Cottage Cheese Ice Cream

What is Cottage Cheese Ice Cream?

Cottage Cheese Ice Cream is a quick frozen treat, made up of blended cottage cheese, which is then frozen until it reaches a soft, ice cream consistency. This unique way to make ice cream is a viral TikTok recipe trend that is taking over the internet by storm.

Take cottage cheese, blend it, and have both Ben and Jerry running for their money!

There are many ways to customize the flavour to Cottage Cheese Ice Cream, but today, we will be making the classic vanilla ice cream flavour.

This Cottage Cheese Ice Cream is made with 2 simple ingredients: whole milk cottage cheese and sweetened condensed milk, with the optional vanilla extract.

If you like unique sweet treats like this Cottage Cheese Ice Cream, then try out my Milk Toast recipe!

Please watch my video, as I walk you through how to make them, and hopefully entertain you with my witty sense of humour.

Now let’s get Cottage Cheese Ice Cream-ing!

What is Cottage Cheese?

Cottage cheese is basically curdled milk – appetizing I know.

It’s made by adding an acid to milk, such as good bacteria (producing lactic acid), citric acid, or vinegar. This then causes a separation of the solids from the liquids of the milk. The separated solids are now known as cottage cheese.

It is very high in protein and low in fat, making it the perfect, healthy and filling, frozen snack.

How did cottage cheese get its name?

Why is it called cottage cheese and not apartment cheese? Is it made in a cottage?

Yes.

While the history of cottage cheese is not exactly clear, according to most, this cheese was made in cottages. They made it using the leftover liquid (buttermilk) from the butter they churned by hand. They mixed the buttermilk with old milk sitting out for a little too long, and had turned acidic. Thus, cottage cheese was born.

The best type of cottage cheese to use for making ice cream:

I recommend using whole milk cottage cheese, which has a 4% fat content. It may also be called “creamed” cottage cheese.

Low-fat cottage cheese is giving Halo Top when who we’re looking for is Ben and Jerry.

You may also use 2% fat cottage cheese or low-fat cottage, just keep in mind that the ice cream may turn out icy and won’t be as creamy.

What is “creamed” cottage cheese?

Normal people would think, “creamed cottage cheese? Does that mean this cottage cheese is already blended?” No, no it does not.

The term “creamed” simply implies to the fact that cream (4%-8%) was added to increase the fat content of the cottage cheese. It still has the chewy curds we all know and love, with an extra creaminess added.

How to get the best Cottage Cheese Ice Cream texture:

Periodically stir the ice cream mixture

Assuming we don’t have an ice cream machine to automatically churn; manually churning the Cottage Cheese Ice Cream by hand is the way to go.

Once you’ve poured the ice cream mixture into its tub, mix the ice cream periodically in 30 min to 1 hour intervals. This is an extra precaution that helps prevent the ice cream from becoming icy.

Cottage cheese has a lot of water; it contains a moisture content of up to 80%. Mixing the Cottage Cheese Ice Cream will ensure that the water doesn’t separate.

Even if you just mix it once, half way, it is better than not mixing it at all.

Don’t freeze the ice cream overnight

For the best ice cream consistency, try not to freeze it overnight. It will become as hard as a rock, making it nearly impossible to scoop. However, if you do end up freezing it overnight then you’ll need to let it sit on the counter for up to 30 mins or until it’s soft enough to scoop.

Regular ice cream is easier to scoop because it has a lot of fat content from the heavy cream. Our cottage cheese ice cream won’t work out well if you freeze it overnight, or even as leftovers for that matter.

Just imagine freezing whole milk, this cottage cheese ice cream is the same thing. In fact, I suggest completely finishing the ice cream once the freezing time is over for the best eating experience.

Use sweetened condensed milk

It is a LookCatchu rule to use sweetened condensed milk for this – why? Not only does it add a lovely milky flavour but more importantly, it softens up the ice cream and makes it easier to scoop.

In fact, most “no-churn” ice cream recipes use sweetened condensed milk, and this Cottage Cheese Ice Cream is no different.

If you can’t use sweetened condensed milk, you may also use honey or maple syrup, or any liquid sweetener. However, honey or maple syrup has a distinct flavour, therefore you will be able to taste it in the ice cream.

If you decide to use honey or maple syrup, start with a 1/4 of a cup because it’s sweeter than sweetened condensed milk.

How to store Cottage Cheese Ice Cream:

You may use any freezer safe container – glass, plastic or metal. If you are making a single batch, you may reuse the cottage cheese plastic container – just make sure its clean and dry.

Don’t be fooled, we are using a 9 inch by 5 inch metal loaf pan, but we are making two batches of this Cottage Cheese Ice Cream to fill it up. A single batch of this ice cream in a loaf pan will result in a very shallow and sad-looking tub of ice cream.

Cover the ice cream tub with aluminum foil – you know, to prevent the smell absorption from the 2 year old pizza sitting at the back of your freezer. If your ice cream container has a lid, then use that instead.

What to do with Cottage Cheese Ice Cream leftovers:

If you end up with ice cream leftovers and cannot finish it, I recommend freezing it. The day before you plan on eating the ice cream, place it in the fridge to let the ice cream thaw out, and the day after, place it back into the freezer. After 3-4 hours of freezing, you’ll have the same, perfect ice cream texture again!

Cottage Cheese Ice Cream flavours:

You may choose to not add any flavours as condensed milk already gives a milky, caramel flavour. However, you may also add any additional flavours you’d like into the blender/food processor. Including but not limited to: cocoa powder, frozen/fresh fruit, or flavoured extracts.

You may also swirl in some toppings into the blended ice cream mixture once poured into the pan, such as chocolate chips, strawberry jam, or my favourite: air – it’s delicious.

How much protein does Cottage Cheese Ice Cream have?

In general, cottage cheese has a low fat content, with a high protein content. The protein content mostly comes from casein, a slowly absorbed type of protein, thus helping repair and build our muscles.

Two scoops of this Cottage Cheese Ice Cream equals 28 grams of protein! That’s more protein than a single scoop of whey protein powder, which generally only has 24 grams of protein.

What does Cottage Cheese Ice Cream taste like?

When you first take a bite, you get hit with the creaminess from the blended up cottage cheese.

Then you let it dissolve a little, and you can taste a lovely hint of vanilla with the perfect amount of sweetness from the condensed milk.

The condensed milk adds a nice milky, malty flavour, and also improves the texture of this cottage cheese ice cream, making it softer. This cottage ice cream is much richer and thicker than your typical ice cream. Its flavour is reminiscent of New York style cheesecake.