Give Your Pumpkin Cheesecake Extra Protein With One Ingredient

Summer is winding down and the leaves are starting to turn. You know what that means for us foodies: Desserts with fall's warm and spicy flavors sound heavenly just about now. What better way to celebrate the change of the season than with a pumpkin cheesecake? The name alone sounds delicious. But there's a simple ingredient that won't just upgrade your pumpkin cheesecake's taste, it'll boost its protein content: cottage cheese.

By swapping cream cheese with cottage cheese in your batter, you create a more complex-tasting cheesecake that's also more filling. If you're feeling indulgent, it's not a bad post-workout treat for those looking to up their protein intake. This extra protein can help you recover after exercise and keep you feeling satisfied. Plus, as the weather turns cooler, it might just help you stay a little warmer too. Really, there's no better way to celebrate the change of the season than this.

Cottage cheese is made by curdling pasteurized cow milk with a touch of acid. This yields creamy curds that become cottage cheese after a few more processing steps. Besides being tasty with its mild, dairy-rich flavor, it boasts impressive protein content, which makes it popular among fitness enthusiasts. Indeed, half a cup of cottage cheese contains around 14 grams of protein.

This makes it an intriguing addition to cheesecake. But cottage cheese is also just plain tasty! Its elegant richness complements pumpkin puree beautifully. Moreover, while the resulting dessert tastes quite similar to standard cheesecake made from cream cheese, it has a tang to it that keeps tastebuds delighted.

Incorporating cottage cheese into your cheesecake is surprisingly easy. All you have to do is blend it in a food processor, then mix with the other ingredients, like flour, pumpkin spice, and eggs. Once everything is nice and smooth, you have your cheesecake batter.

Concerned that even your cottage cheese(cake) won't meet your nutrition goal? The good news is that there are things you can add to increase the dessert's protein content even further. Let's start with something you might have in the fridge right now: Greek yogurt. With about 12 grams of protein per 1/2 cup, it's just as protein-rich as cottage cheese. Keep in mind, though, that Greek yogurt can add a tangy flavor to your cheesecake, so you might need to adjust the sweetness to balance it out. If you want some plant-based protein, silken tofu can be a good add-in. Simply blend one slice of silken tofu until it's smooth and creamy, then mix it into your cottage pumpkin cheesecake batter and voilà, that's 6 extra grams of vegan protein.

The least fussy method, though, has to be adding plain old protein powder. A scoop of unflavored protein powder added to the batter alongside the cottage cheese will give you one heck of a protein punch without changing the cake's flavor too much. Mix everything together and either bake or chill the mixture. You'll have a decadent, protein-rich pumpkin cheesecake ready in no time, all while keeping your nutrition goals on track.