Although most American cheesecakes today are made with cream cheese, there is an older tradition of using cottage cheese.  Since I had just made a batch of cottage cheese, I looked around for a cheesecake recipe using cottage cheese and decided to make one in the NYT Heritage Cookbook.  That recipe used a crust based on zwieback (which I did not have), so I decided to use ginger snaps (which I did have) and to base the crust on a recipe by Alison Roman.  The recipe below is for 8 servings in a 9-inch springform pan.  I actually made a half recipe for 4 servings in 2 4.5-inch springform pans.

The result were some nice cheesecakes which were less rich and slightly grainy compared to cakes made with cream cheese.  The lemon flavor was good as an alternative to the usual lemon flavor.

For the crust

8 oz. gingersnaps, finely crushed

6 Tbs. unsalted butter

1 Tbs. light brown sugar

.5 tsp. kosher salt (I used Morton’s)

For the filling

1 cup sugar, divided

3 eggs, separated (when I made a half I used 1 whole egg and 1 yolk)

24 oz. cottage cheese, finely mashed

.25 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp. table salt

1 tsp. grated lemon peel

.25 cup lemon juice

1 cup heavy cream, whipped

Preheat a 350-degree oven.  Grease a 9-inch springform pan.

Mix together the crust ingredients and put them in the pan.  Press them to cover the bottom and halfway up the sides.  Bake until it starts to lightly brown around the edges, about 12-15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and cool.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees.

In a bowl, beat the eggyolks until thick.  Add the cottage cheese, flour, salt, lemon peel, lemon juice, and ¾ cup of sugar.  Mix well.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy.  Gradually add in the remaining ¼ cup of sugar.  Beat until stiff.  Pour the beaten whites into the bowl with the filling.

Whip the heavy cream in the bowl of the stand mixer.  Add to the filling bowl.  Fold the beaten whites and whipped cream into the mixture and fill the prepared springform pan.  Bake for 1.5 hours, or until set.  Turn off the oven, open the door and allow to cheesecake to gradually cool in the oven for about 45 minutes.  Finish it cooling on a rack and then cover and chill in the refrigerator.