Cottage Cheese Protein Fudge
⏱ 15 min + 3 hr freeze💪 6g protein per square🔥 ~100 cal🍽 16 squares
Blended cottage cheese is the reason this fudge tastes rich instead of like a protein bar. Cocoa and salt bury the tang completely, and the fat in 4% cottage cheese keeps it from freezing into a brick. The whole recipe lives or dies on one step: blending the curds until there is nothing left to feel.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (450g) full-fat (4%) cottage cheese
- 2 scoops (60g) chocolate whey or casein protein powder
- 1/2 cup (85g) dark chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup (24g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons refined coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt, plus flaky salt for the top
Instructions
- Line an 8x4 inch loaf pan with parchment, leaving overhang on the long sides.
- Blend the cottage cheese by itself for 60 to 90 seconds, scraping the sides twice, until it looks like sour cream with zero visible curd. This step determines the final texture, so do not rush it.
- Melt the chocolate chips with the coconut oil in 20 second microwave bursts, stirring between each, then let the mixture sit 2 minutes so it is warm rather than hot.
- Add the cocoa, maple syrup, vanilla, salt, and protein powder to the blender and blend 30 seconds, then stream in the warm chocolate and blend 20 seconds more, just until glossy.
- Spread into the pan, sprinkle with flaky salt, and freeze 3 hours until firm. Lift out by the parchment and cut into 16 squares with a knife run under hot water and wiped dry.
- Store in the freezer up to 2 months in an airtight container, and let squares sit 5 minutes before eating.
Tips
- Pouring the chocolate in while it is still hot cooks the whey into grit you cannot blend out. Let the melted chocolate rest 2 minutes off the heat, then stream it in with the blender already running.
- Nonfat cottage cheese makes icy fudge. The fat in 4% is what stops ice crystals from forming, and 2% is the absolute lowest that still gives you a fudge texture rather than a frozen block.
- If your blender cannot erase the curd, push the blended cottage cheese through a fine mesh sieve before anything else goes in. Grainy protein fudge is under-blended cottage cheese nine times out of ten, not the protein powder.
FAQ
- Does this actually taste like cottage cheese?
- No. Once the curds are fully blended, the cocoa, dark chocolate, and salt cover the tang entirely. People who dislike cottage cheese generally cannot tell.
- Can I keep it in the fridge instead of the freezer?
- It stays soft and scoopable in the fridge rather than sliceable. If you want fudge you can pick up with your fingers, it has to live in the freezer.
- Can I use Greek yogurt instead of cottage cheese?
- Greek yogurt has more free water, so the fudge freezes harder and icier and tastes noticeably more sour. If you try it, strain the yogurt for an hour first and add an extra tablespoon of coconut oil.
- Which protein powder works best here?
- Casein sets firmer and creamier, whey is fine since nothing gets baked. With whey, just be strict about letting the melted chocolate cool before it goes in.
