Cottage Cheese Cookie Dough (No Protein Powder!)

I’ve made cottage cheese cheesecake bars, cookies, brownies, and ice cream for this web site — and this cottage cheese cookie dough is the only one but. 5 elements, no protein powder in sight, and it truthfully tastes such as you raided the cookie dough jar. Eat it straight from the bowl or freeze it into bark for a snack you’ll be able to seize all week (like I did in these images!).

This cottage cheese cookie dough is creamy, candy, and secretly full of protein — no protein powder wanted. Blended cottage cheese disappears right into a easy, scoopable dough with almond flour, maple syrup, vanilla, and chocolate chips. Eat it straight from the bowl or unfold it into frozen bark for a make-ahead deal with. 5 elements, zero cooking, prepared in quarter-hour. What’s to not love?!

Why You’ll Love This Cottage Cheese Cookie Dough

• Solely 5 actual elements: Cottage cheese, almond flour, maple syrup, vanilla, and chocolate chips. No protein powder, no nut butter, no specialty dietary supplements.
• Tastes nothing like cottage cheese: As soon as blended easy, the cottage cheese fully disappears. What you style is vanilla, maple syrup, and chocolate — identical to actual cookie dough.
• Two methods to take pleasure in it: Eat it scoopable straight from the bowl, or unfold it into frozen bark and snap into items. One recipe, two codecs.
• Excessive protein, no powder wanted: The cottage cheese alone delivers the protein. I’ve made dozens of cottage cheese desserts for this web site, and that is probably the most stripped-down, pantry-friendly one I’ve ever posted.

What You Want (Ingredient Notes)

• Cottage cheese: Full-fat or 2% offers the creamiest outcomes. In case your cottage cheese has seen liquid pooling on high, drain it by way of a fine-mesh strainer for two–3 minutes earlier than mixing. Keep away from fat-free — it’s too watery and makes the dough runny. I’ve discovered that Good Tradition and Daisy manufacturers are usually much less watery than retailer manufacturers.
• High-quality-ground almond flour: That is what offers the dough its physique and retains it gluten-free. Ensure you’re utilizing fine-ground almond flour (not almond meal), which blends right into a smoother texture. Bob’s Purple Mill tremendous high-quality works nice.
• Maple syrup: The one sweetener you want — 2 tablespoons retains it flippantly candy with out masking the cookie dough taste. Honey works as a swap.
• Vanilla extract: Traditional cookie dough taste in a single teaspoon.
• Chocolate chips: 1/4 cup folded into the dough, plus 2 tablespoons melted with coconut oil for the bark topping. Mini chips distribute higher in a skinny bark layer. Darkish, semi-sweet, or sugar-free all work.
• Coconut oil (for bark topping): Simply 1/2 teaspoon melted with the chocolate chips creates a skinny, snappy chocolate shell that cracks once you chunk by way of it.

Should you love cottage cheese desserts, my cottage cheese cheesecake bars are one other freezer-friendly favourite.

Suggestions for the Finest Texture

Texture is every part with cottage cheese cookie dough — right here’s the right way to nail it each time.

• Mix the cottage cheese till fully easy: That is non-negotiable. If there are nonetheless seen curds, the dough will style like cottage cheese. A blender or meals processor works finest — 60 to 90 seconds till it’s silky. An immersion blender in a tall cup (or proper within the cottage cheese container) works in a pinch.
• Drain watery cottage cheese first: If there’s seen liquid pooling within the container, pour by way of a fine-mesh strainer for two–3 minutes earlier than mixing. That is the primary repair for runny dough.
• Alter flour if wanted: If the dough nonetheless appears free after mixing, add 1–2 tablespoons extra almond flour. Completely different manufacturers of cottage cheese and almond flour soak up otherwise, so belief what you see.
• Chill earlier than consuming scoopable: 15–20 minutes within the fridge companies it up noticeably and lets the flavors meld. I do know it’s prepared when the dough holds its form on a spoon for a couple of seconds earlier than slowly sliding off.

The best way to Make It Into Bark

That is the place the recipe will get enjoyable. The cookie dough base is nice by itself, however spreading it into frozen bark turns it right into a make-ahead snack you’ll be able to seize from the freezer all week (and that’s precisely what I did in these images — aren’t they beautiful?!).

Unfold the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, roll it to about 1/2-inch thickness, and freeze it briefly. Then high with a skinny layer of melted chocolate combined with coconut oil — that’s what creates the satisfying snap once you chunk by way of. A fast 10-minute freeze units the chocolate, and you then simply break or minimize it into items.

A number of issues I’ve realized: 1/2-inch thickness is the candy spot — any thinner and the bark is simply too fragile, any thicker and it received’t freeze evenly. And the coconut oil within the chocolate topping is doing actual work — with out it, the chocolate layer cracks and falls off as an alternative of snapping cleanly.

For one more frozen cottage cheese deal with, attempt my cookies and cream cottage cheese ice cream.

Serving Concepts

• Straight from the bowl: With a spoon — the traditional.
• Frozen bark items: Snappy chocolate shell with a creamy dough heart.
• On high of rice truffles: A high-protein twist on a traditional snack.
• Rolled into balls: Freeze on a lined sheet, then retailer in a bag for grab-and-go bites.
• With fruit: Apple slices, strawberries, or banana make nice dippers.
• Crumbled over yogurt or ice cream: A cookie dough topping that really has protein.

Variations and Swaps

• Sweetener: Honey works rather than maple syrup. For decrease sugar, use a sugar-free maple syrup.
• Flour: Oat flour works if you happen to want a nut-free possibility (use 3/4 cup oat flour per 1 cup almond flour, for the reason that density differs). Coconut flour absorbs extra liquid — use only one/3 cup.
• Combine-ins: White chocolate chips, mini M&Ms, crushed Oreos, peanut butter chips, cacao nibs, or chopped nuts.
• Taste riffs: Swap vanilla for almond extract for an almond bark. Add 1 tablespoon cocoa powder for a double-chocolate model. Stir in 1 tablespoon peanut butter for a PB cookie dough.
• Add protein powder (elective): In order for you much more protein, add 1 scoop vanilla protein powder with the almond flour — simply enhance the maple syrup by 1 tablespoon to offset the dryness.

Love chocolate and cottage cheese collectively? My single-serve cottage cheese brownie is one other fast repair.

• Fridge (scoopable): Hermetic container, as much as 5 days. Stir earlier than serving — it could agency up.
• Freezer (bark): Retailer bark items in a single layer in a freezer bag or hermetic container with parchment between layers. Retains for as much as 2 months.
• Freezer (scoopable balls): Scoop into tablespoon-sized balls, freeze on a lined sheet, then switch to a bag. Seize straight from the freezer — no thaw wanted.

FAQ

On the lookout for extra cottage cheese recipe concepts? Try my 30 finest cottage cheese recipes for much more high-protein inspiration.