H3art of the Home

I was not trying to make a protein cookie. I want to say that up front, because the internet is full of them and most of them taste like the compromise they are.

What I wanted was a chocolate chip cookie. A real one, thick and soft with pools of dark chocolate and browned butter you can smell from the next room, that also happened to bring a little more to the table than the version I would otherwise be eating three of. Something I could hand my kids after school without doing math in my head about it.

So this is a chocolate chip cookie first. The cottage cheese goes in blended smooth, where it carries moisture and richness that would otherwise have to come from a lot more butter, and it brings the protein along with it as a bonus rather than as the whole point. The sourdough discard goes in because I always have it and because a long cold rest in the refrigerator turns it into flavor rather than waste. There is no protein powder anywhere in this recipe, and there never will be.

It is worth knowing what that trade actually buys you before you preheat anything. There is less butter here and less sugar than a standard bakery cookie, and cottage cheese is carrying moisture that butter normally would. A cookie built that way behaves a little differently in the oven and eats a little differently in the hand. It is softer and more tender than a chewy bakery cookie, and it browns more gently because there is less sugar to caramelize. That is the design, not a shortcoming, and once you know to expect it you will stop waiting for it to look like something it was never going to look like.

What you get instead is a thick, soft cookie with real chew, deep browned butter flavor, and melted dark chocolate running through it, carrying about a third less sugar and 70 percent more protein than a classic homemade chocolate chip cookie the same size, with no protein powder anywhere in it.

Table of Contents

• Why These Work
• Ingredient Notes
• Shop This Recipe
• How to Make Them
• Tips for the Best Cookies
• Why These Do Not Brown Like a Regular Cookie
• Storage and Freezing
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Sourdough Recipe
• No Sourdough Version
• More Recipes You Will Love
• Subscribe

Why These Work

Blended cottage cheese is the whole trick. Left in curds it would be a texture problem. Blended completely smooth it becomes a thick cream that carries water, fat, and protein into the dough all at once, which is how this cookie stays soft for days on far less butter than it looks like it should need.

Browned butter does double duty. Browning drives the water out of the butter, which matters more here than usual because the cottage cheese is already bringing plenty of its own. It also gives you the nutty, almost caramel flavor that makes a lower sugar cookie taste finished instead of restrained.

The discard earns its place. A 12 hour rest in the refrigerator is not just about chilling the dough. It gives the flour time to fully hydrate and gives the discard time to do what fermentation does to flavor, which is turn it deeper and more complex than anything you can get from a same day cookie.

Dark chocolate over semi sweet. At 69 percent cacao you get more chocolate flavor per chip and quite a bit less sugar, which lets the sugar in the dough come down without the whole cookie tasting flat. I used Hu Chocolate Dark Chocolate Gems and Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Chips.

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Ingredient Notes

Cottage cheese. I use Good Culture 4 percent. Full fat matters here since the fat is doing structural work, and it has to be blended until there is not a single curd left. If you can see texture in the blender, keep going.

Bread flour. King Arthur organic unbleached bread flour, the same flour I use for everything else including my starter. The extra protein in bread flour gives these cookies the chew that keeps them from going cakey, which is a real risk in any dough carrying this much moisture.

Sourdough discard. Straight from the refrigerator at 100 percent hydration, and younger is better here. Discard that has been sitting for a week will push the flavor further than you want in a chocolate chip cookie, since there is no cocoa standing in front of it. A day or two past feeding is the sweet spot.

Brown sugar and honey. The honey replaces the white sugar you would normally see. It is sweeter per gram than granulated sugar and holds onto moisture better, so it does more work with less weight, which is how the total sugar came down without the cookie going dry.

Egg yolks only. Yolks bring the emulsifying power that keeps all that cottage cheese water bound to the fat instead of running loose. Whites would add water and lift, and lift is the last thing this dough needs.

Enjoy Life dark chocolate morsels. These are dairy free and free from fourteen allergens, so they open the recipe up to more people, and at 69 percent cacao they carry about 40 percent less sugar than a standard semi sweet chip. Any good dark chocolate works if you prefer something else. I also used Hu Dark Chocolate Gems in this! If you want to go further in that direction, my Double Chocolate High Protein Cookies are built on the same idea with cocoa worked into the dough, also with no protein powder.

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How to Make Them

Full amounts, temperatures, and timing are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here is what is happening at each stage and why it matters.

Brown the butter properly. Keep it moving over medium high heat until the bubbling changes in sound and slows down, then drop the heat and keep stirring until it smells nutty and turns deep amber. Scrape every bit of the toasted milk solids from the bottom of the pan into your bowl, because that is where all of that flavor actually lives, and leaving it behind is the most common way people end up wondering why their browned butter cookies do not taste like anything.

Rest the butter and sugars together. Once the sugar and honey go into the hot butter, let the mixture sit before you whisk it. That short rest lets the residual heat start dissolving the sugar, which is where the chew comes from.

Whisk, do not cream. This is the step that decides whether you get a cookie or a dome. Creaming beats air into the dough, and air is a leavening system you did not ask for. Whisk only until the mixture pulls together and looks like wet sand, then stop.

Cool before the yolks. Warm is fine, hot will scramble them. There are no whites in this dough to buffer the yolks, so they are more vulnerable than usual.

Fold the dry ingredients in by hand. The mixer has done its job. Once flour meets liquid you are developing gluten, and a few extra turns is the difference between chew and tough.

Chill for 12 hours, and mean it. The dough will feel loose and slack when you cover it, and every instinct will tell you to add flour. Do not. Bread flour keeps absorbing water for hours, and what feels wet at midnight will be scoopable and firm by morning.

Flatten the dough into discs before baking. Do not put round balls on the pan. Press each portion into a thick disc, which gives the spread a head start and is one of the main reasons these bake wide instead of tall. Press a few extra chunks of chocolate onto the tops while you are there, since that is what makes them look like the cookies in the pictures.

Pull them looking underdone. The edges should be golden and set while the centers still look soft but not shiny. They finish on the hot pan. If you wait until the middle looks done in the oven, you have already gone too far. On the other end of it, if you want a cakier cookie, that is puffier and light, bake an additional 3-4 minutes.

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No Sourdough Version

You do not need a starter to make these. The discard is here for flavor and for using up what I already have, not for leavening, so it comes out cleanly.

The result is a slightly milder cookie. You lose the depth the discard brings, and you gain a cleaner browned butter and chocolate flavor, which some people in my house actually prefer.

If you have been thinking about starting a starter, I walk through the whole process here: How to Create a Sourdough Starter

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Brown Butter Cottage Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thick, soft browned butter cookie. Blended cottage cheese carries the moisture and the protein, a quarter teaspoon of instant coffee deepens the chocolate, and a long cold rest does the rest. No protein powder, about a third less sugar, and 70 percent more protein than a classic homemade chocolate chip cookie.

Cook Time14 minutes mins

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: browned butter cookies, cottage cheese chocolate chip cookies, no sourdough cottage cheese cookies

Servings: 12 Cookies

Calories: 290kcal

Author: Noelle Reed

Equipment

• Digital Kitchen Scale
• Light bottomed saucepan
• Food processor High speed blender
• Large mixing bowl
• Half sheet pans
• Parchment paper
• Cooling rack

Ingredients

• 230 g Good Culture/ Nancy’s 4% cottage cheese blended completely smooth (1 cup)
• 285 g King Arthur organic unbleached bread flour 2 cups plus 6 tablespoons
• 160 g brown sugar packed (3/4 cup)
• 40 g honey 2 tablespoons
• 1/4 teaspoon dark roast instant coffee
• 85 g unsalted butter weighed before browning (6 tablespoons)
• 2 large egg yolks
• 30 g whole milk 2 tablespoons
• 3 g baking soda 1/2 teaspoon
• 6 g fine sea salt 1 teaspoon
• 12 g vanilla extract 1 tablespoon
• 150 g dark chocolate chips 69% cacao (scant 1 cup)
• Extra dark chocolate chunks for pressing on top
• Flaky sea salt for finishing

Instructions

• Blend the cottage cheese with the vanilla in a high speed blender until completely smooth with no curds visible at all. Doing this first will take the chill off before adding it into the dough.
• Melt the butter in a light bottomed saucepan over medium high heat, stirring constantly. When the bubbling slows and changes in sound, lower the heat to medium low and keep stirring until the butter smells nutty and turns deep amber, about 5 to 7 minutes total. Pour it into a large mixing bowl and scrape every bit of the toasted milk solids from the bottom of the pan in with it. It should weigh close to 70g now.
• Add the brown sugar, honey, and instant coffee to the hot butter, stir briefly to combine, and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes. The coffee needs the hot liquid to dissolve, which is why it goes in here rather than with the dry ingredients.
• Whisk for about 1 minute, until the mixture looks like very wet sand and has pulled together. Stop there and do not whip air into it. If using a stand mixer, the paddle attchment is fine for this.
• Let the mixture cool to warm before continuing, since hot butter will scramble the yolks.
• Whisk the egg yolks into the butter and sugar for about 2 minutes, until creamy and lighter but not fluffy.
• Add the blended cottage cheese and whisk until smooth, then add the milk and stir gently just until incorporated.
• Whisk the flour, baking soda, and fine sea salt together in a separate bowl, then fold them into the wet mixture by hand with a rubber spatula. Fold in the chocolate chips. If using a stand mixer, go slow here as to not over mix.
• Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 8-12 hours. The dough will feel loose when you cover it. Do not add flour, it firms up as the flour hydrates.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two half sheet pans with parchment paper.
• Portion the cold dough at 80-85g each for 12 cookies. Press each portion into a thick disc rather than leaving it as a ball, spacing them well apart on the pans. Press extra chocolate chunks onto the tops and finish with flaky sea salt.
• Bake for 14 minutes, until the edges are golden and set and the centers still look soft and matte. If they seem to be domeing, pull the pan at five minutes a tap the tray onto the counter a few times, then continue to bake.
• Cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish.

Notes

Blend the cottage cheese completely

This is the step that decides whether the cookie works. Any curd left in the blender becomes a texture in the finished cookie. Blend until it looks like thick cream with no visible graininess at all.

The dough is supposed to feel loose

Cottage cheese brings a great deal of water into this dough, and bread flour needs hours to absorb it. Adding flour to correct the texture before chilling gives you a dry, cakey cookie. The refrigerator is the fix.

About the instant coffee

You will not taste coffee. It is there because coffee shares aromatic compounds with cocoa and its bitterness heightens perceived chocolate intensity, so a quarter teaspoon makes the chocolate read deeper without announcing itself. Leave it out if you would rather, the cookie still works.

Why these bake up golden rather than deep brown

Browning needs a hot dry surface, and this dough gives it neither. There is about a third less sugar here than in a classic chocolate chip cookie, so there is less to caramelize, and the cottage cheese brings enough water that the surface spends much of the bake evaporating rather than browning. Watch the edges instead of the center. Pull them when the outer rim is golden and set while the middle still looks soft, and let them finish on the hot pan.

If they dome instead of spreading

Pull the pan at about 5 minutes, drop it firmly onto the counter two or three times until the centers collapse, then return it to the oven to finish. Flattening the dough into discs before baking prevents this most of the time.

Storage and freezing

These keep soft in an airtight container on the counter for 4 days. To freeze the dough, portion and flatten the discs, freeze them solid on a sheet pan, then bag them and bake straight from frozen with 2 to 3 minutes added. Baked cookies freeze well too and warm back up in a 300°F oven in about 5 minutes.

Chocolate

I use Enjoy Life dark chocolate morsels and Hu Dark Chocolate Gems which is a higher % cacao so less sweet. A standard semi sweet chip carries close to 40% more sugar, so if you swap them in expect a noticeably sweeter cookie.

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