Jane de Graaff's spotlight on cottage cheese

Cottage cheese is having a definite moment.

It's been going for at least the last 18months, with everything from flatbread, to biscuits and cheesecakes leaning-in to its high-protein, lower fat status.

It's one of those ingredients people like to think of as 'lower-guilt'. 

While plenty of articles will tell you that social media trends like hot-honey-cottage-cheese bowls and cottage-cheese bagels are causing this item to sell out, I've so far not had a problem getting my hands on it.

Which is just as well, because I'm not here to extol the diet-culture focus of this ingredient. What I will say is that as a child who grew-up in a weight-watchers house of the '80s, cottage cheese was regularly on the menu — and it still is in my house — and I happen to just love it for its creamy tang.

Sure it's high in protein, but I just love the taste. So it's no surprise to me that people are back on-board with this classic, curdy cheese. Here's what we're doing with it, and it's all delicious fun. 

Viral beef and sweet potato bowl

This is sweeping social media right now as a high-protein and delicious well-rounded bowl of goodness. You can actually shake it up any way you like. But it must be said that the taco spice flavours in the mince work very well with the cottage cheese.

Hot honey goes on just about everything right now, so this is a great place to start. Feel free to swap out any of the ingredients for things you prefer that are along similar lines… just don't skip the cottage cheese. 

Ingredients: 

• 250g beef mince

• Olive oil

• Taco seasoning

• 2 x sweet potatoes, cut into large dice

• 1 x 250g tub cottage cheese

• Hot honey (½ cup honey, warmed gently with ½ tsp garlic and ½ tsp chilli flakes)

• 1 avocado, halved and sliced

Method: 

1. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Toss the diced sweet potato with olive and a little salt and bake at 180c for 30minutes, or until cooked through and browning. 

2. Meanwhile, in a large shallow frypan, heat a little olive oil and fry off mince with taco seasoning until browned and crispy. 

3. If you are making your own hot honey, place the honey, garlic and chilli in a small saucepan and warm gently on low heat to infuse for 5minutes. Set aside until needed.

4. To serve, divide the beef mince, sweet potato, avocado and cottage cheese between 2 bowls and then drizzle with hot honey.

Cottage cheese 'wrap bread'

This works really well as long as you bake the cottage cheese enough. Don't take it out of the oven before it's fully cooked, or it might not hold its shape so well. That said, it's damned delicious and makes a great wrap alternative.

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup cottage cheese

• 2 eggs

• Herbs and spices of choice (garlic powder and onion powder)

• Filling suggestions: rocket, pesto, red onion, ham, tomato, herby dressing

Method: 

1. Preheat your oven to 180C and line a medium baking tray with baking paper and brush lightly with olive oil.

2. Place cottage cheese, eggs and herbs and spices into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Then pour the mix onto the prepared baking tray and spread out evenly. 

3. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool before filling with the sandwich filling ingredients and serving as a wrap bread. 

Cottage cheese 3-ingredient bagels

These are just brilliant. It works the same way as the very similar Greek yoghurt bread, where the acid in the yoghurt helps to activate and create rise in the self-raising flour used, which gives you a very simple bread that's ready in less than ½ an hour, no proofing/rising time necessary. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup self rasing flour

• 250g cottage cheese

• 1 egg (egg wash)

• Bagel seasoning, seeds

Method: 

1. Line a baking tray and pre-heat your oven to 180C - or prepare your airfryer. 

2. Place the cottage cheese in a small blender and blitz until smooth. Mix in the flour and knead a little to make a soft dough. 

3. Break into four even pieces and shape into bagels. Lay onto the prepared baking tray, brush with whisked egg and sprinkle with bagel seasoning. 

4. Bake at 180C for 25-30minutes or until golden. 

Cottage cheese brownies

This is another one that comes courtesy of social media looking to make classic treats 'better for you'. Now, don't be alarmed, this recipe is actually a lot of fun. The creaminess of the cottage cheese makes a great brownie addition, but it also comes with a bit of tang that works very well with dark chocolate. 

If you cut this while it's still just a little warm, then it will be nice and gooey. 

If you chill it, you'll get a dense, fudge-like texture. Either way it's good. Just be aware that it's not as sweet as you'd expect it to be owing to the low-levels of sugar in the recipe (just the chocolate bits), so if you have a very sweet tooth, you may want to add a dusting of icing sugar. But for me, I like it on the bitter and tangy chocolate side. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup cottage cheese

• 2 eggs

• ½ cup chocolate chips

• ½ cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)

• ½ cup almond meal

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp instant coffee

Method: 

1. Line a slice pan with baking paper and preheat oven to 180C. 

2. Place all your ingredients into a food processor and blend until until smooth. 

3. Pour into the prepared baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool before attempting to slice. It will still be very fudgy when served. 

Jane de Graaff is Today's kitchen expert, food writer and recipe developer and content creator for fun family recipes of all kinds.

Find all Jane's food adventures, tricks and tips on Instagram and TikTok.