Cottage Cheese Brownies
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These 4-ingredient cottage cheese brownies are super fudgy and gooey with crinkly tops. They bake in minutes and use good-for-you ingredients.
Is cottage cheese still having its moment? Let’s hope so, because I’m finding fun and creative ways to use it, and these brownies with cottage cheese have been such a hit.
Now, I know the thought of adding cottage cheese to brownies sounds odd, but it adds some extra moisture and richness, making the brownies much more fudgy. It’s also quite nifty that there is a little bit of extra protein.
Table of Contents
Why I love this recipe
- Cheap and easy. Like my Greek yogurt brownies, these brownies have no oil, no butter, and no milk whatsoever. Just four pantry staple ingredients.
- The BEST texture. The brownies are super fudgy and gooey, with those gorgeous crinkly tops.
- Ready in under 30 minutes. This is the kind of chocolate dessert you can whip up when the cravings strike.
If you love baking with cottage cheese, try my cottage cheese banana bread, cottage cheese cookies, cottage cheese muffins, cottage cheese chocolate mousse, or cottage cheese cheesecake next.
Key Ingredients
- Cottage cheese. I liked using whipped cottage cheese because it mixes easily into the batter. Full-fat cottage cheese is best as it adds richness, but low-fat cottage cheese works well.
- Sugar. White sugar or brown sugar.
- Almond butter. Smooth and creamy almond butter with no added sugar or salt. I like to make my own almond butter.
- Cocoa powder. Dutch-processed cocoa powder. If I want richer brownies, I sometimes use dark cocoa powder.
- Mix-ins. Optional, but I LOVE to fold through some chunks of chocolate chips for those gorgeous pools of chocolate.
How to make cottage cheese brownies
I’ve included step-by-step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full printable recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Step 1- Make the batter. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix until smooth. Fold through any mix-ins.
Step 2- Assemble. Transfer the batter into a lined pan and cover with more chocolate.
Step 3- Bake the brownies for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean from the center.
Arman’s recipe tips
- Don’t overbake the brownies. Like most baked goods, the brownies will continue to bake as they cool down. I recommend removing them from the oven once the edges firm up.
- For cakey brownies, bake an extra 5-6 minutes (minimum 30 minutes).
- Cool before slicing. I know it’s tempting, but wait until the brownies are baked before slicing and serving. If they are too warm, the brownies will be too gooey in the middle to enjoy.
- To make these healthier, swap out the sugar for allulose or your favorite sugar-free sweetener.
Storage instructions
To store: Leftover cottage cheese brownies will keep well at room temperature, covered, for up to three days. If you want to keep them longer, cover them and store them in the fridge for up to one week.
To freeze: Place the brownies in a ziplock bag and store them in the freezer for up to 6 months.
More healthy brownie recipes
Cottage Cheese Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whipped cottage cheese See notes
- 1 cup almond butter
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 2/3 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line an 8 x 8-inch pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the whipped cottage cheese, cocoa powder, almond butter, and sugar until smooth and glossy. If adding chocolate or chocolate chips, fold them through.
- Transfer the brownie batter into the lined pan. Top with extra chocolate chips.
- Bake the brownies for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean.
- Let the brownies cool in the pan completely before slicing.
They turned out well – very fudgey, as promised – but the flavor is a little one note. Next time I’ll trying adding dash of salt, a bit of vanilla and/or almond extract, and a teaspoon of espresso powder.
Hi Mary, thanks so much for taking the time to leave some feedback. So glad you enjoyed them! You’ll have to let us know how you go next time and which flavoring option you try 🙂
I’m newish to your recipe game, having recently tried (and loved) the low-calorie bagels (which I will be making again this afternoon because I’ve run out). I tried these and they were amazing! Excellent texture. I did use regular peanut butter because that was all I had on hand, so I probably should’ve cut down the sugar a bit because they were quite sweet but of course, I thought of that AFTER I poured it in. They still turned out awesome but I’m excited to try them again with an unsweetened almond butter.
Hi Crystal, thanks so much for taking some time to share this! I’m so glad you’ve found success with these recipes, it sounds like you’ve totally nailed them! Please let us know if you try any others 🙂
Is it possible to make a variation of this recipe without chocolate? I’m sensitive to cocoa solids (including cocoa powder) and was wondering if it would be the same if I made it with white chocolate or something else.