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An important staple in the Irish diet, curds were used for many things. This recipe for lemon curd cheesecake is mild in flavor and comes with a crispy crust.

Because cottage cheese comes in various sizes, if you aren’t sure you’ll like the look and texture of large curds like we used, you could use small curds instead or even use a hand mixer to break them down even more.

To add variety to this recipe, you could add a splash of Irish Cream, a half teaspoon of cinnamon or nutmeg and even some crushed nuts if you like. Swap the lemon for an orange for a totally different flavor.

In the picture above, you can see we used a slightly larger pre-made pie crust in a round cake pan. This is so our family could add toppings to their slices. Some used pre-made lemon or blueberry pie filling; others added fresh fruit such as kiwi and cherries. All of them were delicious!

Ingredients:

6 oz. pre-made pie crust

Filling
¼ c. butter
¼ c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. (heaped) plain flour
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
8 oz. cottage cheese

Topping
1 tbsp. flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
Powdered sugar to dust

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F, lightly grease a flan tin or round cake pan.

Line the pan with the pie crust & trim off any excess.

Using a colander drain the juice off the cottage cheese.

In a medium-size bowl add the sugar & butter. Mix with a spoon.

Next add the flour, lemon rind, lemon juice, eggs and cottage cheese. Mix well.

Pour this filling into the pie crust.

Rinse the bowl and then proceed to make the topping by adding all the topping ingredients together and mixing well.

Spread this on top of the curd layer.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until the top is lightly browned and slightly firm.