I apologize for how long it has taken me to respond to the poll and make a chocolate cheesecake smoothie for you all! It was my good friend Fran’s suggestion via Facebook and 27% of you voted for it to be the next smoothie challenge. And challenge it was! At the time of this brilliant idea I totally forgot to take into account my Mom’s visit and recently I have been sick with the stomach flu. I am feeling a bit better now and finally had a chance to take on this challenge.
I asked Fran for a little advice on how to go about making this smoothie and she recommended I try using cottage cheese because it is low in fat and full of protein. Oh boy, I thought to myself. That is one of my “issue” foods but I had made a great cheesecake with it once before, surely I could turn it into a smoothie?
Looking online, I saw that most people used packaged chocolate mixes to create this flavour: hot chocolate, pudding mixes… I did not want to go this route because I prefer to make flavour from scratch and more “natural” sources. This meant making a homemade chocolate sauce. Of course you could use chocolate sauces from the store but in case you are a crazy cooking fiend like me, perhaps you would want to try making it yourself?
Suzie’s Homemade Low Fat Chocolate Sauce:
Put 1/4 cup of cocoa in a sauce pan, slowly whisk in 1 cup of evaporated skim milk. Then whisk in 3 tbsp agave nectar, 3 tbsp of sugar (if you do not have agave, whisk in a total of 1/2 cup of sugar) and 1 tsp vanilla.
Bring mixture up to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for five minutes.
You can use the extra sauce on brownies, ice cream, drizzled over desserts… Let cool in a dish and then chill in the fridge.
Making the smoothie was much more challenging. I tried to make it banana free but without the banana, the texture of the cottage cheese stuck out and made it undrinkable for me. This is what I came up with:
Suzie’s Chocolate Cheesecake Smoothie
Make sure all the ingredients are very cold! Especially the evaporated skim milk and the syrup. Who likes a warm smoothie? Not me!
2 ice cubes
1/2 cup of cottage cheese
1/2 cup of no-fat yogurt
1/2 cup of skim milk
2 tbsp of skim milk powder
Just over 1/4 cup of chocolate syrup
1/2 tbsp of honey
1 banana
Mix up in blender until very smooth. This smoothie ended up tasting like an expensive protein powder shake! I must admit, I was impressed with the outcome. I do not think I will ever be able to get passed the cottage cheese issue but considering in this one large smoothie there is 14 grams of protein and almost no fat, it is hard to ignore the health benefits of this ingredient.
This smoothie is not super thick, if you prefer a thicker smoothie cut back on the skim milk and see what happens. You may like it sweeter or less chocolaty than I do so taste it and then adjust it for your palette.
I hope you like it Fran! Oh and next is the Pina Colada Smoothie! Should I make it with tequila or without?
Cottage cheese seems like a very odd thing to have in a smoothie! We’ve never had it in our house since no one eats it in my family. It might be worth buying some day to try this smoothie.
It sounds delicious, but I think Alexander Keith is probably rolling over in his grave that you put such a healthy non-alcoholic beverage in one of his glasses LOL! Nice nod to local Halifax brewing culture though!
I think it’s cool you made it low in fat. It look delish. I like to try and use the chocolate sauce for other things.
I love the Pina Colada Smoothie with tequila. Then again, I can be a lush at times.:)
Cottage cheese is AMAZING! I grew up eating it with black pepper and pear slices. Mm …
If you’re not a fan of bananas, try using avocados. Sweet and they add wonderful texture. Their flavor is not strong in a smoothie for some reason.
Okay, now I’m hungry.
Right on Suzie. I’m glad you did it. I often play around with the amount of milk and such in order to get the consistancy I want. If you blend the cottage cheese first with a hand blender or something you don’t get the texture. I sometimes blend cottage cheese till it’s creamy then use it instead of sour cream in dips and stuff. As for it tasting like an “expensive protien shake”, that is what it’s meant to be after all, a protien smoothie. I drink it when I need a boost of protein before a work out.
Can’t wait for the Pina Colada…
and I say WITH!!
A chocolate cheesecake smoothie sounds really good!