Viral Cottage Cheese Protein Cookie Dough Recipe | High Protein Kitchen (2024)

Published: Jul 20, 2023 · Modified: Aug 5, 2023 · This post may contain affiliate links - to learn more, read my disclaimers.

Like so many people on TikTok, Jake Cohen's cottage cheese cookie dough recipe showed up on my For You page and I was intrigued.

If we're being honest, his shrug and comment of "good enough" after trying it wasn't exactly a ringing endorsem*nt, hah! But I wanted to give it a shot myself anyway since I already boarded the cottage cheese train with this cottage cheese pudding recipe.

The result really surprised me. No, it's not an exact replica of diving into a bowl of regular chocolate chip cookie dough - but it's not that far off. And with a few tweaks, I get it even closer to the flavor I know and love!

Nutrition Disclaimer: Feel free to use different ingredients to suit your own dietary needs, but note it could change the flavor and vary from the nutritional calculations in the recipe card on this post!

What is cottage cheese?

Cottage cheese is a soft white cheese made from pasteurized cow's milk that is acidified, causing the curds to separate from the whey. You may have heard cottage cheese called "curds and whey" before - pretty on the nose!

Because it's a fresh cheese that isn't aged, it has a more mild flavor than most cheeses.

What are the different types of cottage cheese?

The most basic overview of the different kinds of cottage cheese are:

• High-fat (6% milkfat)
• Full-fat (4% milkfat)
• Low-fat (2% milkfat)
• Fat-free

You'll also find small curd and large curd cottage cheese varieties. Since it's getting blended, the curd size really doesn't matter.

Flavorwise, cottage cheese should have a mild taste with a hint of salt. The lower the milkfat content, the more tart the flavor.

Benefits of cottage cheese edible cookie dough

• It's packed with protein! Between the cottage cheese and protein powder, you're getting 12 grams of protein in a ¼ cup serving of cookie dough. Take that, Tollhouse.
• It's grain free. If you're steering away from grains, this has you covered by using almond flour instead of all-purpose flour.
• There is no egg to be found. So whether you have an egg allergy or just want to avoid the potential danger of raw egg in cookie dough, you don't have to worry about that with this. Though if we're all honest with ourselves, has the egg in cookie dough really ever stopped us before? Just sayin'.
• It's got additional vitamins and nutritional value than you'd see with typical cookie dough. You're getting potassium, fiber, vitamin A, calcium, and iron, too!

Key ingredients for protein-packed cookie dough

• Cottage cheese - I've been using 4% milkfat small curd country-style cottage cheese. Since it's getting blended, I don't think the curd size really matters. But I don't recommend using fat-free or low-fat cottage cheese - stick with full-fat or high-fat.
• Maple syrup - Always real maple syrup! You could also swap that for honey, agave, or data syrup - though you may want to play with the amount a bit since it won't necessarily taste the same and be a 1:1 substitute.
• Vanilla - Pure vanilla extract, clear vanilla extract, or vanilla bean paste all work.
• Almond flour - To keep things grain-free, we're using almond flour. If you wanted to use all-purpose flour instead, you can (but you'll want to heat treat it first, see below for more about that). Just don't try substituting coconut flour as that's more absorbent and wouldn't use the same amount or taste the same.
• Protein powder - I use Ka'chava vanilla protein powder for the typical base recipe, but it's fun to mess with other flavors!
• Chocolate chips - I had a bag of Lily's Dark Chocolate Baking Chips that I used in the photos, but if you don't need to be gluten-free, vegan, or dairy free you can use whatever you'd like! I typically grab Ghirardelli dark chocolate instead.

How to make cottage cheese cookie dough

Step 1: In a food processor, pulse cottage cheese, maple syrup, and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy. For me, that's typically between 10-20 seconds on high. Transfer the cottage cheese mixture to a medium mixing bowl.

See Also

Royal Icing Recipe: Easy recipe, dries hard -Baking a MomentScandinavian Almond Bars RecipeCrunchy Chocolate Babka | Bread Recipes | Butternut BakeryEasy no-chill sugar cookie recipe (for cut-out cookies) - Better Baker Club

Step 2: Add almond flour and protein powder and use a mixing spoon or spatula to stir and combine.

Step 3: Add chocolate chips and stir again to combine.

Step 4: Ta-da! That's it! Let chill in the fridge for 1 hour before eating for best results, but you can dig in right away if you really can't wait 😉

What does cottage cheese cookie dough taste like?

First impressions

After I made the first batch Jake Cohen's way exactly as written, I felt like it was a little bland. But after being chilled for about an hour in the fridge, I thought the texture was perfect.

Texture

It's not rock hard like actual cookie dough can end up after being chilled (which, to be clear, isn't bad - you want those to hold shape through baking in a hot oven!), it's still got a soft and creamy texture.

Second batch with tweaks

For the second batch, I was running low on almond flour so I swapped half of it for oat flour, added an extra teaspoon of vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon of almond extract, a pinch of salt, and a big pinch of ground cinnamon and I swear to you I couldn't have told you the difference between that and actual cookie dough!

I'm really excited to start trying new flavor combinations and building up a whole library of cottage cheese cookie doughs. I guess this is a cottage cheese blog now 😉

Serving suggestions & variations

• Add some spices. For my cookie dough, in general, I love to add a little bit of ground cinnamon, and the same goes for this recipe! Try adding ⅛ teaspoon for a little warm and cozy flavor.
• Try different extracts. I'm a big fan of adding almond extract to my cookies, and this is no exception. Even just ¼ teaspoon adds that signature sugar cookie flavor. Swapping the pure vanilla extract for clear vanilla extract helps with that, too!
• Mix up the protein powder flavor. Try some different flavors! There are an unreal amount of different flavors out in the wild now, you can get super creative with the dough. Next on my list is to try this with Ghost Whey Protein Powder Oreo (affiliate link) flavor because I think it's gonna be bomb dot com.
• Try adding a pinch of salt. Sometimes a little bit of salt added to something sweet can really take it up a notch! Cottage cheese itself has salt, but if you like things on the saltier side this might be up your alley.
• Try different types of baking chips. You could do semisweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate, peanut butter, butterscotch, white chocolate... the options are seriously endless.
• Add sprinkles! I'm already working on a cake batter version of this, but in the meantime just add some colorful sprinkles to bring a little more joy to your snack.

Storage

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

FAQs

Pretty great, right?
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