to the consistency of dough. Tightly pack mixture to the bottom of the springform pan.

3. Pour all the ingredients for the cheesecake filling into a blender and blend for about 2 minutes, or until the mix becomes a liquid consistency. Pour over the crust.

4. Pour the chocolate cheesecake swirl ingredients into the blender. Blend for about 2 minutes, until the ingredients are completely mixed and there are no lumps. Pour in the center of the cheesecake.

5. Swirl the chocolate center with a knife, making a circular pattern (or really, whatever you want – but I’m a fan of circles!).

6. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until filling is firm. Allow to cool completely before removing the pan from the cake.

This was devoured by my coworkers today, but I sampled – I had to! It’s my obligation as a self-proclaimed chef to test my own creations. It was delicious, and because it was cottage cheese, I didn’t feel quite so guilty about eating it.

I’ve been blogging quite a bit lately about sweets, I’ve noticed. I’ll try to diversify. I recently invented a new(ish) chicken recipe, so… maybe that will be my next post.