Recipe: Cottage Cheese Brownies

I have been seeing lots of healthy recipes on Instagram featuring cottage cheese. I don't really like cottage cheese on its own, but I figured it can't taste too bad if it's main into a dessert, right? I couldn't find the exact video I saw online, but I googled "cottage cheese brownies" and found this recipe from Matt's Fit Chef. With only four main ingredients, I figured it had to be pretty easy!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup cottage cheese
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 scant cup cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup and 1 tbsp granular sweetener (I just used regular white sugar)

Optional Ingredients

• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp coffee powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Chocolate chips chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and fold a 7-inch x 7-inch brownie pan with parchment paper.
2. Add to a blender cottage cheese, egg, cocoa powder and granular sweetener. Optionally, add baking powder, coffee powder, and a pinch of salt. Blend until all ingredients are combined into a smooth brownie batter.
3. Transfer cottage cheese brownie batter to the prepared pan, and optionally sprinkle with chocolate chips on top. Bake in hot oven for 22 to 30 minutes – mine took 25 minutes. Let cool completely at room temperature before slicing.
4. Once cooled, seal and store in the fridge for a maximum of 4 days.

I think I did include all of the optional ingredients except the coffee powder (What is coffee powder? Ground-up coffee?), and I don't think the chocolate chips are optional. While they make the brownies less healthy, they taste MUCH better with the chocolate chips (and look cuter, too). And they last WAY longer than just four days in the fridge; I made mine weeks ago and only just recently finished the last one (and it tasted fine!).

Are these the yummiest brownies you've ever had? Absolutely not. They are not fudgy or fluffy; they actually are kind of grainy. BUT the fact that each normal-sized brownie is only about 100 calories is really nice. I never felt guilty about eating one, and they still satisfied my sweet tooth. I don't think I'd make these for a party or share them with others to show off my baking skills, but I might make them for myself again.