Trader Joe's Shoppers Swear By This Decadent Cheese That Doubles As Dessert

Cheese and dessert aren't mutually exclusive. We've all had cheesecake at least once in our lives, and no carrot cake is complete without cream cheese frosting. With that said, there's another cheese on the market you need to try when you're craving a creamy dessert: Trader Joe's Baked Lemon Ricotta Cheese. It appears the cheese is seasonal, making it a great TJ's appetizer for winter holiday hosting. But the stores carry it until it sells out, and several locations around the country still had plenty in stock when we called (though some were out), meaning it's very possible your Trader Joe's still has it. 

The cheese is made in Italy, and it is essentially ricotta enhanced with lemon peel, lemon extract, and sugar. It receives rave reviews from customers, some of whom compare it to a popular dessert. "I tried this as a sample the other day and thought it was cheesecake. It's dangerously delicious," one person wrote on Facebook. "Let's just call it what it is ... it's lemon ricotta cheesecake," someone else commented. Baked ricotta and cheesecake do have similarities, but they aren't quite the same. Cheesecake is made by baking cream cheese with sugar and eggs, and it's almost always a sweet treat, while baked ricotta is made with ricotta and eggs. Baked ricotta can be sweet or savory, depending on other add-ons (in this case, sugar and lemon). That said, Italian styles of cheesecake do typically swap cream cheese with ricotta, so fans may be on to something in thinking that this Trader Joe's cheese tastes a lot like cheesecake.

If you want to turn the baked lemon ricotta cheese into something a little different, there are so many ways to jazz it up. One Facebook user suggested incorporating it into luxurious pancakes, while another said to swap the spoon with some ginger snaps for an exciting flavor combination. "It's really good with tart cranberry [sauce] on top to balance its sweet richness," someone commented.

Over on Instagram, the suggestions were just as creative. "Lemon ricotta cheese, drizzle of lemon curd or raspberry on brioche. I feel like a stuffed French toast would be bomb," one person wrote. "Lemon ricotta cheese block with the raspberry preserves ... you gotta try that next time," someone else added. Ultimately, it seems that pairing it with anything sweet, from cookies to jelly, is a great way to enhance this cheese, but eating it on its own works just as well.