There are a number of cottage cheese desserts, mainly because it is a versatile and low-fat alternative to some other ingredients. The most popular of the cottage cheese desserts likely involve using fruit in some way, even if just mixing canned fruits with the cheese. Cottage cheese can be mixed with flour, sugar and baking soda and baked into dessert biscuits. The same dough, with a little more liquid and blueberries, can be turned into a dessert pancake. There are even recipes for cottage cheese cake, ice cream and whipped desserts.
The subtle flavor and soft texture of cottage cheese makes it a natural accompaniment to fruit. The most simple of all cottage cheese desserts is to just fold sliced fruit or whole berries into a bowl of cottage cheese, possibly with a spoonful of sugar. A more complex preparation could involve reducing the fruits into a thick sauce and mixing the liquid into the cheese. A very fast dish uses powdered gelatin added to the cheese along with a frozen whipped dessert spread and some fruit to make a chilled cottage cheese pudding.
There are cottage cheese desserts that use the cheese in baked or fried dishes. One of the most simple is a mixture of cottage cheese, flour, baking soda and sugar. This is baked until set to create a small dessert cake with a slight tang. The same type of dough can be thinned and fried in butter to make a dessert pancake or put on a griddle to make a dessert waffle. Some cake batters can be given a richer taste if cottage cheese is mixed in with them instead of cream or other ingredients.
A good pairing for some cottage cheese is sour cream. The two can be combined with eggs and sugar, heated in a pan, pread in a pie shell and baked to create a dense, sweet dessert pie. They can be use in a similar way to make a liquid that can be placed in an ice cream maker and frozen into a thick gelato.
In India, cottage cheese desserts are very simple and use the cheese modestly. One recipe calls for a syrup of water and sugar to be heated in a pan. The cottage cheese curds are dried a little and then pressed together into tight balls. These balls are dropped into the sweet syrup and cooked until they have a slightly tougher texture and have absorbed some of the sugary liquid.