Great New Recipe

An Early Attempt

NEW RECIPES WITH FEWER INGREDIENTS have entered my culinary life.

Cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, and Stevia have become the star ingredients in several desserts I’ve been working on.

Initial recipes came my way through influencers in social media posts that pop up quite regularly on my e-devices. I’m fascinated because they are easy to make and have fewer calories than traditional desserts.

Complexity is not welcome in my kitchen. I’m even trying a few microwave single-serve easy dessert recipes made in my Dollar Tree porcelain cup. We’ll save that story for a later post.

Cottage cheese has found new life for me after earlier experiences centered on cafeteria offerings, mostly paired with canned fruit during grad school meals. I honestly hadn’t had cottage cheese for about fifty years. Now, I buy at least one tub every week. It has become such a favorite ingredient for so many recipes.

Scrambled eggs, pan breads, and pancakes all feature it. Lately, I even enjoy a couple of small scoops of just plain cottage cheese between meals, topped with fresh chopped chives or dill weed and ground pepper. It is so darned delicious. I’m completely hooked.

The following recipe is the culmination of at least six attempts, and each iteration helped it come to fruition. It just needs a shorter name, and I’ll work on that.

Bob’s Graham Cracker Cottage Cheese-Yogurt Lemon Custard Cheesecake

The Graham Cracker Base

Chop four full Graham Crackers in a mini-food processor with 2 TBS of butter and 3 TBS of white sugar. Then press (I use a flat-bottom ramekin) the uniform mixture down into the bottom of a small Pyrex glass pan (5 x 7”). Bake at 325F for about 12 minutes until pleasant aromas fill the kitchen.

Let it cool to room temperature for 15 minutes while you prepare the custard filling.

The Custard Filling

Blend in the mini-food processor:

¾ cup of Greek yogurt

½ cup of cottage cheese

2 extra large eggs

1 tsp of vanilla extract

Lemon zest and lemon juice from ½ the lemon.

2 TBS corn starch

2 packets of Stevia

After processing the ingredients for about a minute, pour the blended mixture over the parbaked crust and bake for 30-35 minutes at 325F. The custard will set and have a nice light tan top skin when done.

Chill for two hours (a critical step), then serve cut pieces topped with your favorite fruit compote. (This time of the year, I'm a strawberry fan).

Tidbit:

Graham Crackers are named after Sylvester Graham (1794–1851), a 19th-century American Presbyterian minister and dietary reformer who invented them in 1829. He designed them to be a bland, healthy, and coarse whole-wheat health food to curb "impure thoughts" and sexual desire / Facebook

Here’s to pure thoughts and strong libidos.

Eat the filling. Enjoy the whole thing. You deserve it!