These Cottage Cheese Cookies with 4 grams of protein are slightly chewy, made with just 8 ingredients, and studded with rich chocolate.
We’ve made cottage cheese cookie dough a few times, now it’s time to bake some cottage cheese cookies! But these aren’t your everyday cookies, these are cookies with benefits!
The cottage cheese replaces butter and adds a protein boost, and my kids couldn’t even tell it was in there. They’re also low in sugar and egg-free, so you can even sneak a taste of the dough.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- High in protein: 4 grams per cookie. Perfect for post-workout snacking or a healthy dessert.
- No protein powder: We use naturally protein-packed ingredients.
- One bowl recipe: Just you and your trusty food processor. No need for a mixer.
- Lighter: Less sugar, less butter than traditional cookies, and more healthy fats in the form of almonds.
- Taste “normal”: They’re not as chewy as regular cookies but still moist and still have a chew thanks to the cottage cheese, sugar, and almond flour combo.
Ingredients for Cottage Cheese Cookies
You only need 8 simple ingredients that are likely already in your kitchen for these cottage cheese chocolate chip cookies.
- Cottage cheese: Any fat percentage works, I used my usual 2% cottage cheese for this recipe.
- Butter: Solid butter cut into cubes. You can use unsalted or salted butter since we don’t add salt and it’s a small amount anyways.
- Sugar: I used organic cane sugar, but regular sugar will work too. Please don’t use liquid sweeteners, they won’t work for this recipe.
- Baking essentials: Pure vanilla extract and baking soda.
- Cornstarch: Tapioca flour or arrowroot powder will work too. Needed to absorb moisture.
- Almond flour: A gluten-free, nutrient-rich flour from finely ground blanched almonds. Make sure to use almond flour and not almond meal.
- Dark chocolate chips: They have less sugar than semi-sweet and I love the rich taste. I even added a few extra on top! Any chips will work, see variations below.
How to Make Cottage Cheese Cookies
These high protein cookies are a quick and easy dump, blend, and bake recipe ready in under an hour.
Preheat your oven to 350 F and line 2 large baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper. Set aside.
- Blend ingredients: In a large food processor, throw in the cottage cheese, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, baking soda, and cornstarch. Blend on high until smooth, pausing to scrape down the sides.
- Make the dough: Add almond flour and process on low speed until the cookie dough forms. Toss in the chocolate chips and give it a few pulses, then finish by combining with a spatula.
- Form cookies: Use a small scoop and scoop the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between each scoop because cookies will spread slightly. Then gently press each mound into a small disc shape.
- Bake: Bake for 14 minutes and take them out when the cookies look slightly underbaked, puffy, and light in color.
- Let them cool: Cool cookies on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Tips for Best Results
Here are my top tips for the best cottage cheese cookies recipe outcome!
- Do not make substitutions: Follow the recipe exactly as written.
- Measure flour correctly: Too much can make them dense and dry. The correct method is to scoop flour into your measuring cup with a spoon, then level it off with the flat end of a knife.
- Add more chocolate chips on top: It adds an extra chocolatey boost to every bite.
- Do not overbake: Take them out of the oven before they start to brown. Don’t worry, they’ll finish settling as they cool.
- Experiment with shape and size: You can leave cookies unflattened, they will be more thick. I would let them cool completely or press on them with a spatula slightly after baking – as I did on the top left corner cookie. You can also make them twice as big if you want.
Variations
- Sea salt sprinkle: Once they come out of the oven, sprinkle the hot cookies with flaky sea salt for a gourmet touch.
- Chopped dark chocolate bar: The irregular shapes of the chocolate chunks create pockets of gooey chocolate that spread throughout the cookie making them extra delicious and indulgent.
- Naturally sweetened: Use cacao nibs instead of chocolate chips.
- Less sugar: Switch to Lily’s sugar free chocolate chips or whichever brand your local store stocks.
- Brown sugar: I’d sub half the amount of white sugar. It keeps the sweetness the same but adds a hint of molasses, makes them spread less, and gives them a darker appearance.
How to Store
Store: Keep these cookies in a cool, dry spot either in a ventilated container or covered with a linen towel for up to 2-3 days.
Freeze: Bake, let the cookies cool completely, then store them in a resealable bag or container in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to enjoy them, simply thaw them on the counter for a few hours.
FAQs
Yes, but cookies will be more crispy and less chewy. Also color will change. No liquid sweeteners please.
Yes, coconut oil is OK but no other oil please. It has to be solid fat.
There is no substitute. If you don’t like cottage cheese, try these protein cookies.
I used 2%. You can use any fat percentage, even 0% because there is a lot of almond flour that adds moisture.
More Cottage Cheese Recipes
- Cottage cheese bark
- Cottage cheese fudge
- Cottage cheese bagels
- Cottage cheese tiramisu
- Cottage cheese fudge
More Healthy Cookies Recipes
- Protein cookies
- Healthy no bake cookies
- Sugar free oatmeal cookies
- No bake protein cookies
- Healthy chocolate chip cookies
- Almond flour skillet cookie
Cottage Cheese Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup cottage cheese I used 2%
- 2 tablespoons butter solid and cut into small cubes
- 1/3 cup cane or regular sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips plus more for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 large baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large food processor, add cottage cheese, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, baking soda and cornstarch. Process on high speed until smooth, pausing and scraping the walls.
- Add almond flour and process on low speed until cookie dough forms. Add chocolate chips and give a few pulses, then finish by combining with a spatula.
- Using a small scoop, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart and add a few more chocolate chips on top, if you wish. Then flatten a bit into small discs. Cookies spread just a bit.
- Bake for 14 minutes and remove while cookies appear underbaked, puffy and light in color.
- Let cookies cool on a baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring onto a cooling rack to cool a bit more.
Video
Notes
- Store: Store in a cool dry place in a ventilated container or on a plate covered with linen towel for up to 2-3 days.
- Freeze: Bake, cool cookies completely, place in a resealable plastic bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw on a counter for a few hours.
