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Lemon Cottage Cheese Pudding dessert is creamy and decadent, made with simple ingredients like cottage cheese, cream cheese, and lemon, and won’t sabotage your diet. It’s low in calories, high in protein, and low in sugar.
All you need is 5 simple ingredients and a food processor or blender to create a light and lemony mousse dessert that’s bursting with happy flavor. This could also be served as a great breakfast or brunch addition as well!
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Whipped Cottage Cheese Recipes
These no cook cottage cheese recipes are so simple to make and so delicious.
Cottage cheese is great if you’re on a low carb or keto diet. I’ll be honest, I don’t follow those diets, I simply love cottage cheese. And the fact that you can transform the humble curds and whey into a fantastic dessert amazes me!
If you’re a fan of cottage cheese, you’ll also enjoy my other cottage cheese recipes:
I also created a post with lots of high protein cottage cheese recipes. And my latest, the edible Cottage Cheese Cookie Dough recipe!
And no matter how you enjoy cottage cheese, one thing’s for sure, its protein-packed goodness and versatility make it a fantastic addition to any meal or snack.
How to make whipped cottage cheese
Simply grab your food processor or blender to process the cottage cheese to the consistency of pudding. I add a little cream cheese to my recipes to make it extra thick and rich. And, I think the texture comes out better when the cream cheese is processed with the cottage cheese.
You can use an immersion blender if you prefer. However, I find that an immersion blender doesn’t get things as smooth as a larger appliance.
Then you just want to add in your flavorings and sweeteners. And really, these can be added into the blender with the cottage cheese or you can mix them in later by hand.
Want to save some time? You can process the entire tub of cottage cheese all at once then just add in your flavorings as you go.
What type of cottage cheese can I use?
Cottage cheese comes in fat-free, 1% and 2% low-fat or reduced fat, and 4% fat. Lower fat varieties have less saturated fat and fewer calories, and generally have slightly more protein than higher fat varieties. Though higher fat varieties will be richer in flavor.
You’ll also find large curd and small curd varieties. Large curd cottage cheese tends to be higher in moisture and is generally considered creamier and sweeter than small curd. Small curd tends to be slightly tangier and more acidic.
Dry curd aka farmer cheese is allowed to drain longer so it’s drier and firmer.
Any of these cottage cheeses will work for this recipe.
If your cottage cheese is very thin and watery, place it in a strainer lined with cheesecloth or a coffee filter over a bowl and refrigerate overnight to drain off excess whey.
What types of sweeteners can I use?
In my cottage cheese dessert recipes, I use powdered sugar. I like the neutral clean flavor, and the fact that it doesn’t add any additional liquid to the dish.
However, if you want to swap up the sweetener due to low carb, diabetic, or other health reasons, give these a try:
- Honey
- Maple syrup
- Erythritol (such as Swerve)
- Monk fruit
- Stevia
Can I make this ahead?
Yes, this is the perfect make ahead treat!
This lemon pudding can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
You can also portion the pudding out into individual servings and cover the bowls with plastic wrap. That way it’s nice and easy to grab a nutritious snack.
And, this is great for a post-workout snack!
Changes to the recipe
Add some blueberries (and speaking of blueberries, be sure to check out my amazingly delicious Blueberry Cottage Cheese Cake) or poppy seeds for classic flavor combinations.
Really any fresh fruit, strawberries, raspberries, kiwi, banana would be a great topper or mix-in.
Or add protein powder
Toss on some nuts like walnuts, pecans, or almonds for crunch.
Use the pudding to layer in your breakfast oatmeal or overnight oats
If you freeze it for a few hours, you’ll have creamy ice cream (viral nice cream cottage cheese recipes were all the rage there for a while!)
Recipe notes
Really, the food processor does all the work for you’re here.
Just make sure the cottage cheese isn’t thin and watery. If it is, place it in a strainer lined with cheesecloth or a coffee filter over a bowl and refrigerate overnight to drain off excess whey.
When zesting the lemon, grate only the outer yellow layer of the peel, as the white pith underneath is bitter. And, zest the lemon before squeezing it for juice to make it easier to zest it.
After blending it all together, give it a taste. Adjust the sweetness by adding more sugar, and adjust the lemony-ness by adding more lemon zest or lemon juice.
One note, I did test the pudding with lemon extract as well. I’m typically a fan of adding a little lemon extract to bump up that tart flavor. But I found it overpowering and fake-tasting even with just a small amount of lemon extract. So, I don’t recommend it in this recipe.
Place the pudding in the fridge to thicken it up even more.
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Recipe
Lemon Cottage Cheese Pudding
Ingredients
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 2 ounces cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- Zest from one lemon
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
Instructions
- Combine cottage cheese, cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla in food processor or blender, and blend until very smooth, scraping down the sides once or twice.
- After blending it all together, give it a taste. Adjust the sweetness by adding more sugar, and adjust the lemony-ness by adding more lemon zest or lemon juice.
- Garnish with additional lemon zest for serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
Nancy Turnbough
This was really good. After dental work today I was supposed to eat soft, high protein high calorie food. I increased the cream cheese and sugar a bit and it was perfect.
Lisa
Was pleasantly surprised with taste of this pudding! Didn’t have to adjust any of the measurements. It is so good!
Cara
It tasted good, but I added some extra sweetness bc I like things sweet. I also think next time it would taste better with some crushed up graham crackers or in a mini pie crust.