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The weather is warming up, which means we’re already gathering the ingredients to make some of our favorite cool-down treats, including everything from frozen banana bites to creamy, fruity ice cream. But while we’re used to seeing ingredients like Greek yogurt and frozen fruit get puréed into easy homemade ice creams, Yumna Jawad of Feel Good Foodie just introduced us to a new ice cream base we can’t wait to try: cottage cheese.
Jawad’s recipe uses just two main ingredients—whole-milk cottage cheese and honey. She adds both to her food processor and processes until the curd-y texture has been smoothed away. Then she pours it into a freezer-safe container, tops it with her favorite mix-ins and lets it freeze for about four hours before digging in. Jawad uses chocolate chips and a peanut butter swirl to bring her faux ice cream to life, but she also says you can add fruit to the food processor stage to make your creamy concoction packed with fresh flavor.
Related: Greek Yogurt vs. Cottage Cheese: Which Is the Healthier High-Protein Snack?
In her video, Jawad opts for Good Culture’s cottage cheese, which means her sweet treat packs in 14 grams of protein in every 1/4 cup. Per our nutrition guidelines, any snack with 7 grams of protein qualifies as a high-protein nosh, since it offers about 10% of your daily value. This cottage cheese-cream offers 20% of your daily value, which makes it a great way to chill out after a workout or on a day when you just haven’t quite eaten as much protein as you should. (Another bonus point for Good Culture: unlike other cottage cheese brands, this one guarantees that each tub contains live and active cultures, making the cottage cheese a gut-healthy snack.)
Jawad makes it clear that this high-protein option won’t taste exactly like ice cream—for that you’ll probably need to hit the grocery store for a pint. But this cottage cheese-twist is a filling snack that has the same cool-down power and sweetness of a bowl of ice cream, so it’s perfect on days when you want something sweet *and* something with staying power. And we love how customizable this snack is! Favorite toppings like chopped nuts, chocolate chunks, nut butter, berries, coconut flakes, olive oil, jam and granola may already be staples that you always have in the pantry or fridge. You could even use the cottage cheese-honey combo as a base for cleaning out the fridge—just grab some of the fruit you forgot to eat during the week and whir it up into your creamy treat.
Related: 10 Foods with More Protein Than an Egg
These days, recipe developers are turning cottage cheese into creamy vodka sauce, using it to level up their avocado toast and even using it to take ranch dressing to the next level. And it’s pretty easy to understand why—cottage cheese is a pretty healthy snack, made even more appealing by the number of ways you can put a fresh spin on the yummy dairy product. Even for folks who don’t love the texture, tools like a food processor make cottage cheese more appealing for all crowds.
Whether you opt for a cottage cheese-based ice cream or prefer a more savory take on the cheese, just be sure you check out the sodium and added sugar contents in whichever brand you buy—especially if you need to work within a heart-healthy or diabetes-friendly eating pattern.
