Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream (using cottage cheese!)

 The latest viral sensation is to make ice cream out of cottage cheese! This fun and unique recipe is creamy, thick and packed with protein. Who knew?

This post is sponsored by AE Dairy, but all opinions are my own.

What screams Summer more than ice cream?

Not much.

Long, hot Summer days often end with this cold, cooling treat and it has for decades. Adults and kids love it all the same!

This month AE Dairy and I wanted to showcase the viral trend of turning protein packed cottage cheese into ice cream. Yes, you read that right – it can be done! Just like last month when I turned cottage cheese into my Cheesy Spinach Dip – cottage cheese is so versatile – this month I’m turning it into a delicious ice cream.

And because I love cheesecake and strawberries (my favorite fruit) I figured I’d turn this into a yummy strawberry cheesecake version!

This recipe is simple and it comes together quick. Just four ingredients – cottage cheese, part of a cheesecake pudding mix, fresh strawberries and crushed graham crackers.

That is it!

The fun part is watching the cottage cheese blend up into a silky smooth (what looks like) ice cream! I recommend using full fat 4% cottage cheese in this recipe, it gives it a great, creamy and thick texture. Into the food processor also goes half of a dry cheesecake pudding mix. This gives the mixture a bit of sweetness and that cheesecake flavor.

Once completely smooth it’s just a matter of folding in finely diced strawberries and the crushed graham crackers. You want those toppings to keep their form, so folding them in works best, rather than blending it all together.

Then some freezer time!

I poured mine into a loaf pan before freezing (just makes it easier to stir and later scoop out). This will take about 3 hours to completely set up, but the trick is to give it a gentle stir every 30 minutes. This will help keep the ice cream soft and smooth – not allowing any ice crystals to form.

Once you have your desired consistency it’s ready to eat!

Just like regular ice cream it can be scooped out with an ice cream scoop and served up. Or you can eat it directly out of the pan.

I may have done that.

As soon as I finished up making this recipe, I immediately started dreaming up other flavors – salted caramel sweetened with a bit of honey, dark chocolate with brownie bites, pistachio with salted cashews and sweetened coconut.

Really the possibilities are endless.

I’d love to see your take on this recipe or try this one exactly! After trying please leave your star rating review below on the attached recipe card. This one is so fun, be sure to tell your friends.

 

Thank you to AE Dairy for sponsoring this post.