Secret Ingredient Cheesecake

This post brought to you by Friendship Dairies. The content and opinions expressed below are that of Country Life City Wife. When I was a little girl my grandma would make me cottage cheese with peaches. It is such a good memory. I remember her bright airy kitchen and the chats with her about silly things a five-year-old cared about back then. It always brings a smile to my face. Over the years, I hear a lot of people hating on good ol’ cottage cheese, but truth is I use it in my cooking. When Friendship Dairies™ asked me to create a recipe to surprise my family with, I jumped at the chance! I got a new spring form pan, so you all know I had to break it in with a cottage cheese cheesecake recipe.
First, make sure you get Friendship Dairies cottage cheese! I get mine from Fresh Market here in Northwest Arkansas. You’ll want it because not only are they just wonderful, it’s thick and rich so you’ll get a good texture. You’ll want your cheesecake to be creamy and to actually tasty cheesy for the best results. Because soupy cheesecake? Blech! Okay, let’s get started. Here’s what you’ll need:
1 spring-form Pan (I use USA Pan Brand)

Nilla wafer crust

1.5 cups of crumbled Nilla wafers
1/3 cup of butter – melted
¼ cup of sugar

Cottage Cheese Cheesecake Filling

1 cup of Friendship Dairy Cottage Cheese
2 Eight Ounce Packages of Cream Cheese
3 eggs
2 tablespoons all-purpose flower
2 tablespoons Mexican vanilla (plan is fine, too)
¼ cup cream or milk (don’t use skim)
¾ cup sugar

Getting started

Cottage Cheese Cheesecake – The Crust

I am not a big graham cracker person myself, but just a side note that if you prefer graham crackers you can use the same amount and the crust should turn out fine. Crumble up those wafers really well. I sometimes use a food processor but this time around I just put them in a baggy and beat the heck out of them. Once they’re a good consistency, put them in a small mixing bowl, add the melted butter and sugar then mix it all up. Press it into the spring-form pan and up its sides a little bit. Set to the side.

Cottage Cheese Cheesecake – The Filling

Take the 1 cup of Friendship Dairy Cottage Cheese and with a hand-mixer, whip the cottage cheese until it’s smooth. Don’t drain it! It’s okay if there are a few lumps, those will go away while the cheesecake is baking. Add the cream cheese and beat it, mixing it with the cottage cheese. Add the sugar, flour, milk and vanilla then mix. I always add the eggs last and mix on low. You don’t need to mix for a long time, just until everything is mixed. Pour the filling into the spring-form pan with the crust already in it. Bake for 50 minutes at 350°F or 177°C. Check at 50 minutes and add up to 10 minutes if necessary. I added five minutes since the middle was still a little soft. When you remove the spring-form pan from the oven, it’s best to put it on top of a cooling rack so the air can circulate under the pan. After about ten minutes release the lever from the spring-form and continue cooling. I prefer my cheesecake with fruit, but the hubs is all about chocolate so I added some fudge sauce on top.
And now the big reveal…My brother is over visiting so I caught these two totally off guard. Here’s how it went. A total side note: I had to cut because my brother was talking about a bad experience he had with cottage cheese and I was laughing so hard I dropped the phone! So what do you think? Any cottage cheese lovers or haters out there? Let me know your thoughts and thanks for stopping!